The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia

Stump, Felix Budwell (1894-1972)

Photograph of Felix B. Stump

Naval Historical Center #NH 69403. Cropped by author.

Felix Stump served on convoy escort duty in the Atlantic during the First World, qualified as a naval aviator in 1920, and then earned an M.S. degree from MIT in aeronautical engineering. He was serving as captain of Langley at Manila when war broke out and he was ordered to escape to Australia.

Stump was solicitous of his airmen, once signaling a submarine that had rescued six of his fliers that "Anything on Lexington is yours for the asking. If it is too big to carry away, we will cut it up in small parts."

Stump was promoted to rear admiral and command of Task Unit 77.4.2 at Leyte Gulf. His unit was far enough south to avoid damage when Kurita broke through San Bernardino Straits and fell upon Clifton Sprague's unit further to the north. Stump had no use for false bravado; once his aircraft were all launched, he commented that "John Paul Jones to the contrary, notwithstanding, the time has come to get the hell out of here."

Service record

1894-12-15		Born at Perkersburg, West Virginia
1917-5	Ensign	Graduates from Naval Academy, standing 59th in a class of 182.
1920		Flight school
1937	Commander	Maintenance Division, Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department
1940		Executive officer, CV Enterprise
1941-9	Captain	Commander, AV Langley
1942-1		Commander, ABDACOM Combined Operations Center
1942-6		Air officer, Western Sea Frontier
1942-12		Commander, CV Lexington
1944-5	Rear admiral	Commander, Carrier Division 24
1945-6		Chief, Naval Air Technical Training
1948-12	Vice admiral	Commander, Naval Air, Atlantic Fleet
1951		Commander, 2 Fleet
1953-7-10	Admiral	Commander, Pacific Fleet
1955-3		Military advisor, SEATO
1958-2		Commander, Pacific Fleet
1958-8-1		Retires
1972-6-13		Dies at McLean, Virginia

References

Boatner (1996)
Pettibone (2006)
Tuohy (2007)

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