Edward Pearson Warner (United States)

FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE PICAO AND ICAO COUNCIL
TERM OF OFFICE: 1947-1957

 

Edward Pearson Warner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 9 November 1894. He grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, where he attended the Volkmann School. He entered Harvard University in 1916 and specialized in mathematics. After graduating he went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and graduated in 1917 in mechanical engineering with additional credits in naval architecture.

 

During the spring of 1918, Dr. Warner was in charge of teaching a 15-week course in aeroplane design for MIT. At the end of the War, he was appointed Chief Physicist of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in charge of aerodynamic research at the station which NACA had just established at Langley Field. In September 1920, he returned to MIT on a full-time basis as an associate professor in charge of teaching in aeronautical engineering. He continued his teaching career until 1926. From 1924 to 1925, he was a consultant to the U.S. Air Mail service in connection with the selection of equipment, the establishment of an experimental station, and the development of aids to navigation. During the winter of 1925, he was a Director of Colonial Airlines. In 1926, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Aeronautics. From the Navy Department, he went on to become the editor of "Aviation" for the next five years. He continued to participate in various public and organizational activities and, in particular, served from 1929 to 1945 as a member by presidential appointment of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. In July 1934, President Roosevelt appointed him as a member of the Federal Air Commission and he was subsequently elected as its Vice-Chairman. He returned to "Aviation" for a few months and then resigned to open a consulting business at which he worked for the next three years. Dr. Warner received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Norwich in 1938. He also remained active in NACA, serving for a number of years as Chairman of its Aerodynamics Committee and subsequently of the Committee on Operating Problems. In November 1938, Dr. Warner joined the staff of the Civil Aeronautics Authority as an economic and technical consultant. He remained a member of the Authority and of the Civil Aeronautics Board, its successor, for more than six years and served as its Vice-Chairman in 1941 and again from 1943 to 1945. In 1945 he received an honorary fellowship at the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences.
 
Dr. Warner was a member of the United States delegation to the Chicago Conference and took an active part in its work on economic and technical problems, serving as Rapporteur of the Technical Committee. During the months following the Chicago Conference, his time was largely devoted to preparation for the new international organization that has been provided for in the Convention. In the spring, he assisted the Preparatory Committee that had been set up by the Canadian Government in anticipation of the first meeting of the Interim Council at the Organization's temporary headquarters in Montreal. He was later appointed by President Truman to be the Representative of the United States on this Organization's first executive body. On 15 August 1945, he was elected President of the Council of the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization (PICAO). He served as President of the Council of PICAO and ICAO from 1945 to 1957 and retired on 18 April 1957. On 11 July 1958, Dr. Edward Pearson Warner died in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He was 63.

 

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