Defense Scrutiny Grinds On
Defense Secretary William S. Cohen told reporters May 14 that he had formed a Task Force on Defense Reform to recommend additional ways to streamline Defense Department operations. The task force is an outgrowth of the six-month-long Quadrennial Defense Review, released May 19. [See “Snapshot of the QDR,” p. 17.]
Cohen said the QDR didn’t have time to take a thorough look at “significant reforms” in management structure.
What’s now needed, he said, is “to focus a good deal more analysis and effort” on the Office of the Secretary of Defense, its field agencies, and the military departments. “Essentially [OSD] has been growing like Topsy,” he reported.
The Secretary did note that the Pentagon had made progress in recent years through computerization and other practices, such as buying off-the-shelf technology. These steps had created more efficient operations, he said, but he emphasized the need to accomplish “much more” in the way of reform. “There’s a great deal of redundancy in much of what we do,” he claimed.
Cohen said he expected to have the task force report its findings by November 30.
Panel Members Named
The Defense Secretary initially named seven business and defense experts to the task force, stating that they would work with DoD Comptroller John J. Hamre, who was slated to succeed John P. White as deputy secretary of Defense.
Michael J. Bayer, business–government relations consultant and former official in the Energy and Commerce departments.
David Chu, director of Rand’s Washington, D.C., office and former assistant secretary of defense, Program Analysis and Evaluation.
Rhett Dawson, president, Information Technology Industry Council.
James Locher, former assistant secretary of defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict.
Arnold Punaro, senior vice president of Corporate Development at Science Applications International Corp. and former staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
G. Kim Wincup, a program director at SAIC and former assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition and former assistant secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs.
Dov Zakheim, corporate vice president and director of the Center for Policy Planning, System Planning Corp., chief executive officer of SPC International, and former deputy under secretary of defense for Planning and Resources.
Cohen indicated he might add more members. The task force will collaborate with corporate leaders and the National Defense Panel working on an independent assessment of the US military.
C-17 Christened Bob Hope
In a ceremony April 22 at the McDonnell Douglas facility in Long Beach, Calif., the Air Force dedicated the thirty-second C-17 Globemaster III to entertainer Bob Hope. The 94-year-old comedian, who attended the dedication with his wife, Dolores, is the first individual for whom a new airlifter has been named.
Hope, who began his show business career in vaudeville and continued through 60 years of radio, film, and television, entertained American troops around the world for more than 50 years.
In naming the aircraft for Hope during the Air Force’s fiftieth anniversary, Air Force Secretary Sheila E. Widnall said that she couldn’t think of a better tribute.
“We thought we’d give you, in a sense, an airplane—an airplane which, like you, will go visit troops in some of the least enviable locations on the planet. After all, the folks crawling through mud and jungles don’t really expect to see this plane any more than they expected to see you—but the plane, like you, will show up,” she said.
The aircraft will be assigned to the 437th Airlift Wing, Charleston AFB, S. C.
USAF Forms Single Lab
Air Force Materiel Command announced in April that it had consolidated its lab operations in a single Air Force laboratory—the Air Force Research Laboratory. The move came as part of the Air Force response to an ongoing Congressional initiative to consolidate defense labs and test centers.
AFMC plans initially to retain its four existing labs at their current locations but place them and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under one commander.
Current research labs are Armstrong Laboratory, Brooks AFB, Tex.; Phillips Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, N.M.; Rome Laboratory, Rome, N.Y.; and Wright Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research is located at Bolling AFB, D.C.
Maj. Gen. Richard R. Paul, formerly AFMC director of Science and Technology, will command the new research lab. The AFMC Science and Technology staff will provide the core laboratory staff, augmented by personnel from the four existing labs.
AFMC officials expect the move to reduce manpower but stated it was too early to estimate how many or where positions would be cut. As part of an earlier streamlining move, the Air Force consolidated its lab structure from 14 independent facilities to four superlabs in 1991. The service is also under a Congressional mandate to cut 35 percent of its lab manpower by 2001.
Fuel Flow Problem Downed
HC-130P
The accident investigation report released April 24, on the crash of an Air Force Reserve Command HC-130P that claimed 10 lives, revealed that the aircraft’s engines ceased to operate for lack of fuel flow.
