Bunker graduated on 6 June 1928, ranked 128th in his class, and was commissioned as a Second LieutenantCoast Artillery Corps. He was detailed to the Air Corps for flight training on 8 September 1928. He underwent primary flight training at Brooks Field, Texas, from 9 September to 28 June 1929, and then advanced training at Kelly Field, Texas, from 1 July to 12 October 1929. Upon the successful completion of his training, he was transferred to the Air Corps on 21 November 1929.[3] During the graduation ceremony, he and his classmate LaVerne G. Saunders conducted a fly past in a Martin NBS-1bomber.[2]
From 13 September to 5 December 1939, Bunker was a student at the Air Corps Tactical School.[5] He then returned to Wright Field for duty with the Experimental Engineer Section, and was the Chief of the Flight Research Engineer Section there from 1 December 1940 to 1 February 1943.[6] As such, he was involved in the development of stability and anti-spin devices. He was the project officer for the Douglas XB-19] bomber, and the Air Corps liaison officer to Hughes Aircraft for the construction of the Spruce Goose.[2]
On returning to the United States, Bunker became the Chief of the Aircraft Projects Branch in the Materiel Division of the office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Maintenance and Supply (A-4) at United States Army Air Forces headquarters in Washington, D.C., on 16 March 1945. On 12 May, he became the Deputy Chief of the Materiel Division.[2]
Post-war
In 1947, GeneralCarl Spaatz sent Bunker to Kirtland Field, New Mexico, as commander of 428th Army Air Forces Base Unit, with the task of learning about nuclear weapons.[2][1] He was the chairman of the Air Force Tactical and Technical Liaison Committee of the Special Weapons Group in the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Materiel in Washington, D.C., from 10 September 1947 to 20 December 1948, and the chief of its field office for Atomic Energy from 21 December 1948 to 30 December 1949. He then returned to Kirtland Air Force Base as commanding general of the Special Weapons Command from 1 December 1949 to 11 October 1950, after which he served as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff of Operations for Atomic Energy,[1][8] vice Roscoe C. Wilson.[9] As such, he was one of the two Air Force members of the Military Liaison Committee of the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 3 October 1951 to 29 October 1954.[10]
On 15 November 1954, Bunker became the director of readiness and materiel inspection in the Office of the Inspector General of the Air Force, based at Norton Air Force Base in California. His final station, on 1 March 1955, was as the deputy inspector general there. He became the deputy inspector general for inspection on 9 May.[7] He retired in July 1958.[2]
