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SSgt Robert Bruce McClelland, Jr.
to remember
Brown, George Scratchley, Gen USAF(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Montclair
Last Address Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland
Date of Passing Dec 05, 1978
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
George S. Brown became the first Air Force chief of staff since General Nathan Twining to hold the position of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As Chairman, Brown served three presidents during an era of limited budgets and constrained force structure. His military career spanned a technological revolution in weaponry.
He started his combat career by flying heavy bombers in the European theater in World War II and retired as a four-star general when the cruise missile rivaled the manned bomber.
He was born in Montclair, New Jersey, in August 1918. He was the son of a West Point graduate and career cavalry officer. He graduated from high school in Leavenworth, Kansas, and, after attending the University of Missouri for a year, he received a congressional appointment to the U.S. Military Academy. He graduated from West Point in 1941 and entered flight training at Pine Bluff, Arkansas He received his pilot's wings at Kelly Field, Texas in 1942.
Following flight training, he went to Barksdale Field, Louisiana, where he became a member of the initial cadre of the 93rd Bombardment Group, flying B-24 Liberators. After a brief stint flying antisubmarine patrol at Fort Myers, Florida, he transferred in August 1942 with the 93rd Bombardment Group, the first B�??24 group to join the Eighth Air Force in England.
Until April 1944, he served in various capacities with the 93rd. As group executive officer, he took part in famous low-level bombing raids against oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, on August 1, 1943. The 93rd was the second of five B-24 groups that raided Ploesti from a temporary base at Benghazi, Libya. Led by its commander, Lt. Col. Addison Baker, the 93rd flew directly into heavy defenses to hit three of the six targeted refineries. The lead plane and 10 others were shot down or crashed on the target. Brown, then a major, took over lead of the battered 93rd and led it back to Benghazi. For his actions on that mission, he received the nation's second highest military award, the Distinguished Service Cross.
His next appointment was as assistant operations officer, 2nd Air Division, in May 1944. The following May he assumed similar duties with Headquarters Air Training Command at Fort Worth, Texas. In 1946 he joined Headquarters Air Defense Command at Mitchel Field, New York., as assistant to air chief of staff, operations and later became assistant deputy of operations.
In July 1950, during the Korean War, Brown assumed command of the 62nd Troop Carrier Group at McChord Air Force Base, Washington In 1951 and the early months of 1952, he commanded the 56th Fighter Wing at Selfridge AFB, Michigan, and in May 1952, joined Fifth Air Force headquarters at Seoul, Korea.
In July 1953, Brown assumed command of Williams AFB, Arizona. After completing National War College, he served as executive to the chief of staff, Headquarters U.S. Air Force until 1959 and continued to serve at the Pentagon for the next four years.
Promoted to brigadier general in August 1959, Brown became commander of the Eastern Transport Air Force, McGuire AFB, New Jersey, in August 1963. In September of the next year he was selected to organize Joint Task Force II, a JCS unit formed at Sandia Base, New Mexico, to test the weapon systems of all the military services.
He served as assistant to the chairman of the JCS in Washington, D.C., from August 1, 1966, to August 1, 1968, when he assumed command of the Seventh Air Force and became deputy commander of air operations, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. In September 1970 Brown became commander of the Air Force Systems Command at Andrews AFB, Maryland. It was the mission of this command to provide the weapon systems and meet the technological needs of the total Air Force mission.
On August 1, 1973, President Richard Nixon appointed Brown to be chief of staff of the Air Force. As chief, Brown worked to enhance the Air Force strategic bomber program and to replace the aging B-52s with B-1s, which could carry larger payloads and penetrate deeper into enemy territory.
As chairman of the JCS, much of his time was consumed with Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty talks that focused on finding a formula by which the U.S. lead in missile reentry vehicles would offset Soviet superiority in missile throw-weight. Brown led the Joint Chiefs in urging U.S. air and naval deployments to South Vietnam following the U.S. pullout. But public and congressional opposition to any further involvement in Vietnam precluded approval of any military action.