Col. Larry L. Landtroop, the lead accident investigator, stated that there was not enough evidence to determine why the fuel stopped flowing to the engines.
Portions of the aircraft wreckage, including the cockpit voice recorder, flight data recorder, and one engine, were recovered from the ocean floor in more than 5,100 feet of water by the Navy’s Deep Submergence Unit.
The HC-130P, carrying a 10-person crew and one passenger, was en route to NAS North Island, Calif., from Portland IAP, Ore., on November 22 on a routine overwater navigation training mission when the aircraft crashed into the Pacific about 60 miles off the coast of northern California. [See “Reserve Crash Claims 10,” February 1997 “Aerospace World,” p. 13.]
All 11 Reservists on board were assigned to the 939th Rescue Wing at Portland. The Coast Guard rescued one injured crew member.
Multiaircraft Simulation Revamps Training
USAF’s Armstrong Laboratory has demonstrated that it can link simulators for a variety of aircraft or other weapons at different locations to produce a “virtual battlefield” experience.
Armstrong’s aircrew training research division, based at the former Williams AFB, Ariz., demonstrated its distributed mission training concept at the USAF–Air Force Association’s Air Force Fifty celebration in Las Vegas in April. They linked flight simulators for four F-16s, two A-10s, and a C-130 to conduct a virtual air-drop mission over hostile territory—the first time the unit had tested a composite wing training scenario.
For the exhibit, eight simulators were crammed into one room. However, division officials stated they can use existing phone lines and defense computer networks to link simulators used by multiple aircrews at locations around the world. They have even used the system to hook up with Army tank simulators.
Officials believe the system, once fielded, will greatly enhance training. According to Maj. Reid Reasor, an Armstrong program manager, it is “still a couple of years away from where we want it. We want it to smell, act, and respond like a real jet. If it doesn’t, then pilots won’t accept it. . . . We’re really close, though.”
Tricare’s HMO to Reach GSUs
Pentagon health officials believe the Department of Defense, by early 1998, will have extended full Tricare benefits to some 165,000 personnel in geographically separated units within the continental United States. Tricare is DoD’s new managed health-care program.
The change will allow certain active-duty members, such as recruiters, and their families to enroll in Tricare Prime instead of being forced to rely on the higher-cost Tricare Standard.
Initially, the first regions to implement Tricare placed distance limitations on those who could enroll in Tricare Prime, the health maintenance organization–type option. Instead, those individuals had to rely on Tricare Standard, the fee-for-service option.
Last year, DoD began a test of expanded coverage in Region 11 (Oregon, Washington, and northern Idaho), the first to begin Tricare operation. The region originally had limited participation in Tricare Prime to those living within about one hour of a military treatment facility.
As other regions have set up their contracts, they have extended the Prime option to cover more beneficiaries no matter where they live. For example, Region 6 (most of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana) added major metropolitan areas with significant DoD populations. Other regions have required justification for not making Prime available to everyone. The last three regions to open will stipulate Prime coverage for all eligible beneficiaries.
However, Air Force Col. Jerome P. Luby, DoD director of Tricare Operations and Policy, pointed out that it is sometimes difficult to create these kinds of contractual relationships—particularly in small, rural towns that have never heard of managed care. “We worked through most of those problems in Region 11, but extending Prime will differ in every region,” said Luby.
Mongoose Recovers Millions
A little-known, but increasingly effective, program has stopped the outflow of more than $6 million in retiree and annuitant pay disbursed each year to dead or ineligible people.
“Operation Mongoose,” as the program is called, currently is investigating other questionable payments totaling more than $11 million.
DoD Comptroller Hamre, who initiated the program in June 1994, mentioned this operation, as well as other financial reform efforts, during Congressional testimony in May.
Operation Mongoose was designed to detect and to stop fraudulent and erroneous payments to vendors or active-duty, retired, or civilian personnel. Using sophisticated computer technology to run complex matches, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and Defense Manpower Data Center can identify anomalies that may indicate fraud. The DoD Inspector General then investigates the case.
In addition, Mongoose has enabled the Pentagon to help some retirees and annuitants resolve pay issues and receive thousands of dollars to which they were entitled.
