Two days ago I posted the story of Captain Julio C. Locatelli receiving a Distinguished Flying Cross from Colonel Robert Rockwell at Tonopah Field, Nevada in April 1945. My dad, William Hanchett was there training a B-24J crew. Here is a biographical sketch of Colonel Rockwell. Colonel Robert Lockerbie Rockwell was the Director of Supply and Maintenance at Tonopah Army Air Field, Nevada when 2nd LT William Hanchett was assigned there as a B-24J airplane commander (crew 203) in early 1945. Colonel Rockwell was one of the Army Air Forces personnel that impacted Lieutenant Hanchett’s time at Tonopah Field and who served the country in the continental United States during the war.

Rockwell was born in Kennedy Heights near Cincinnati, Ohio on March 18, 1892. He attended Kenyon College and attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1915, during the First World War, he travelled to France where he worked at an Allied Hospital. While there he enlisted, learned to fly and became a member of the Lafayette Escadrille. He served in French aviation from 1916 to 1918. He was awarded the French Legion of Honor and the French War Cross with three Palms. When the United States entered the war Rockwell transferred to the Army Air Service as a captain in the 103rd Aero Squadron where he flew SPAD XIIIs. The 103rd served in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Rockwell was discharged in 1919 and pursued work in the export business, farming and later as a commercial pilot.
The 1920 U.S. Census lists him as residing at his family’s residence in Cincinnati. According to Find a Grave, in 1923 he married Mary Dilatush Van Note and the couple had three sons. He was commissioned as a major in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1926. The 1930 U.S. Census lists him as living in Dayton, his occupation is given as “teacher, aviation.” The year before he started the Dayton School of Aviation and served as president. A 1932 genealogy for Dayton and Montgomery County in Ohio shows him as a major. The 1940 census shows him as the proprietor of an inn. He went on active-duty May 17, 1941.
According to official Army Air Forces records, in January 1945 Rockwell was a full colonel and director of Supply and Maintenance at Tonopah Field. He served as acting base commanding officer in Col. John A. Feagin’s absence. (For Colonel Feagin, see my post in July 2025). Official histories of TAAF describe some of the problems Colonel Rockwell faced as director of Supply and Maintenance. For example, there were gasoline and oxygen shortages to overcome. Climatic conditions at Tonopah effected aircraft engines, but there were problems obtaining spare parts, because overseas shipments had priority. In addition to supply and maintenance of aircraft, the department also handled the Tonopah Field physical plant including what a 1945 report described as “Tonopah Army Air Field’s inadequate electrical system.”
Col. Robert L. Rockwell left military service in February 1946 and passed away at his home in San Bernardino, California in January 1958. Picture below is from Find A Grave. William Hanchett’s correspondence while he was in the Army Air Forces in World War II, published in Disgracefully Easy: A B-24 Pilot’s Letters Home (Acorn, 2025), describes my dad’s experiences from basic training in Miami Beach, through flying school to his assignment at Tonopah Field responsible for training a heavy bomber crew for overseas assignment, an assignment that never came.