Donald O. Aldridge

Donald O. Aldridge

Donald O'Neal Aldridge (born July 22, 1932 in Solo , Missouri ) is a former American Lieutenant General in the US Air Force , who was last from 1988 to 1991 Deputy Commander in Chief of the Strategic Air Command (SAC ).

Life

Training as an air force officer

Aldridge completed a history degree from the University of Nebraska , graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA History). He joined the US Air Force in April 1951 and took a Russian language course, which he completed in June 1955. At this time he began his military training at the Officer Candidate School and was promoted to lieutenant ( Second Lieutenant ) after graduation in March 1958 . After completing basic flying training at Moore Air Force Base military airfield and basic pilot training at Greenville Air Force Base, he completed his combat aircraft training on the six- engine Boeing B-47 "Stratojet" strategic bomber in June 1960 . He then found use as a co-pilot of Boeing B-47 and as an aircraft commander in the 44th Bombardment Wing and the 68th Bombardment Wing , both of which were stationed at Chennault Air Force Base. At times he completed postgraduate studies in international relations at Creighton University .

In January 1963, Aldridge began further fighter training for the eight-engine long - range Boeing B-52 bomber "Stratofortress" at Castle Air Force Base . He was then a Boeing B-52 copilot, aircraft commander and flight instructor for the 17th Bombardment Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base . During this time, he also graduated from the Squadron Officer School (SOS) and the Central Flight Instructor Course at Castle Air Force Base in 1963. In February 1967 he was transferred to the 93rd Bombardment Wing stationed at Castle Air Force Base , where he was Boeing B-52 flight simulator instructor. In August 1967 he switched to the training school for B-52 crews as a flight instructor and between October 1968 and February 1969 during the Vietnam War he was on duty at the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa as a control officer for aircraft crews for B-52 and Boeing KC-135 "Stratotanker" missions and as a launch control officer on B-52 missions in Southeast Asia . In February 1969 he returned to Castle Air Force Base, where he initially dealt with studies on emergency war missions. Subsequently, he was head of the unit for operational operations and, since the end of 1970, also head of the unit for non-tactical standardization.

After attending Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base , Aldridge first became chief of non-tactical operations at the 43rd Strategic Wing at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam in June 1972 and then in September 1972 deputy vice-commander of this squadron for operations. As such, during Operation Linebacker II in December 1972 , he commanded the attack of twelve B-52-D aircraft on Hanoi . He was then between February and August 1972 Executive Officer of the 43rd Strategic Wing and the 72nd Bombardment Wing (Provisional ) and then special assistant and administrative staff officer of the 303rd Consolidated Maintenance Wing ( 303rd Consolidated Maintenance Wing ) .

In November 1973, Aldridge was transferred to the United Planning Staff for Strategic Objectives at Offutt Air Force Base , where he was successively operations planning officer, head of a planning group, planning officer for nuclear options and, most recently, deputy chief for force applications. During this time he developed the planning approaches for introducing a change in US nuclear policy and was responsible for the summary of the individual operational plan reports for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC ), the combined and specialized commands.

Promotion to lieutenant general

After graduating from the National War College (NWC) at Fort Lesley J. McNair , Aldridge was transferred to US Air Force Headquarters in Washington, DC in June 1977 , where he was deputy chief of the strategic forces division of the planning department with the deputy chief of the air force staff for Planning and operations was made. There he became deputy vice-chief of the planning staff department for united affairs and later deputy vice-chief of the staff department planning for united affairs and affairs of the National Security Council (NSC ) in April 1978 . He then worked from March 1979 to April 1980 as a special assistant to the Director of United Affairs at the United Chiefs of Staff and then moved in April 1980 to the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA ). There he was initially deputy head of the planning and requirements department and finally became deputy director of the DMA in June 1981.

In September 1981 Aldridge moved to NATO in Brussels , where he became Deputy Military Representative on the NATO Military Committee . After his return to the United States, he became the representative of the United Chiefs of Staff in the talks on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) in June 1983 and served in January 1985 after the meeting between US Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko Geneva as representative of the United Chiefs of Staff for Strategic Offensive Systems in the new nuclear and space talks with the Soviet Union in Washington, DC, and in Geneva. In April 1986, he also became deputy chief negotiator for strategic systems. In October 1986 he became commander of the 1st Strategic Aerospace Division stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base .

Most recently, on September 9, 1988, Aldridge succeeded Lieutenant General Kenneth L. Peek, Jr. as deputy supreme commander of the Strategic Air Command (SAC ). On this he was promoted to Lieutenant General on October 1, 1988 and held the position of Deputy Supreme Commander of the SAC until May 30, 1991. His successor was then Lieutenant General Leo W. Smith II on June 1, 1991 .

Aldridge, who completed more than 5,000 flight hours as a pilot and flew 35 B-52 combat missions in Southeast Asia, has received multiple awards. He was awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal , the Defense Superior Service Medal with three oak leaves, the Legion of Merit , the Bronze Star Medal , the Meritorious Service Medal , the Air Medal with oak leaves, the Joint Service Commendation Medal and the Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf and the Army Commendation Medal awarded.

Web links

• Biography on the US Air Force homepage