According to DFAS Director Richard F. Keevey, Operation Mongoose may be an “after the fact” process to detect fraud, but another of the program’s goals is to reduce the vulnerability of the Pentagon’s computer network to intrusion.
Privatized Housing, 10 Years Later
In Massachusetts, privatized housing for military members is not just a concept but a reality. As the Pentagon begins to develop new initiatives to privatize its military housing, a 10-year-old effort at Hanscom AFB, Mass., seems to offer some valuable experience.
In 1986, Hanscom officials began a build-to-lease project to eliminate quickly a shortage of 163 housing units. The Claremont Development Corp. began construction in the spring and delivered the keys to the first townhouse-style single-family homes in March 1987. All 163 units, known as Patriot Village, were completed by November 1987.
Under the 1986 build-to-lease agreement, which committed the government to a 20-year lease, the contractor had to secure his own financing and build on or near Hanscom AFB.
At the end of 20 years, the Air Force can purchase the village at fair market value, continue the lease another 10 years, or turn the site over to Claremont.
Today, base officials state that a life-cycle economic comparison shows the village to be more cost-effective, when all construction and maintenance costs are considered, than it would have been under the standard military construction program. According to Claremont officials, the company considers the project a good investment and would be pleased to begin work on another.
Village residents also seem happy, citing spaciousness and fast maintenance service by the contractor. One noncommissioned officer who has lived in other Air Force base housing stated he and his family consider it “the best house we’ve had in 16 years” and declined to move when he was promoted to master sergeant.
FAA Clears Alaska Airspace Makeover
The Air Force received final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration on April 22 on its plan to modify the military airspace operating areas in Alaska.
The approval culminated four years of work begun by Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, then 11th Air Force commander and now vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Ralston invited Alaskans to take an active role in the modification process.
Many of the state’s residents accepted the offer and worked with the Air Force, creating what is now viewed as a model for civil-military airspace partnerships, according to Alaskan Command officials.
Working with Alaskan residents and special interest groups, Air Force officials were able to alter USAF plans to avoid potential problems, such as interfering with migratory caribou herds, which still provide subsistence for some native Alaskan tribes.
According to Lt. Col. Bob Siter, a charter member of the airspace initiative team, interaction with residents and civic leaders made the approval possible. “We made over 30 significant modifications and mitigations to our major flying exercise and routine readiness training programs, based on our positive interaction with the people of Alaska,” he said.
More Eyes on Gulf War Illnesses
The Pentagon announced May 1 that Defense Secretary Cohen had asked former Sen. Warren B. Rudman to conduct an outside review of DoD findings on Persian Gulf War illnesses issues.
In a letter to Rudman, Cohen stated that the Pentagon team working on the issues is “making steady and significant progress in [its] efforts to reconstruct events and to understand the factors that may have harmed the health of Gulf War veterans.” He also cited the more than 80 research projects under way.
Noting that the results of these investigations will soon be available, Cohen called on Rudman to make “whatever recommendations you believe appropriate, based on the findings of the investigations.”
Additionally, he asked Rudman to “pay attention to the cooperation between the Department of Defense and the intelligence community and suggest ways to improve the provision, handling, and use of intelligence information during battle.” The intelligence community, including the Central Intelligence Agency and DoD assets, has come under fire for failure to provide information it had possessed about chemical weapons in Iraq during the Gulf War.
The Great Flood
In the recent historic flooding that inundated the towns of Grand Forks, N.D., and East Grand Forks, Minn., Air Force and other DoD personnel—active-duty, National Guard, and civilian—responded in force.
Even before the Red River began its dramatic rise and overflow, airmen at Grand Forks AFB, N.D., 17 miles west of the city of Grand Forks, began establishing what became known as “Sandbag Central.” The base eventually set up 24-hour sandbag filling operations, as well as housing, food, medical care, water, and more to benefit the more than 60,000 people displaced by the flood.
Help also came from other Air Mobility Command units around the country. AMC and public health-service medical teams, AMC civil engineering troops, and AMC chaplains, along with supplies, power generators, and communications gear, were ferried in by USAF aircraft. Various Guard, Grand Forks AFB, and Coast Guard units flew more than 100 helicopter missions to evacuate nearly 1,700 flood victims.
