John Henry Towers, born on 30 January 1885 at Rome, Ga. graduated with the Naval Academy class of 1906 and was commissioned ensign in 1908, while serving in battleship Kentucky. He was later assigned to battleship Michigan before being sent to Hammondsport, N.Y., in 1911 for aviation duty. Under the tutelage of Glenn Curtiss, Towers qualified as a pilot in August of that gear and went on to supervise the establishment of the Navy's first aviation unit at Annapolis, Md., in the fall. He traveled to California where, in conjunction with the Curtiss Flying School at North Island in San Diego, he took part In developing and improving naval aircraft types.
After returning east thereafter, Towers was nearly killed in the summer of 1912. While he was flying as a passenger on 20 June, his plane was caught in a sudden downdraft and plummeted earthward. The pilot, Ens. W. D. Billingsley, was thrown from the aircraft and killed. Towers, too, was wrenched from his seat but managed to catch a wing strut and stayed with the plane until it crashed into the Chesapeake Bay. Interviewed by Glenn Curtiss soon thereafter, Towers recounted the circumstances of the tragedy; and the report and resultant recommendations eventually led to the design and adoption of safety belts and harnesses for pilots and their passengers.
On 5 March 1913, the Navy designated Towers Naval Aviator No. 3; and, in January 1914, he became the executive officer of the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Fla. When Vera Cruz was occupied by the Navy and marines that spring, Towers commanded the aviation unit carried to that port in battleship Mississippi and cruiser Birmingham. In August 1914, one month into World War 1, Towers was ordered to London as assistant naval attache, a billet he filled until he returned to the United States in the autumn of 1916. Once back home, he supervised the establishment of the Naval Flying Corps, then in its infancy, and went on to become Assistant Director of Naval Aviation with the establishment of the Division of Aviation within the Navy Department.
In February 1919, Towers was placed in charge of the proposed transatlantic flight of the NC-flying boats end, while commanding NC-3, led the division from Trepassy Bay, Newfoundland. Though their ultimate destination was Lisbon, Portugal, NC-I and NC-PI encountered dense fog off the Azores and had to land to take bearings. Due to the heavy seas, neither could take off again; and the latter soon began shipping water. Towers and his crew managed to keep the flying boat afloat for 52 hours and eventually made Punts Delgada on Sao Miguel Island. NC-4 went on to complete the transatlantic crossing, arriving at Lisbon on 27 May. For his part in the operation, Towers received the Navy Cross.
Between the autumn of 1919 and the late winter of 1922 and 1923, Towers served at sea as the executive officer of Aroostook and as the commanding officer of old destroyer Mugford, which had been redesignated an aircraft tender. Then, after a tour as executive officer at Pensacola Naval Air Station, he spent two and one-half years, from March of 1923 to September of 1925, as an assistant naval attaché, serving at the American embassies at London, Paris, Rome, the Hague, and Berlin. Returning to the United States in the autumn of 1925, he was assigned to the Bureau of Aeronautics and served as a member of the court of inquiry which investigated the loss of dirigible Shenandoah.
Towers next commanded Langley (CV-1) from January 1927 to August 1928. He received a commendation for "coolness and courage in the face of danger" when a gasoline line caught fire and burned on board the carrier in December 1927. Towers personally led the vigorous and successful attempt to suppress the flames kindled by the explosion and thus averted a catastrophe.
After shore duty in the Bureau of Aeronautics, successively serving as head of the plans division and later, as assistant bureau chief, Towers joined the staff of the Commander Aircraft, Battle Force, Rear Admiral Harry E. Yarnell, in June 1931. He was among the staff which planned a successful "attack" on Pearl Harbor during the Joint Army-Navy Exercise No. 4 in the Hawaiian Islands in February 1932, an operation which was to be duplicated on a larger scale by the Japanese in December 1941.
Between June of 1933 and June of 1939, Towers filled a variety of billets ashore and afloat: he completed the senior course at the Naval War College in 1934; commanded the Naval Air Station at San Diego; again served on the staff of ComAirBatFor; commanded Saratoga (CV-3); and became Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. On 1 June 1939, he was named Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics with the accompanying rank of rear admiral.
As bureau chief, Towers organized the Navy's aircraft procurement plans while war clouds gathered over the Far East and in the Atlantic. Under his leadership, the air arm of the Navy grew from 2,000 planes in 1939 to 39,000 in 1942. He also instituted a rigorous pilot-training program and established a trained group of reserve officers for ground support duties. During Towers' tenure, the number of men assigned to naval aviation activities reached a high point of some three quarters of a million.
Promoted to vice admiral on 6 October 1942, Towers became Commander, Air Force, Pacific Fleet. From this billet, he wisely and effectively supervised the development, organization, training, and supply of the Fleet's growing aviation capability. For his sound judgment and keen resourcefulness, Towers received, successively, the Legion of Merit Medal and the Distinguished Service Medal.
In August 1945, Towers was given command of the 2d Carrier Task Force and Task Force 38, Pacific Fleet. On 7 November 1945, he broke his flag in New Jersey (BB-62) as Commander, 5th Fleet. On 1 February 1946, he hoisted his flag in Bennington (CV-20) as Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, a post he held until March of 1947. After chairing the Navy's General Board from March to December 1947, Towers retired on 1 December 1947. After retirement, Towers served as President of the Pacific War Memorial, a New York-based scientific foundation; as assistant to the President of Pan American World Airways; and as President of the Flight Safety Council. Admiral Towers died in St. Albans' hospital, Jamaica, N.Y., on 30 April 1955.
