Goldwater, Barry Morris, Maj Gen

REMEMBRANCE IN PROGRESS - SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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Note:
Throughout his entire military aviation career, MG Goldwater is usually said to have become qualified to fly between 165-250 (depending on who is reporting) different, mostly single or dual engine, aircraft due to his long service in Ferrying Command worldwide. The aircraft illustrated to the right of this page are ones which can be verified as having been flown by him through photographs or other documents, along with ones that the units in which he served are known to have flown during his years based on educated guesswork. For anyone to have piloted either 165 or 250 different aircraft would encompass nearly every known USAAF regular issue bird; and the record states that he did not become 4-engine qualified until late in his career. So, the estimates of number may have been apocryphal, and probably included several platforms he likely flew as a private civilian pilot starting in 1930 until his stroke late in life. For example he did, once, take the controls of an SST Concorde, though one doubts he had been checked out and qualified to land it nor that he himself would ever have claimed to have been.

After serving in gunnery he began aviation in the Army Reserves as an aerial photographer due to eyesight deficiencies, but learned military flying at the same time, and quickly earned his wings in the USAAC because he had been a pilot prior to enlistment and they were desperate for pilots. He ended up being appointed to the Aviation Hall of Fame and the Visitor's Center at the USAF Academy is named in his honor.
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USAAF-USAF photographs reproduced with permission of Arizona Memory Project

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APPRECIATION
Barry Goldwater, Patriot and Politician
By John McCain
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, May 30, 1998; Page E1

There are some people in public life who speak their minds candidly, whose honesty and passion for the truth, as God has given them light to see the truth, contrasts starkly with the sail-trimming and obfuscation so common in political speech today.

Then there are those politicians who pride themselves on being accomplished legislators, whose careers are marked by lasting contributions to the governance of their country, who toil for years at the often dull and exacting work of lawmaking.

Barry Goldwater was the rare politician who managed to be both, an outspoken, truth-telling patriot who took his obligations as a lawmaker seriously and who helped shape the destiny of a great nation. His uncommon honesty and ability made him an American legend in his own time.

It sometimes seems today as if we mistake notoriety or ephemeral celebrity for legend. But the attention accorded by the media heroes of the moment often passes as quickly as it arrives. Goldwater earned the high regard that a grateful nation held him in for so many years, and will still hold him in long after today's passing objects of the public eye fade into obscurity.

Barry Goldwater, who died yesterday at 89, built his reputation on the firmer ground of honor and duty. He once wrote that he was "better equipped to be a military officer than a politician. There's no greater service to this country than the defense of its freedom." That self-assessment was uncharacteristically mistaken. Barry was a superb military officer, but he was also an extraordinarily gifted politician. That he was an unusually open, honest and no-nonsense politician did not make him unsuited for the profession, only uncommon. In uniform and in politics, Barry's purpose was the defense of freedom, and nobody before or since managed the task more ably or more colorfully. He was an authentic, original and passionate patriot.

When we recall Barry Goldwater's long and distinguished career, we are reminded of the best attributes of a public servant. A great person's biography is marked by consistency, integrity and lasting achievement. Such was the life and career of Barry Goldwater. He held his principles close to his heart, where he held his love of country. He lived his public and private lives according to those principles, and woe to the miscreant who ran afoul of them. He always rushed to defend his ground, whether or not the ground he defended was in fashion at the time.

The changes in political attitudes that occur regularly in any nation's history often weaken the resolve of ordinary statesmen. But extraordinary statesmen do not let the vagaries of public opinion impair their vision or weaken their heart. Whether or not the times favored him, Barry believed in what he was doing. He did not tailor his message or trim his cause in deference to the prevailing sentiments about the style and purpose of politics. He made the times come to him.

Harry Truman once said that he never gave anybody hell. "I just tell the truth," he said, "and they think it's hell." Throughout his life, Barry Goldwater told a lot of truth to a lot of people. Two years ago, I went to see Barry. We talked about campaign finance reform. I told him that most of the Republicans were opposed to it. This giant of the Republican Party looked at me, paused and said, "Well, to hell with them."

On occasion, I found myself the beneficiary of Barry's truth-telling. The memory of the experience cautions me to this day to discharge my responsibilities in such a way so that I might avoid giving Barry too much cause to further enlighten me.