Grand Forks AFB sheltered and fed more than 3,000 civilian evacuees. Some 700 displaced base families (1,200 people) found shelter with other Air Force members who lived on base. Base medical personnel helped evacuate about 300 hospital patients from the city to the base hospital and arranged immediate medical airlift for 50 critical-care patients to Minneapolis. Grand Forks AFB became the area’s medical management center.
And base civil engineers had to find alternate sources of water, since base water normally came from the city. Instead, Grand Forks AFB wound up supplying approximately 1.2 million gallons of water per day to the city.
USAF Bombers Ace Mine-Laying
The Air Force’s B-1B bomber added a new capability to its repertoire, and the venerable B-52 once again proved its worth as the two long-range aircraft supported the Navy with underwater mine-laying.
In April, B-1Bs from Ellsworth AFB, S.D., dropped Navy Mk. 62 Quick Strike underwater mines to test the sweptwing bomber’s capability in a role once performed primarily by B-52s. The Navy wanted to use the B-1Bs because of their large payload capability, compared to Navy aircraft.
A few days later in a US-NATO aerial mining exercise named Blue Harrier ’97, two Barksdale AFB, La., B-52s proved they could still get the job done. In fact, they were the only two aircraft participating in the mine-laying that were able to make it through rough weather to the target over the North Sea.
The B-52 crews flew 9,000 miles with two aerial refuelings on the 23-hour mission.
National Memorial Honors Six SPs
The names of six Air Force Security Police officers killed in the line of duty were added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in ceremonies May 12 in Washington, D.C.:
TSgt. Thomas L. Campbell was shot by a 16-year-old boy stealing a bicycle at Maxwell AFB, Ala., on March 26, 1978.
Civilian SP Robert R. Dover was killed March 18, 1979, at Kelly AFB, Tex., when a car ran through his guard post.
SrA. Robert Scott Gray was fatally stabbed while trying to apprehend trespassers on Clark AB, the Philippines, on February 6, 1978.
A1C Roy Lee Hursey was killed March 27, 1963, at Eielson AFB, Alaska, when an aircraft struck his guard gate.
Sgt. Stacy Edward Levay, a commissary security clerk at Andersen AFB, Guam, was killed January 1, 1992, while trying to stop a robbery.
SrA. Timothy Royce Riggs, assigned to Whiteman AFB, Mo., was electrocuted after touching his car, which had come into contact with a damaged power line after he stopped to render assistance at an accident on December 11, 1991.
News Notes
USAF Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Thomas S. Moorman, Jr., will retire on August 1. Lt. Gen. (Gen. selectee) Ralph E. Eberhart, commander of US Forces Japan, and commander, 5th Air Force, Yokota AB, Japan, was nominated to replace him.
Lt. Gen. (Gen. selectee) Richard B. Myers, currently assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been nominated to replace Gen. John G. Lorber, who retires August 1 as commander of Pacific Air Forces, Hickam AFB, Hawaii.
1st Lt. Joseph C. Thomas, 347th Wing, Moody AFB, Ga., ejected safely before his F-16 crashed on April 21 in an unpopulated area about seven miles southwest of Pearson, Ga., while he was en route from Moody to a training range.
1st Lt. Paul Murray, with the 27th Fighter Wing, Cannon AFB, N.M., ejected safely from his F-16 before it crashed during a routine training mission on May 12 about five miles north of Vaughn, N.M.
The Navy and the US Fish and Wildlife Service dedicated the island of Midway as a National Wildlife Refuge on April 3. Located about 1,250 miles northwest of Honolulu, Hawaii, and best known for the Battle of Midway during World War II, the island has been under Navy jurisdiction since 1903. After being closed for more than 50 years, Midway is now open to the public.
US and North Korean negotiators agreed in May to conduct three joint recovery operations to search for remains of Americans buried in North Korea and to begin joint archival investigations this year.
USAF navigator Lt. Col. Marcelyn A. Atwood made history March 21 when she became the first woman to command a training squadron, at NAS Pensacola, Fla., and the first Air Force officer to command a Navy squadron.
