Frank A. Armstrong
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| Frank Alton Armstrong, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| May 24, 1902 – September 1, 1969 | |
 Official photograph Lt. Gen. Frank Armstrong |
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| Place of birth | Hamilton, North Carolina |
| Allegiance | United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1928-1962 |
| Rank | Lieutenant general |
| Commands | 97th Bomb Group 306th Bomb Group 1st Bomb Wing 315th Bomb Wing Second Air Force Alaskan Command |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards | Silver Star Distinguished Flying Cross |
Frank Alton Armstrong, Jr. (May 24, 1902 - September 1, 1969), was a brigadier general in the United States Army Air Force and the inspiration for the main character in the novel and subsequent film, Twelve O'Clock High. After the war he became a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force.
Armstrong was born in Hamilton, North Carolina. He was part Cherokee Native American, and played minor league professional baseball from 1925 to 1928, after he graduated from Wake Forest College with a law degree in 1923 and a bachelor of science degree in 1925.
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[edit] Military career
[edit] Air Corps
He enlisted as a flying cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps in February 1928 and received his flight training at Brooks Field and Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas. He received his wings and officer's commission in March, 1929. His first assignment was to the 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Virginia, where he married Vernelle Lloyd Hudson on March 15, 1929. His son, Frank Alton Armstrong III, was born March 7, 1930. Armstrong was made a flight instructor at March Field, Riverside, California, in 1930, and at Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas, in 1931.
In March, 1934 he was one of a group of Army pilots placed under the command of Captain Ira Eaker in Salt Lake City, Utah, to fly the mail during Air Mail Scandal, a bitter embarrassment for the Air Corps. He was assigned in December 1934 as a pursuit pilot at Albrook Field, Panama Canal Zone. In 1936 Captain Armstrong won the Distinguished Flying Cross in peacetime by skillfully landing an amphibian airplane whose engine had exploded. In March 1937 he transferred to the 13th Bombardment Squadron, Barksdale Field, Louisiana where he became its commander from November, 1939 to November, 1940.
From November, 1940 to February, 1941 Armstrong was a combat observer with the Royal Air Force in England, then returned to command the 90th Bombardment Squadron, Savannah AAF, Georgia. Lt.Col. Armstrong was the Assistant Chief of Operations (A-3) at Army Air Forces headquarters in Washington D.C. when he was selected on January 24, 1942 to go with General Eaker to England with five other officers to establish the VIII Bomber Command, Eighth Air Force, where he became its operations officer and was promoted to colonel.
[edit] Combat group commander
As a "trouble-shooter" for General Eaker, on July 31, 1942, Armstrong relieved the commander of the inadequately-trained 97th Bomb Group, the first group of B-17 Flying Fortress bombers sent to England, and put it through an intensive training period at RAF Polebrook. He then led it in combat on six of its first 10 missions from August 17 to September 2, 1942. Colonel Armstrong led the first daylight raid ever made by the U.S. Army Air Force over Axis territory, receiving the Silver Star and an oak leaf cluster to the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was also awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross for the initial mission, the first U.S. officer to be so honored. Because he had not yet been checked out as a combat pilot in the B-17, Armstrong led the first mission as a co-pilot on a bomber piloted by Major Paul W. Tibbets.
Armstrong returned to the staff of Bomber Command and in January, 1943, was again used by Eaker to rebuild another bomb group performing well below standards. From January 4 to February 17, 1943, Armstrong commanded the 306th Bomb Group at Thurleigh, England, and led the first mission by the Eighth Air Force to bomb Nazi Germany. His experiences with the 97th and 306th groups became the basis of Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay Jr.'s novel and film Twelve O'Clock High. While in command of the 306th, Armstrong led the Eighth Air Force on its first mission to attack a target in Germany on January 27, 1943.
Biographers have noted that Armstrong was superstitious about flying. He always entered the B-17 by its rear fuselage door rather than through the nose hatch as most pilots did, and he always carried a pair of his son's baby shoes on all flights, for good luck in combat.
[edit] Wing commands
On February 17, 1942, Armstrong was promoted to brigadier general and made commander of the 101st Provisional Combat Wing, continuing to fly combat missions over Germany. In June he became the commander of the 1st Bombardment Wing and was replaced at the end of July, 1943 after being injured in a fire in his quarters.
General Armstrong returned to the United States where he commanded the 46th Bombardment Operational Training Wing (B-17) at Dalhart, Texas, and Ardmore, Oklahoma; and the 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing (B-29) at Colorado Springs, Colorado and Grand Island, Nebraska (April 12, 1944 to November 18, 1944).
On November 18, 1944, General Armstrong was assigned command of the 315th Bomb Wing at Peterson Field, Colorado Springs, a B-29 Superfortress wing then in training. Between March 7, 1945 and April 5, 1945 the wing deployed to Northwest Field, Guam on to fly missions against the Home Islands of Japan. On August 15, 1945, General Armstrong led the longest and final heavy bombing raid in the war, with the distinction of having led both the first and last USAAF strategic bombing missions of World War II, as well as the first USAAF mission to attack Germany. In November 1945, he flew the first non-stop flight from Japan to Washington, D.C. in a B-29. He received an oak leaf cluster to the Distinguished Flying Cross for each of the above achievements.
[edit] USAF service
Armstrong remained in the Air Force after World War II, first becoming chief of staff for operations of the Pacific Air Command, and then senior air instructor at the Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia. In 1949 he was appointed commander of the Alaskan Air Command. While commander, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Aero Club of Norway, the highest civil award of Norway, for helping develop a non-stop polar air route from Alaska to Norway to New York.
In 1950 Armstrong was promoted to major general and base commander of Sampson Air Force Base, N.Y. In 1951 he was made commanding general of the Sixth Air Division, training the first B-47 Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, and in 1952, commander of the Second Air Force (Strategic Air Command) at Barksdale Air Force Base, a post he held for four years. His final posting was in July, 1956, again as head of the Alaskan Air Command, and upon his promotion to lieutenant general, as commander of the joint Alaskan Command. He retired July 31, 1962.
General Armstrong's son, Major Frank A. Armstrong, III, followed him into the Air Force and was killed-in-action in Laos on October 6, 1967. At the time, he was flying a combat mission in an A-1E Skyraider as a member of the 1st Air Commando Squadron.
[edit] Awards and decorations
Distinguished Service Medal plus oak leaf cluster
Distinguished Flying Cross plus two oak leaf clusters
Air Medal plus five oak leaf clusters
American Defense Service Medal plus one battle star
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal plus 3 battle stars
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal plus one battle star
[edit] References
- Freeman, Roger A. The Mighty Eighth (1993 edition), (pp. 67-69). ISBN 0-87938-638-X
- Freeman, Roger A. The Mighty Eighth War Diary (1990), (pp. 89-95). ISBN 0-87938-495-6
