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COLONEL ARTHUR F. MEREWETHER
It is generally acknowledged that Air Weather Service came into being on 1 July 1937 when the U.S. Army's weather support function was transferred from the Signal Corps to the Army Air Corps. First Lieutenant Arthur F. Merewether replaced Captain Robert M. Losey as the second Chief, Weather Section, Hqs Army Air Corps, on 18 January 1940.Events of World War II quickly established the need for an expanded weather organization. The Weather Section was handed the additional responsibility for managing the embryonic Army Air Corps Weather Service. Major Merewether served as its Chief until 8 January 1942.
A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Colonel Merewether was a graduate of Brown University and earned a Master's degree at MIT before entering the Air Corps and completing pilot training in 1930. Promoted to Colonel on 1 March 1942, he became the 8th Weather Group commander before retiring from the Army Air Forces in August 1946.
Significant events during his tenure as the defacto AWS commander were: establishment of the Weather School at Chanute AFB; initiation of the first meteorology cadet program; and the Air Corps' first long-range weather forecast and verification effort.
Colonel Merewether resided at Bayside, NY before his death in 1997.
Source: the official MAC Historical Office Special Study, July 1987, published and distributed for the 50th anniversary of Air Weather Service.