The R-model U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flew its last operational mission from Istres AB, France, on February 21 when Maj. Domenick Eanniello, 99th Reconnaissance Squadron, Beale AFB, Calif., flew Dragonlady in support of Operation Deliberate Guard. Beale’s four overseas detachments now fly the U-2S with a lighter, more fuel-efficient engine that allows the aircraft to fly higher and farther.
Lt. Col. Stephen T. Washington, Cannon AFB, N.M., and SMSgt. Richard E. Hauck, Kadena AB, Japan, received the 1996 Gen. Lew Allen, Jr., Trophy, the top award in Air Force maintenance, for their work in generating aircraft.
Air Force Special Operations Command, Hurlburt Field, Fla., won the service’s top three safety awards for 1996.
The Air Reserve Personnel Center, Denver, Colo., made the best use of its human resources to win the Air Force Association’s 1997 Verne Orr Award.
Hurlburt Field received the National Restaurant Association’s 1997 John L. Hennessy, Jr., trophy for the single-facility category.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization formed a joint program office for the national missile defense program on April 1. The new JPO is responsible for design, development, and demonstration of an NMD system, if an analysis of the ballistic missile threat to the US conducted at the end of its development phase determines an NMD is needed. It could be operational in 2003, according to a DoD release.
Robert Q. Fugate, a physicist at Phillips Laboratory’s Starfire Optical Range, Kirtland AFB, N.M., received a decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service for demonstrating the concept of laser adaptive optics—a key element of the Air Force’s Attack Laser aircraft program—to compensate for atmospheric turbulence. The accomplishment is akin to Nobel Prize–level research, said Maj. Gen. Richard R. Paul, commander of the service’s new Air Force Research Laboratory.
Reservists from the 916th Air Refueling Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., dedicated one of their KC-135E aircraft to the Tuskegee Airmen in May. The refueler’s nose now displays a portrait of legendary Tuskegee Airman Lt. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis and a P-51 Mustang with the words “Lonely Eagles” and “Tuskegee Airmen” on opposite sides.
Lackland AFB, Tex., became USAF’s first repeat winner of the Commander in Chief’s Installation Excellence Award by earning it in 1996 and 1997.
Capt. Ron Brown, 613th Air Intelligence Flight, Andersen AFB, Guam, is the second Air Force member in a row to win the National Operations Security Individual Achievement Award. He won the award while with the 35th Fighter Wing, Misawa AB, Japan.
SSgt. Alfredo R. Guerrero, a law enforcement specialist at Edwards AFB, Calif., received the Non-Commissioned Officers Association’s 1997 Vanguard Award for the Air Force for his “heroic actions and lifesaving measures” following the bombing at Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on June 25, 1996.
After nearly 19 years in storage in the Arizona desert, the McDonnell Douglas YC-15 transport aircraft flew in April for the first time since 1978. It was developed as a possible follow-on to the turboprop C-130, but many technologies originally demonstrated on the YC-15, including its short-field landing capability, were later used on USAF’s new C-17 airlifter. McDonnell Douglas has leased the YC-15 back from the Air Force as a test-bed for advanced technologies for the C-17 and potentially for future airlift aircraft.
A B-1B from the 28th Bomb Squadron, Dyess AFB, Tex., became the first B-1B to reach the 4,000 flying-hours milestone on April 24. B-1B tail number 860132, Oh Hard Luck, took off with 3,999.5 hours, passing over the runway as it reached 4,000. The unit designated the bomber as its lead aircraft because of its reliability.
A McDonnell Douglas Delta II on May 5 successfully boosted five Iridium satellites into orbit from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
SSgt. Todd Vangen, a radar approach controller at Ellsworth AFB, S.D., received the Gen. Gordon E. Blake Aircraft Save Award April 30 for saving a student pilot last year when her single-engine Piper Cherokee lost all power. A licensed pilot, Vangen was able to talk her through the necessary steps to restart the engine. He was assigned to Grand Forks AFB at the time.
MSgt. Jerry Sutton, Keesler AFB, Miss., earned the Secretary of Defense Productivity Excellence Award for his concept for a training program for the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft. The concept’s workstation is also reconfigurable for the EC-130 Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center and E-8 Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System aircraft.