It is nearly impossible to list all his accomplishments in a public career that spanned four decades. Nor can the most detailed list adequately explain the extraordinary national and international importance of Barry Goldwater's public service. But even a cursory glance at his achievements indicates the breadth of his interests, and the strength of his devotion to Americans.

Much has been written about how Barry never gave a damn for the perquisites of high office or for the blandishments of public relations specialists who sometimes seem to have seized control of American politics. But no one ever mistook Barry's self-confidence for an absence of concern for America. From his dedicated and just service to Native Americans while serving on the Indian Affairs Committee to his special care for our national heritage, exemplified by his authorship of the Grand Canyon Park Enlargement Act, Barry Goldwater gave a damn about his country, not just for his sake, but for ours.

This nation never had a more ardent defender of liberty than Barry Goldwater. Simply put, he was in love with freedom. He could never abide any restriction on the exercise of freedom as long as that exercise did not interfere with someone else's freedom. No matter the prevailing political sensibilities, no matter the personal risk to his career, no political gain was so important to Barry that it was worth infringing on another American's freedom.

Americans conceive of freedom in many ways: the freedom to be left alone or to join with others in a common purpose; the freedom to prosper or to waste; the freedom to worship God in whatever way we choose or not to worship at all; the freedom to say whatever we like or to remain silent; the freedom to succeed or to fail; the freedom to be brave or cowardly; the freedom to be generous or selfish; to be prideful or humble; to be good or not.

Barry defended freedom in all its manifestations because he saw what freedom conferred on America ? the distinction of being the last, best hope of humanity, the haven and advocate for all who believe in the God-given dignity of the human being. Barry loved his country because freedom is America's honor.

His outspoken defense of liberty at home was equaled by the care he took in protecting our security abroad. Perhaps his most lasting legislative achievement was the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act. Only Barry had the stature and resolve to undertake the systemic reform of the military. And, as we observed the splendid performance of our military in the Persian Gulf War, notably free of the chain-of-command and service-rivalry problems of the past, and saw the extraordinary effectiveness of their weapons, from the Patriot Missile to the M1 tank, we witnessed the great contribution Barry Goldwater made to the defense of our freedoms. It is no exaggeration to say that today's American armed forces, which have no equal, are the armed forces Barry Goldwater created.

I am both blessed and burdened to have succeeded Barry Goldwater to the United States Senate. I am blessed by the honor of it, but burdened by the certain knowledge that long after I have left public office, Americans will still celebrate the contributions Barry Goldwater made to their well-being, while I and my successors will enjoy much less notable reputations. Barry Goldwater will always be the Senator from Arizona, the one history recalls with appreciation and delight. In all the histories of American politics, Barry Goldwater will remain a chapter unto himself. The rest of us will have to make do as footnotes.

John McCain, a Republican, is the senior U.S. senator from Arizona.
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From National Aviation Hall of Fame:

Barry Goldwater


Promoter

Barry Goldwater served a dual role during World War II. By day, he flew vital supplies in and out of U.S. military installations. In his spare time, he used the empty supply planes to take war-weary servicemen, who often had to wait months for a ship home, back to the United States. Goldwater realized how inappropriate this practice was when an Army inspector ordered him to stop it. He quickly changed his mind, however, when the inspector left the premises.

During World War II oversaw the construction of a flying school at Yuma, Arizona, where he earned his wings.
Participated in ferrying fighter planes to Europe and as chief pilot flying supply routes to the China-Burma-India Theater.
Elected to the senate in 1952 and co-sponsored legislation creating the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
In 1964, he was a U.S. Presidential candidate.
As a senator, he supported NASA research programs, all-volunteer military, the National Air and Space Museum, recognizing WASP pilots as World War II veterans and building a Vietnam War Memorial.

Biography

Enshrined 1982
1909-1998

During the Great Depression, while he was still a clerk in his family's mercantile store in Phoenix, Barry Goldwater was bitten by the "flying bug" and started to take flying lessons. When he soloed in 1930 and his mother learned that he had secretly earned a pilot license, she scolded him, saying, "If you had told me, I would have learned with you".

At Christmas of 1934, Goldwater received a gift of a fine camera from his beautiful new wife, Margaret Johnson. This gift turned Goldwater toward what would become his most rewarding hobby. By 1940 Goldwater had taken enough outstanding photos to publish his first book, Arizona Portraits.

