INGALLS, DAVID S., SR. (28 Jan. 1899-26 Apr. 1985), the U.S. Navy's only WORLD WAR I flying ace, was born in Cleveland to Albert and Jane (Taft) Ingalls. He enlisted in the 1st Yale Naval Aviation Unit when the war started. Ingalls graduated from Yale in 1920 and from Harvard University with a law degree in 1923. From 1923-27, Ingalls was a member of SQUIRE, SANDERS & DEMPSEY in Cleveland, leaving the firm to serve as state representative. In 1932, Ingalls returned to Cleveland, where Mayor HARRY L. DAVIS appointed him welfare director; however he resigned in 1935 when Davis refused to install x-ray equipment in the City Hospital. During the 1940s, Ingalls was involved in the military and aviation industries. In 1954 he became president and publisher of the Cincinnati Times-Star, resuming his law practice in Cleveland in 1958.
In World War I Ingalls flew Sopwith Camels, shooting down 4 enemy planes and 3 aerial balloons, receiving the British Distinguished Flying Cross and U.S. Distinguished Service Medal. In 1929, Pres. Hoover appointed him assistant secretary of the Navy for aeronautics. He returned to active duty in WORLD WAR II and in late 1942 was chief of staff for the Air Ctr. Commander Forward Area on Guadalcanal, awarded the Bronze Star and Legion of Merit. In 1983 he was inducted into the Natl. Aviation Hall of Fame. Ingalls married Louise Harkness in 1922; they had 5 children: DAVID S. INGALLS, JR., Edith (Vignos), Louise (Brown), Anne (Lawrence), and Jane (Davison). Ingalls married Frances W. Wragg in 1978. He died in his CHAGRIN FALLS home and was buried in Hot Springs, Va.
David S. Ingalls Papers, WRHS.