Lt. Col. Ivette Falto-Heck, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., and TSgt. Jose J. Hernandez, Tyndall AFB, Fla., won 1997 National Image Inc. Meritorious Service Awards for the Air Force, based on their efforts to increase opportunities for Hispanics in the military and in their communities.
The 2d Bomb Wing, Barksdale AFB, La., won the Omaha Trophy as the best aircraft unit in US Strategic Command for 1996—for the second time in the last three years.
Five Air Force Space Command teams won “best of the best” honors during Guardian Challenge. They were 1st Space Operations Squadron, Falcon AFB, Colo.; 320th Missile Squadron, Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyo.; 5th Space Launch Squadron, Patrick AFB, Fla.; 821st Space Group, Buckley ANGB, Colo.; and 20th Space Surveillance Squadron, Eglin AFB, Fla.
PACAF’s 3d Wing from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, won honors at Readiness Challenge VI, which pits civil engineers, services, chaplain services, and public affairs personnel in 25 events, held at Tyndall AFB, Fla.
Obituary
Gen. Robert D. Russ, former commander of Tactical Air Command, died of cancer on May 23 in Shalimar, Fla. He was 64. Russ retired from active duty in 1991, shortly after the Persian Gulf War. As the Gulf crisis unfolded in 1990–91, the Air Force delayed his retirement by several months to keep in place one of its most experienced commanders. As a result, Russ completed nearly six years as commander of TAC, which later merged with Strategic Air Command to form Air Combat Command. Russ entered the Air Force in 1955 through the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps program at Washington State University. Throughout his 36-year career, he flew F-84, F-100, F-101, and F-4 aircraft, flying 242 combat missions in the F-4 during the Vietnam War.
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Senior Staff Changes RETIREMENTS: B/G Richard T. Banholzer, M/G Lee A. Downer, M/G George B. Harrison, B/G Howard J. Ingersoll, L/G Ervin J. Rokke, B/G Thomas J. Scanlan, Jr. PROMOTIONS: To be Lieutenant General: Stewart E. Cranston.
To be ANG Brigadier General: Tommy L. Daniels.
CHANGES: M/G Thomas J. Keck, from Dir., Strategy, P&P, J-5, Hq. USSOUTHCOM, Quarry Heights, Panama, to Vice Cmdr., 12th AF, ACC, and Vice Cmdr., USSOUTHCOM Air Forces, USSOUTHCOM, and AF Component Vice Cmdr., USSTRATCOM, Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., replacing retiring M/G Nels Running . . . Col. (B/G selectee) Christopher A. Kelly, from Cmdr., 100th ARW, USAFE, RAF Mildenhall, UK, to Cmdr., 97th AMW, AETC, Altus AFB, Okla., replacing B/G (M/G selectee) David R. Love . . . B/G (M/G selectee) Rodney P. Kelly, from Dir., Plans, J-5, Hq. NORAD, Peterson AFB, Colo., to Dir., Ops., J-3, Hq. USSPACECOM, Peterson AFB, Colo., replacing retired B/G Thomas J. Scanlan, Jr. . . . M/G Timothy A. Kinnan, from Dep. Cmdr., 5th ATAF, Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, NATO, Vicenza, Italy, to Commandant, Air War College, AU, AETC, Maxwell AFB, Ala., replacing retiring M/G Donald B. Smith. Col. (B/G selectee) Jeffrey B. Kohler, from Sr. US Rep., Allied Air Forces Central Europe, Ramstein AB, Germany, to Cmdr., 100th ARW, USAFE, RAF Mildenhall, UK, replacing Col. (B/G selectee) Christopher A. Kelly . . . M/G Michael C. Kostelnik, from Dir., Plans, Hq. AFMC, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to Cmdr., AFDTC, AFMC, Eglin AFB, Fla., replacing M/G (L/G selectee) Stewart E. Cranston . . . B/G (M/G selectee) David R. Love, from Cmdr., 97th AMW, AETC, Altus AFB, Okla., to Dep. Cmdr., 6th ATAF, Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, NATO, Izmir AS, Turkey, replacing M/G William S. Hinton, Jr. . . . B/G Timothy P. Malishenko, from Dep. Ass’t Sec’y (Contracting), Ass’t Sec’y of the