In 1939, when World War II erupted in Europe, Barry was not only president of Goldwater's (the family store), but also a first lieutenant in the Army Reserves. Meanwhile, a great buildup of American airpower was underway and a flight training school opened at Luke field near Phoenix. As chairman of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce's Armed Service Committee that he visited the new field. When its commander discovered that Goldwater was both an Arizonan and a reserve officer, he quickly signed him up for a one-year tour of active duty with the Air Corps. The commander desperately needed someone who knew his way around the state.

Reporting to Luke in August 1941, Goldwater was quickly disappointed to find that his vision deficiencies and age disqualified him from pilot training. Instead, he became a public relations officer and also attended the Air Corps Supply School at Patterson Field. However, Goldwater's camera was what finally opened the door to flying, for when he returned, he found that every new pilot wanted to be photographed flying his plane. Aloft in an accompanying plane, Goldwater took a photo of a pilot. Then his own pilot allowed him assume the controls and log the flight time.

Soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Goldwater oversaw the building of an advanced flying school at Yuma, Arizona, where he earned his wings in 1942. As its director of gunnery, he helped to develop the vastly superior "curve of pursuit" training method, which revolutionized gunnery results and which the Army Air Forces adopted. In 1943, Goldwater transferred to the air transport command, ferrying warplanes and supplies to overseas war zones. Soon afterwards, he experienced his most famous war duty while serving as operations officer of the 27th Ferry Squadron. Goldwater volunteered to participate in the first and only attempt to ferry fighter planes to Europe. Taking off from New York in P-47 Thunderbolts equipped with extra fuel tanks, he and nine other pilots flew to Newfoundland. After reaching Greenland, they headed for Iceland, knowing that a forced landing in the frigid Atlantic meant certain death. Fortunately, they arrived safely in Scotland. It was an epic adventure for which Goldwater received the coveted Air Medal.

Goldwater's next assignment was as chief pilot of the "Crescent" supply route. Operating out of La Guardia, its C-54 transports carried vital supplies across the Atlantic to the Azores, then skipped across North Africa, and ended up in India, where America's first B-29 bombers were based. Later Goldwater became chief pilot of the "Fireball" route operating out of Miami to Brazil, then across the South Atlantic to Africa and on to India. Goldwater sometimes showed his nonconformist personality as a chief pilot. When he found war-weary servicemen waiting for months for a ship home, he gave them a free ride to the United States in his empty planes--until an irate Army inspector ordered him to stop. Goldwater obeyed, but only as long as the inspector was on the base.

Now fully qualified to fly four-engine aircraft, Goldwater repeatedly requested to be transferred to the bomber command. Instead, he received orders back to the U.S. to serve as Deputy Director of Operations with the 402nd Air Base Unit at Glendale, California, later to be redesignated as the 318th Fighter Wing and moved to Van Nuys. Upon the conclusion of the war, Goldwater left the service as a lieutenant colonel with four and a half years of active duty.

When Goldwater returned to Phoenix and took up management of Goldwater's, he also purchased a Piper Cub and formed a flying club for store employees. Before he finished, 24 members became licensed pilots. He proceeded to use his new Navion during the "Big Snow" of 1947 to airlift in food and medicine to marooned Hopi Indians, an act that earned support for him from the Hopis. Not long afterwards, the governor of Arizona requested that Goldwater assist to establish an Arizona Air National Guard. The result was the 197th Fighter Squadron, of which he later became chief of staff.

Meanwhile, Goldwater's began his long involvement politics when he served on a commission seeking Congressional approval of a project to divert Colorado River water into central Arizona. He proceeded to serve on the Phoenix Charter Movement Committee which successfully sponsored a new city chapter. Elected to the Phoenix City Council in 1949, he served as its vice chairman and helped the city become widely respected for its management excellence.

Goldwater's Uncle Morris had the greatest influence on Goldwater's thinking by lecturing him for hours about abiding by his convictions. His involvement in state politics continued when he supported Howard Pyle, the Republican candidate for governor, and flew him all over the state in his new Beech Bonanza.

When Goldwater became dissatisfied with the domestic policies of domestic policies and their unwillingness to assure victory in Korea, Barry decided to run for the Senate. He told his family, "the good Lord has been good to us, and perhaps by helping to preserve our freedoms, I can make a real contribution." Despite a lop-sided Democratic registration in Arizona, Goldwater won, but later confessed: "I rode in on Eisenhower's coattails." After taking the oath of office, Goldwater joined the Senate committees in banking, commerce, labor and public welfare. He kept his silence until debate began on price control legislation. At that point Goldwater spoke his mind, proclaiming that a day of reckoning would arrive when government deficit spending would threaten to destroy the nation.

