US Air Force Lieutenant General. An early US Army aviator, his military career spanned World Wars I and II and he rose in rank to become the Commander of 5th Air Force and later Air Defense Command and Tactical Air Command (now Air Combat Command). Born on a Kansas farm, he was the oldest of three children. He received his primary education at Glenwood District School and Burlington High School in Burlington, Kansas. In 1914, he entered the University of Kansas at Lawrence, Kansas to obtain a law degree. After the US entered World War I in April 1917, he enlisted in August 1917 as a private in the Aviation Section, Signal Enlisted Reserve Corps at Fort Riley, Kansas. The following February, he became an aviation cadet, training at a wartime Army School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at an Air Service flight school at Chanute Field, Illinois (now closed). In October 1917 he became a "Reserve Military Aviator" and was commissioned a 1st lieutenant in Signal Officer Reserve Corps. The following month he was sent to France and was assigned to the 3rd Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun for additional training. He attended gunnery school at Bordeaux, France and became a test pilot for the remainder of the war. In January 1919 he was demobilized and he returned to the University of Kansas, earning a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in 1920. After graduation, he became a reporter with The Wichita Eagle in Wichita, Kansas in order to earn enough money to attend law school, but soon decided that he preferred flying, and applied for a commission in the Regular Army, and in September 1920 was re-commissioned as a 1st lieutenant, US Army Air Service. His first assignment was at March Field (now March Air Reserve Base), California, where he served as a flying instructor. The following year, he was transferred to Kelly Field (now Kelly Air Reserve Base, a part of Joint Base San Antonio), Texas where he became the commander of the 94th Pursuit Squadron of the 1st Pursuit Group. In July 1921, he participated in Brigadier General Billy Mitchell's demonstration bombing attack of the ex-German dreadnought Ostfriesland. In 1922 his Group moved to Selfridge Field, Michigan (now closed). In 1926 he attended the Air Service Engineering School at McCook Field, graduating first in his class. In December 1926 he was assigned as the co-pilot for Major Herbert A. Dargue, leading the 22,000-mile Pan American Good Will Flight touring South America. During a landing at Buenos Aires, Argentina in March 1927, their aircraft, a Loening OA-1A float plane nicknamed 'New York' was involved in a mid-air collision with the 'Detroit', another OA-1A, forcing both Dargue and Whitehead to bail out. Whitehead suffered only minor injuries, but the pilot and co-pilot of the 'Detroit' were killed. The remaining four planes of the flight completed the tour and he, along with the other nine airmen, received the first awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross. After three years as an engineering officer with the US Army Air Corps Materiel Division at Wright Field (now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base), Ohio, he attended the US Army Air Corps Tactical School at Langley Field (now Langley Air Force Base, a part of Joint Base Langley-Eustis) from September 1930 to June 1931 and was promoted to the rank of captain. He then returned to the 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge and took command of the 36th Pursuit Squadron. He performed staff duty tours at Albrook Field, Panama Canal Zone with the 16th Pursuit Group, at Barksdale Field with the 20th Pursuit Group, and at the headquarters of the General Headquarters Air Force at Langley Field. He was promoted to temporary major in April 1935 and attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1938. After graduation, he was assigned to the Intelligence Division of the War Department at Washington DC. In December 1940 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and the following February, he was transferred to Luke Field (now Luke Air Force Base), Arizona and was promoted to the rank of colonel in January 1942, after the US entered World War II. The following June he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general he was sent to the South West Pacific Area to replace Brigadier General Harold Huston George, who had been killed in an air crash the previous April. Upon seeing the lack of organization and confusion when he first arrived in Australia, he set about rectifying the situation, with the help of Major General George Kenney, who arrived the following month to assume command of the Allied Air Forces. In Whitehead's first few months in New Guinea, he focused on building up the infrastructure there and through his efforts, the Japanese forces were turned back short of Port Moresby, during the Papuan campaign. In March 1943, at the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, he scored an important victory over the Japanese, which caused them to abandon all further attempts to bring supplies and reinforcements in to Lae, New Guinea by the direct sea route from Rabaul. He was them promoted to the rank of major general. In June 1944 he assumed command of the 5th Air Force in June 1944, although he remained subordinate to Kenney. He was then promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in June 1945 and he continued to command the 5th Air Force, participating in the Occupation of Japan and in December 1945 he became commander of the Far East Air Forces. In March 1949 he returned to the US to command the Continental Air Command and was instrumental in splitting this organization into the Tactical Air Command and Air Defense Command, commanding the latter in January 1951, After not receiving the appointment as the US Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, he retired in July 1951 with 34 years of continuous military service. Among his military and foreign decorations and awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal with 2 oak leaf clusters, the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 1 oak leaf cluster, the World War I Victory Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He died of emphysema at the Lackland Air Force Base, Texas hospital at the age of 69. His son, Ennis Whitehead, Jr., later became a major general and, in March 2003, his grandson, Ennis Whitehead III, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.