Air Force for Acquisition, Hq. USAF, Washington, D. C., to Dep. Dir., Acquisition, and Cmdr., Defense Contract Mgmt. Command, DLA, Fort Belvoir, Va., replacing retiring M/G Robert W. Drewes. Col. (B/G selectee) Richard A. Mentemeyer, from Exec. Officer to CINC, USTRANSCOM, and Cmdr., Hq. AMC, Scott AFB, Ill., to Cmdr., 12th FTW, AETC, Randolph AFB, Tex., replacing B/G Garry R. Trexler . . . Col. (B/G selectee) Paul D. Nielsen, from Command Dir., Cheyenne Mountain Ops. Ctr., NORAD/USSPACECOM, Cheyenne Mountain AS, Colo., to Dir., Plans, J-5, Hq. NORAD, Peterson AFB, Colo., replacing B/G (M/G selectee) Rodney P. Kelly . . . B/G Timothy A. Peppe, from Dep. Cmdr., 16th AF, USAFE, and Dir., Combined Air Ops. Ctr., 5th ATAF, Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, NATO, Vicenza, Italy, to Cmdr., 31st FW, USAFE, Aviano AB, Italy, replacing B/G Charles F. Wald . . . M/G Richard H. Roellig, from Dir., Contracting, Hq. AFMC, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to Cmdr., Ogden ALC, AFMC, Hill AFB, Utah, replacing retiring M/G Stephen P. Condon. B/G Garry R. Trexler, from Cmdr., 12th FTW, AETC, Randolph AFB, Tex., to Dep. Cmdr., 5th ATAF, Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, NATO, Vicenza, Italy, replacing M/G Timothy A. Kinnan . . . Col. (B/G selectee) Scott P. Van Cleef, from Dep. Dir., Jt. Matters, DCS/Air and Space Ops., Hq. USAF, Washington, D. C., to Dep. Cmdr., 16th AF, USAFE, and Dir., Combined Air Ops. Ctr., 5th ATAF, Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, NATO, Vicenza, Italy, replacing B/G Timothy A. Peppe . . . B/G Charles F. Wald, from Cmdr., 31st FW, USAFE, Aviano AB, Italy, to Spec. Ass’t to C/S, USAF, for National Defense Review, Hq. USAF, Washington, D. C., replacing retiring M/G Charles D. Link . . . Col. (B/G selectee) Craig P. Weston, from Prgm. Dir., SBIRS, Office of the Ass’t Sec’y of the Air Force for Acquisition, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., to PEO, C3, AFPEO, Ass’t Sec’y of the Air Force for Acquisition, Hq. USAF, Washington, D. C. SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE (SES) RETIREMENTS: James J. Mattice, Walter A. Willson.
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50 Years Ago in Air Force Magazine July 1947 On the cover: The aircraft is identified as a Republic “P-82” Thunderjet—a mistake, for which the magazine was later taken to task. It’s the P-84, of course, going into service with the Army Air Forces at Bangor, Me. It had recently set a new American speed record at 617.8 mph. ¦ The magazine reprints a speech to Congress by Sen. R. Owen Brewster (R-Me.), who points to diminished funding and falling aircraft production and says the US is becoming a “third-rate airpower.” ¦ For the first time since the war, the Aviation Cadet program is reactivated and opens to civilians. In July, the first 500 cadets begin the 52-week course leading to a commission and a pilot’s rating in the AAF. A second class of 500 will enter training in October. ¦ Howard Hughes, demonstrating a “spectacular use of wood,” puts his huge flying boat—which would be known to history as the Spruce Goose—through testing at Long Beach, Calif. The enormous airplane is constructed almost entirely of wood. ¦ AAF planners calculate a requirement for a 70-group Air Force with 400,000 personnel. Air Force Magazine says the budget provides for no more than 55 groups and perhaps 350,000 people. (By the end of the year, personnel strength will drop to 305,000.) ¦ Col. Hubert A. “Hub” Zemke, liaison between the AAF and the Russian Air Force, tells AFA members at the Alabama State Convention that “we have no problem with Russian people, but with their government.” ¦ Former WASPs, organized as the Order of Fifinella, begin compiling a directory of all who served as Women’s Airforce Service Pilots. |