Brown also participated in decision making over the U.S. response to two confrontations in the Far East that were widely perceived as tests of U.S. will in the aftermath of the communist takeover of South Vietnam. These were the Mayaguez incident in May 1975 and the shooting of two U.S. officers and wounding of another by North Korean guards in August 1976 in the demilitarized zone that divided the two Koreas. He also played a significant role in the success of the 1977 negotiations transferring the Panama Canal to Panama.
Brown continued as chairman until his retirement in June 1978. He had contracted cancer and was hospitalized intermittently until his death in December 1978.
Sources compiled from Air Force History Support Office.
ADDITIONAL MEDALS/RIBBONSAWARDS FROM FOREIGN SERVICES INCLUDE :
1. CHEON-SU SECURITY RIBBON (SOUTH KOREA)
Other Comments:
I considered General Brown a friend.
Jackson L. Otis, MSgt, USAF Retired
1941-1942, B-24 Liberator
From Year 1941
To Year 1942
Personal Memories
Not Specified
Image
B-24 Liberator Details
Aircraft/Missile Information
Specifications
Model Consolidated B-24J Liberator Length 67.16 ft | 20.47 m Width 110.01 ft | 33.53 m Height 18.01 ft | 5.49 m Engine(s) 4 x Pratt & Whitney R-1830-65 radial piston engines generating 1,200hp. Empty Weight 36,500 lbs | 16,556 kg MTOW 65,001 lbs | 29,484 kg Max Speed 290 mph | 467 km/h | 252 kts Max Range 2,001 miles | 3,220 km Ceiling 28,002 ft | 8,535 m | 5.3 miles Climb Rate 800 ft/min (243.84 m/min) Hardpoints 0 Armament 2 x 12.7mm machine guns in nose assembly. 2 x 12.7mm machine guns in tail assembly. 2 x 12.7mm machine guns in upper-fuselage turret. 2 x 12.7mm machine guns in under-fuselage assembly. 1 x 12.7mm machine gun in left-waist fuselage position. 1 x 12.7mm machine gun in right-waist fuselage position.
Up to 8,800lbs of internal bombs. Accommodations 10 Operators the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
* Model 31 - Flying Boat Model whose wing assembly would become the basis for the B-24 design. * Model 32 - Base B-24 Model Series Designation. * XB-24 - Initial Prototype Model Designation fitted with R-1830-33 radial piston engines generating 1,200hp. * YB-24 - Preproduction Model Designation * B-24A - Fitted with 2 x 7.62mm tail guns, 6 x 12.7mm machine guns in nose assembly, dorsal and waist gun positions. * B-24C - Fitted with turbocharged R-1830-41 engines; 8 x 12.7mm machine guns - nose (single gun), ventral, waist (left and right), dorsal turret (two guns) and tail turret (two guns). * B-24D - Based on the B-24C model but fitted with R-1830-43 engines; later models of this series would feature the twin 12.7mm ball turret gun assembly in the ventral fuselage position; self-sealing fuel tanks; 2,381 produced. * B-24E - Modified propeller systems; 801 produced. * B-24G - Fitted with R-1830-43 engines; powered nose turret with 2 x 12.7mm machine guns. * B-24H - Improved Model with extended nose section; 3,100 produced. * B-24J - Fitted with R-1830-65 engines; improved bombsight; autopilot functionality; 6,678 produced. * B-24L - Based on B-24J model but fitted with hand-operated tail guns; 1,667 produced. * B-24M - Based on B-24J model with lighter mounting for hand-operated tail gun; 2,593 produced. * XB-24Q - General Electric Conversion Model of B-24L model fitted with radio-controlled tail turret. * B-24Q - Final Production Model Designation * B-24Q * LB-30 - Transport Variant * C-87 - Air Force Transport Variant * RY - Navy Transport Variant * C-109 - Fuel Tanking Model * F-7 - Photographic Reconnaissance Model * PB4Y-1 - Patrol Bombing Model * PB4Y-2 - Specialized Model with single vertical tail surface assembly. * GR - British Maritime Reconnaissance Model.