In 1953, Goldwater was assigned to the Air Force Reserves and attached to the Continental Air Command's Fourth Air Force with a "top secret" clearance. While he spent weeks of active duty in his new assignment, he made a special point not to accept the reservist pay to which he was fully entitled. After attending the Senior Officers' Jet Aircraft Instrument School in 1955, he participated in a simulated SAC war mission by making a 16-hour flight in a B-47 Bomber that included fighter attacks, radar bomb runs and in-flight refueling.

In late 1955, Goldwater received an assignment as a ready reservist to Air Defense Command Headquarters as assistant to the Deputy Director for Personnel. Following this assignment, he transferred to the office of the Director of Legislative Liaison at Air Force Headquarters, and traveled to Germany and Austria to study the military air transport system's overseas operations, and those of the Hungarian refugee relief organization. As a result of such special flight duties, he was elevated to "Command" pilot, and a year later graduated from the senior officer's extension course of the Air War College.

Meanwhile, Goldwater continued to speak out, saying that he would not break faith with the American people by supporting the almost frenzied rush to give away the resources and freedoms of America through federal spending programs. He now planted his conservative flag. But despite his conservatism, he supported the expansion of government with regard to matters affecting national security. He supported Alaskan statehood and the creation of the Federal Aviation Agency. By the end of his first term, Goldwater had earned the title, "Mr. Conservative".

After he easily won re-election in 1958, Goldwater was promoted to brigadier general in the Air Force Reserves. He not only piloted a U-2 reconnaissance plane to 50,000 feet, but later made an extensive inspection of the defense early warning line of radar alert stations stretched along the Arctic circle by flying all the way from Greenland over the North Pole to Alaska. After completing a course on guided missiles in 1960, he received an assignment as Assistant to the Deputy Chief for Personnel in Air Force Headquarters, while also training with the 101st Air Base Wing at Andrews Air Force Base. Meanwhile, he co-sponsored the bill suppoprting Hawaiian statehood, as well as one to establish the National Wilderness Preservation System.

A movement now began to nominate Goldwater for President, but it was something he did not desire. Though he was greeted by a tumultuous ovation at the Republican National Convention, Goldwater graciously withdrew in favor of Richard Nixon, who later lost a close election to John F. Kennedy. In 1961, Barry traveled to Vietnam to gain first-hand knowledge about the war situation. Later in the year, he and other leaders visited West Germany, Italy, Turkey, Iran and Spain to assess American military strength and influence.

In 1962, the Goldwater family sold its stores to Associated Dry Goods. However, Barry remained as chairman of its board. That same year, after he receieved a promotion to major general in the Air Force Reserves, he publicly promoted the construction of the controversial RS-70, saying that there must be an appreciation of its reconnaissance, information gathering, and strike potential capabilities. He also visited SAC headquarters, where he flew an 8-hour simulated war mission in an airborne command post involving multi-missile attacks on the United States. By late 1963, the "Draft Goldwater for President" movement swept the nation. If successful, his nomination would pit him against President Kennedy. But instead, an assassin's bullet made Lyndon Johnson his opponent. In accepting his party's nomination, Barry stated that it would be a campaign of principles, not personalities, and promised that it will be a direct confrontation between the welfare state and a society of free, independent, and responsible citizens. But his loss to Johnson was a classic in American politics. Though he put up a valiant fight and risked his political future, his conservatism was a generation too soon to find majority acceptance.

After his defeat, Goldwater continued his Air Force Reserve activities, attending the Senior Officers Orientation Course at the Air War College, and receiving briefings on personnel problems at numerous Air Force bases. In 1967, he retired from the Reserves as a major general with 37 years of devoted service. Re-elected to the Senate by a landslide in 1968, as a member of its committee on aeronautical and space sciences, Goldwater was thrilled when American astronauts step upon the moon in 1969. He said, "An age is beginning when man will move toward the planets and perhaps even reach the stars."

In 1969, Goldwater represented President Nixon at the Paris Air Show, and flew the French Concorde SST. He inspected the Russian SST, and fortunately for him he was not permitted fly it. The plane crashed on its next flight. During this period, Goldwater was one of the few political leaders pushing for the building of the National Air and Space Museum, for he had an unusual appreciation for the history of aviation and its pioneers. Fortunately, as a result of his and other's efforts this great museum stands today as a monument to flight and space.

