New Biography of Gen. Ennis C. Whitehead - Fifth Air Force

[Edward]

All is Not Lost: General Ennis Whitehead's Turnaround Leadership, Ingenuity, and Resilience in MacArthur’s Air War
(Independently published – 6 August 2024)
by S.B. Whitehead
491 pages - hardcover
$29.95 US [Amz (pod?)]

"Ingenuity, resilience, and turnaround leadership that won a war… and a secret he never even told his children.

Lieutenant General Ennis Whitehead test-piloted early wood and canvas flying contraptions in France during World War I and taught new pilots how to survive in the air. He flew the mission that bombed and sunk the Ostfriesland in 1921, proving to the unbelieving that land-based aircraft could actually sink battleships, years before Pearl Harbor. In 1926, he parachuted out of a tangled and spinning airplane over Buenos Aires during the first flight to circle Central and South America and lived to tell about it. And he discovered new ways to use aircraft, taught his men how to fly planes with skis, and was forever finding new ways to save fuel and increase aircraft range and capabilities as commanding general of the Fifth Air Force. Whitehead knew his planes.

Ennis Whitehead was an aviation pioneer from Kansas, valued hard work and competence, and hated to lose pilots. General Douglas MacArthur and Charles Lindbergh called him brilliant. President Eisenhower considered him a friend. The Fifth Air Force troops in New Guinea sometimes feared him. But Whitehead inspired innovation, success, and loyalty.

General Whitehead took an impossible situation in New Guinea and along with George Kenney, engineered and led the Fifth Air Force campaign that won the air war in the Pacific. The Bismarck Sea victory? Whitehead orchestrated and ran the show. After the war, he was the second highest-ranking American in Tokyo as he led the Far East Air Force, and stateside he innovated our nation’s air defense capabilities.

All Is Not Lost provides new insights into this forgotten general who was humble and only sought the limelight for his men. It includes unpublished photographs, letters and primary sources, and examines Ennis Whitehead’s strategy, perseverance and ingenuity to win wars and save lives — all inspired by that day he wished had never happened."
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M.S. Hinsch - 8 October 2024

"After World War II, many officers and commanders of their successful military operations wrote their memoirs. Lt. General Ennis C. Whitehead did not. Although mentioned in many of the books by his peers, his memoirs remained unpublished.

Donald M. Goldstein (1931-2017) was a retired United States Air Force officer; professor emeritus of public and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, where he taught for thirty-five years; a winner of two Peabody Awards; and author of many books. He also taught at the Air Force Academy, the Air War College, the Air Command and Staff College, the University of Tampa, and Troy State University. He wrote his doctoral thesis for the University of Denver about General Ennis C. Whitehead.

“All is Not Lost” by S.B. Whitehead, c.2024, is written by a family member of the Whitehead family, with contributions from friends and family, military advisors, excerpts from Donald Goldstein’s thesis, and close members of his personal military staff.

Not attempting to promote this book, but wanting to give others the opportunity to read about General Whitehead’s life, his accomplishments, and to share the importance of of all those who served under his command. The book is “Dedicated to the Fifth Air Force airmen who never gave up.”