Olympia High School honors notable graduates in its alumni Hall of Fame. In 2011 the alumni association added General Muir Fairchild, class of 1913. A pioneer of flight who helped form the US Air Force, Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane is named for him.
Young Muir Stephen Fairchild
Muir Stephen Fairchild was born September 2, 1894, in Bellingham to Harry Anson Fairchild (1858-1911) and Georgia Crocket Fairchild (1857-1939). A Canadian immigrant and lawyer, Harry was elected to the state senate in 1901.
The family moved to Olympia after Harry was appointed to the new railway commission. Young Muir enrolled in Lincoln School, where he was active on the track and debate teams. He was also treasurer of the eighth-grade literary society.
Even then, Fairchild showed initiative. He and friend Edwin Wilson built a telegraph system between several neighboring houses. They then set up a “wireless” on Fairchild’s lawn at 1404 Main Street, now part of the East Capitol Campus. Their experimental radio proved strong enough to pick up a broadcast from a ship leaving Seattle.
Impressed, Olympia High School allowed the friends to use their flagpole as a connector. The two displayed their radio as part of the school district’s display at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle.
Olympia High School Graduate Honored by Air Force Base
Fairchild entered Olympia High School in fall 1909. An active student, he served as freshman class president, sophomore class president, and junior class treasurer. He was business manager of the Olympushis junior year and business manager of the senior class play. Fairchild also managed the YMCA’s high school basketball team.
Besides school, he enjoyed riding his motorcycle, one of Olympia’s first. Fairchild was part of a youth volunteer firefighting team that responded to the 1909 Olympia Pipe Company fire. The team was praised for their professional conduct, despite only being formed five months before.
After graduating Olympia High School in 1913, Fairchild enrolled at the University of Washington. But his interest lay in the military. He joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps reserves in 1913. Promoted to sergeant in 1916, he was deployed to Mexico with the National Guard during the Poncho Villa Expedition.
Riding a horse through the desert, Fairchild was fascinated by observation planes overhead. He decided he wanted to fly as well.
Then America joined World War I. Fairchild became a flying cadet at Berkley, California. Completing his training in France and Italy, he received his wings and commission in the Army’s Aviation Section in January 1918. A bomber pilot, he flew night missions over the Rhine with French forces. The French awarded him the Croix de Guerre.
General Muir Fairchild Continued Service
Returning to the United States, Fairchild decided to continue with the Army Air Service. Serving engineering assignments across the country, tragedy struck when his wife Alice Brocha (1898-1921) died. Three years later Fairchild married Florence Alice Roseiter (1898-1989). The couple had one daughter, Betty Anne (Calvert) (1927-2010).
Fairchild’s skill as a pilot earned him the honor of participating in the 1926-1927 Pan American Good Will Flight to South America. The flight was difficult and several people were killed in an accident. Fairchild was awarded the new Distinguished Flying Cross afterwards.
After completing training at the Air Corps Engineer School at Wright Field, Fairchild served as the Air Corps representative to Douglas Aircraft Co. in Santa Montica, California.
Promoted to captain in 1931, Fairchild spent the next few years studying at the Air Corps Tactical School, Army Industrial College, and Army War College. In 1936 he was promoted to major and returned to Maxwell Field, Alabama as an instructor. He later became director of air tactics and strategy. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1940.
Fairchild: Leading America in the Air During WWII
World War II pulled Fairchild away from teaching to administration. In 1941 he was assigned to the Plans Division in Washington D.C. and was named secretary of the new Air Staff later that year.
Quickly promoted to brigadier general, he became assistant chief of the Air Corps. In 1942 he became director of military requirements, later achieving the rank of major general. He was assigned to the Joint Strategic Survey Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
When the war finally ended, Fairchild thought of retiring to a small ranch in Rancho Santa Fe, California. But the military had other ideas. Widely regarded as an elder statesman in the Army Air Corps, his colleagues thought he could play a critical role in rebuilding the post-war Air Service.
Fairchild was promoted to lieutenant general and named commandant of the new Air University at Maxwell Field in 1946. The Air Service’s schools, he wrote a colleague, “must take into account an entire new world of war fighting.”
While Fairchild might have thought of retiring, he was selected as vice chief of staff when the U.S. Air Force was created in 1948 and promoted to four-star general.
Fairchild Air Force Base
General Fairchild died of a heart attack at Fort Myer, Virginia on March 7, 1950. He was 55. The nation and Olympia were shocked. Old classmates had been hoping to invite him to the upcoming Olympia centennial celebration.
In 1951 Spokane Air Depot was renamed Fairchild Air Force Base in the general’s honor. Former classmate Jess Leverich, who had also served with him in Mexico, attended the dedication ceremony.
Serving in the military from World War to Cold War, General Muir Fairchild earned his place in the OHS Hall of Fame. A pioneer aviator, he helped the US Air Force prepare to meet modern challenges.