In 1970, Goldwater published his book, The Conscience of the Majority, in which he presented a positive outlook at the great issues shaping the 1970s. During these years, he also supported legislation providing for an all-volunteer military, supporting NASA research, funding the purchase of F-14 fighters, and the development of the supersonic B-1 bomber.

After his election to the Senate in 1974, he became the ranking member of its Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee. Among the important legislation that he sponsored was exempting general aviation from emergency fuel allocations, prohibiting unionization of the armed forces, and increasing military pay and benefits.

Senator Goldwater died suddenly on Friday, May 29th, 1998.

From wikipedia:

Barry Goldwater
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barry Morris Goldwater

United States Senator
from Arizona
In office
January 3, 1969 ? January 3, 1987
Preceded by Carl Hayden
Succeeded by John McCain
In office
January 3, 1953 ? January 3, 1965
Preceded by Ernest McFarland
Succeeded by Paul Fannin
Born January 1, 1909
Phoenix, Arizona Territory, U.S.
Died May 29, 1998 (aged 89)
Paradise Valley, Arizona, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Margaret Johnson
(1934?1985)
Susan Shaffer Wechsler (1992?1998)
Children Joanne Goldwater
Barry Goldwater, Jr.
Michael Goldwater
Peggy Goldwater
Alma mater University of Arizona
Profession Businessman, politician
Military service
Service/branch United States Army Air Forces
United States Air Force
Rank Lieutenant Colonel
Major General
Battles/wars World War II
Korean War
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 1, 1909 ? May 29, 1998) was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona (1953?1965, 1969?1987) and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. He was also a Major General in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He was known as "Mr. Conservative"...

Goldwater was born in 1909 in Phoenix, in what was then the Arizona Territory, the son of Baron Goldwater and his wife, Hattie Josephine ("JoJo") Williams. His father's family had founded Goldwater's, a department store in Phoenix. The family name had been changed from Goldwasser to Goldwater at least as early as the 1860 census in Los Angeles, California. Goldwater's paternal grandparents, Michel and Sarah (Nathan) Goldwasser, were Jewish and had been married in the Great Synagogue of London.[3][4] Goldwater's mother came from an old Yankee family; the co-founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams, was an ancestor. Goldwater's father was alienated from the local Jewish community, so he and JoJo were married in an Episcopal church in Phoenix. For his entire life, Goldwater was an Episcopalian, though he sometimes referred to himself as "Jewish."[5] While he did not often attend church, he stated that "If a man acts in a religious way, an ethical way, then he's really a religious man ? and it doesn't have a lot to do with how often he gets inside a church".[6][7]

The family department store made the Goldwaters comfortably wealthy. Goldwater graduated from Staunton Military Academy and attended the University of Arizona for one year, where he joined the Sigma Chi fraternity. Although Barry had never been close to his father, he took over the family business after Baron's death in 1930. He became a Republican (in a heavily Democratic state), promoted innovative business practices, and opposed the New Deal, especially because it fostered labor unions. Goldwater came to know former president Herbert Hoover, whose politics he admired greatly. In 1934, he married Margaret "Peggy" Johnson, wealthy daughter of a prominent Midwestern industrialist. They had four children: Joanne (born January 1, 1936), Barry (born July 15, 1938), Michael (born March 15, 1940), and Peggy (born July 27, 1944). Barry became a widower in 1985, and in 1992 he married Susan Wechsler, a nurse 32 years his junior.[8]

With the American entry into World War II, Goldwater received a reserve commission in the United States Army Air Forces. He became a pilot assigned to the Ferry Command, a newly formed unit that delivered aircraft and supplies to war zones worldwide. He spent most of the war flying between the USA and India, via the Azores and North Africa or South America, Nigeria, and Central Africa. He also flew "the hump" over the Himalayas to deliver supplies to the Republic of China. Remaining in the Air Force Reserve after the war, he eventually retired as a Command Pilot with the rank of Major General. By that time, he had flown 165 different types of aircraft. Following World War II, Goldwater was a leading proponent of creating the United States Air Force Academy, and later served on the Academy's Board of Visitors. The Visitor Center at the USAF Academy is now named in his honor...