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Adapted from "Captain Clinton DeWayne Case, United States Navy" [biography, dated 9 February 1956] in Modern Biographical Files collection, Navy Department Library.
 

 
Topic
  • Aviation
  • Navigation
Document Type
  • Biography
Wars & Conflicts
  • World War II 1939-1945
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  • NHHC-Library

Clinton DeWayne Case

23 February 1906 - [no death date]

Download PDF Version [183KB]

Clinton DeWayne Case was born in Racine, Wisconsin, on February 23, 1906, son of Henry Clinton and Anna (Zierke) Case. He attended Racine High School and in 1929 received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He was subsequently employed as an Assembly Mechanic at the Hamilton Metal Plans Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1928); as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering a the University of Oklahoma, Norman, where he also had postgraduate work (1929-1930); as Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin (1930-1935).

On October 16, 1924, he enlisted in the US Naval Reserve, and following flight training at Great Lakes, Illinois, and Norfolk, Virginia, (May- October 1926), was designated Naval Aviator on April 23, 1927. Commissioned Ensign, USNR, on April 9, 1927, he was transferred on March 10, 1941 to the US Navy in the rank of Lieutenant, to date from April 30, 1938. Advancing progressively in rank, he attained that of Captain, to date from March 25, 1945.

For a year (July 1927- July 1928), he served with Observation Squadron Two –B, based on USS West Virginia, and thereafter was a member of the inactive reserve, participating in regular periods of drill and summer training. Called to active duty on July 6, 1935, he was assigned to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, as an instructor in Aircraft Engines and later had duty as Assistant Production Superintendent in the Assembly and Repair Department there. He remained at the Pensacola Air Station until April 1941, when he joined USS Albemarle, and was serving in that seaplane tender when the United States entered World War II, December 8, 1941. Detached from the Albemarle in December 1942, he was Assistant Shop Superintendent at the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, until September 1943.

Following an assignment as Assistant Overhaul and Repair Officer at the Naval Air Station, Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, he spent a year under treatment at various naval hospitals, before reporting in April 1945, as Head of the Experimental Programs Branch, Engineering Division, Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, Washington, DC. While there he had temporary additional duty with a Naval Technical Mission to expedite the Heinkle-Hirth Oil jet engine. In April 1946 he became Overhaul and Repair Officer at the Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and in June 1949, returned to the Navy Department for services as Assistant Naval Inspector General, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He was Bureau of Aeronautics General Representative at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Essington, Pennsylvania, from September 1952 until July 1954, when he became Director of the Technical Data Division, Bureau of Aeronautics. In November 1955 he was ordered to duty as Overhaul and Repair Officer at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida.

Captain Case has the Naval Reserve Medal; the American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp; the American Campaign Medal; European-African- Middle Eastern Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; The World War II Victory Medal; the Navy Occupation Service Medal, Europe Clasp; and the National Defense Service Medal. In 1928 he was awarded the Silver Life Saving Medal by the Treasury Department, and received a commendatory letter from the Secretary of Navy for his attempt to save occupants of a crashed plane.

Captain Case is the author of correspondence course in aeronautics, meteorology, and navigation for the University of Wisconsin and author of Ground School Manuals on Aviation Engine Theory, Carburetion and Ignition, and Advanced Engine Theory.  

END

Published: Tue Oct 13 09:38:31 EDT 2020