Eugene Peyton Deatrick

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Eugene Peyton Deatrick, Jr.
Born November 17, 1924 (1924-11-17) (age 83)

Gene Deatrick by A-1E Skyraider (USAF Photo)
Nickname Gene
Place of birth Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Allegiance Flag of the United States United States of America
Service/branch United States Air Force
Years of service 1943-74
Rank Colonel
Commands held - 1st Air Commando Sq, 1966-67
- USAF Test Pilot School, 1967-68
- Director of Test, AFSC, 1972-74
Battles/wars Vietnam War
Awards - Legion of Merit (1Oak leaf cluster)
- Distinguished Flying Cross (1Oak leaf cluster)
- Air Medal (22OLC)
- Bronze Star for Valor
Other work Aerospace Representative

Eugene Peyton Deatrick, Jr. (born November 17, 1924) is a retired United States Air Force Colonel and test pilot.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early Years

Eugene P. Deatrick, Jr. was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the only child of Dr. Lily Bell Sefton Deatrick and Dr. Eugene P. Deatrick, Sr. He grew up in Morgantown, West Virginia where his mother was a professor of Chemistry[1] and his father a professor of Agriculture[2] at West Virginia University. Deatrick graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C. in 1942. During his first year of college at West Virginia University, Deatrick enlisted in the Air Corps Reserve. He was nominated to the United States Military Academy by Senator Jennings Randolph in 1943.[3] Deatrick entered West Point in June 1943 and graduated in June 1946.[4]

Deatrick entered the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1946 following graduation from the United States Military Academy. He flew B-25s at Enid, OK then transitioned to the 307th Bomb Wing at MacDill AFB in Florida where he flew B-29s. From 1947 to 1948, he served a tour with the 10th Rescue Squadron in Adak, Alaska where he flew B-17s, L-5s, and PBYs.[4] The famous Norwegian Arctic explorer, Colonel Bernt Balchen, was his Commanding Officer.[3] In 1949, he was assigned to the 3759th Electronics Test Squadron whose mission was the development of new radar bombing equipment. In 1950 the squadron moved to Eglin AFB, FL as the nucleus of the new Armament Test Center. Deatrick was assigned as the Bomber Engineering Test Pilot. In addition to bombers, he flew the T-33 and P-51.[4]

In 1951, Deatrick was a member of the first class[5] to attend the newly formed Experimental Test Pilot School[6] at Edwards Air Force Base, CA, and subsequently served five years in the Bomber Flight Test Division at Wright Patterson AFB, OH. During this tour of duty, he flew development tests on the B-47 and B-52 aircraft among many other programs.[4] He also participated in the Eniwetok nuclear weapons effect tests in these aircraft in 1954 and 1956.[3] From 1956 to 1964, Deatrick was assigned as Executive Officer to Major General Howell Estes, Jr.[3] He followed Estes on many assignments throughout the world. In 1965, he volunteered for Vietnam. Deatrick received indoctrination in the A-1 Skyraider at Hurlburt Field, Florida, graduating with class Express-20.[7]

[edit] Vietnam

In March 1966, Deatrick assumed command of the 1st Air Commando Squadron (ACS) located at Pleiku, RVN.[8][9] On his fourth flight (an orientation mission), Deatrick was diverted into the A Shau Valley to help defend a Special Forces camp that was under attack. The next day, March 10, 1966, Bernie Fisher of the 1st ACS landed on the enemy-held runway and successfully rescued "Jump" Myers who had been shot down earlier that day. Fisher was later awarded the Medal of Honor for this rescue. While in Vietnam, Deatrick flew 402 combat missions in the A-1E Skyraider.[4] He was responsible for the rescue of Lt. Dieter Dengler, USN, who had escaped from a prison camp after six months of captivity.[10][11][12] Dengler later wrote about the miraculous circumstances of his July 20, 1966 rescue:

“ Because the wings of a Spad are set into the fuselage right under the canopy, a pilot can see the ground directly beneath him only when he banks ninety degrees. When Gene was perhaps three seconds into this steep bank, and only during those few seconds, he saw a flash of something white on the ground, a thousand feet below. I was lying on a flat boulder and waving a parachute, but all Gene saw was that brief flash of white ... He went back for another look ... Now he saw the waving and this time the form of a man.[11] ”
Charles M. Simpson, Eugene P. Deatrick, and Lee Parmly, Pleiku, South Vietnam, November 1966. (USAF Photo)
Charles M. Simpson, Eugene P. Deatrick, and Lee Parmly, Pleiku, South Vietnam, November 1966. (USAF Photo)

On November 10, 1966, Deatrick came to the aid of West Point classmate, Eleazar Parmly IV, commander of Task Force Prong when it was ambushed by NVA forces.[13][14] TF Prong, consisting of three Montagnard companies supported by U.S. Special Forces advisors, was acting as a screen for elements of the U.S. 14th Infantry. TF Prong was scouting in the Plei Trap Valley near the Cambodian border when it was attacked by the NVA Sixth Battalion.[13] With the battle turning against him, Parmly radioed Captain Partridge, a Forward Air Controller working the area:

“ "Do you know Colonel Eugene Deatrick, CO of the 1st Air Commando Squadron at Pleiku?"

"Sure do," Partridge replied.
"Good," said Parmly. "Then give him word that his old classmate is in deep shit down here."
Maybe that could be called working the old school tie till the knot got frayed. Even so, Parmly got Deatrick's forget-you-not within less than 10 minutes. … Parmly used the bombardment as cover to move his people to the east of the trail.[13]

 ”

[edit] Return from War

Col. Deatrick by an F-104 Starfighter at Edwards AFB(USAF Photo)
Col. Deatrick by an F-104 Starfighter at Edwards AFB
(USAF Photo)

Deatrick returned to the United States in early 1967 and was assigned as Commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, Edwards Air Force Base, CA.[15] In 1968, he was selected to attend the National War College. Following his graduation in 1969, he was assigned to the Joint Staff, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Subsequently, in 1972, he became the Director of Test, Air Force Systems Command, Andrews AFB, MD and retired from the United States Air Force in 1974.[4]

In 1996, Deatrick portrayed himself in Little Dieter Needs to Fly, the Werner Herzog documentary about the escape and rescue of Dieter Dengler.[16] In 1997, Deatrick was interviewed by the Air Force Historian, Dr. Richard P. Hallion, during the review of Operation TAILWIND.[17] In 2007, he attended the premier of Rescue Dawn at Andrews AFB[18] and spoke of his role in Dengler's rescue.[19] Deatrick currently serves as an aerospace representative in the Washington D.C. area for several companies. He has two sons and two grandsons. Deatrick and his wife, Zane, live in Alexandria, Virginia.

[edit] Honors

During his career, Deatrick flew more than 50 different types of aircraft and accumulated more than 12,000 hours of flying.[4] He was awarded the Legion of Merit with one oak leaf cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross with one oak leaf cluster, the Air Medal with 22 oak leaf clusters and the Bronze Star for Valor.[4] In 1969, he earned a Masters Degree from George Washington University.

Deatrick was made an Honorary Member of the Fighter Aces Association in 1968. He served as President of the National Aviation Club for three years and is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, International Order of Characters, Daedalians, the Air Force Association, and the Quiet Birdmen. Deatrick was one of the twelve founding members of the East Coast chapter of SETP.[20] In January 1999, he received the National Aeronautic Association's Cliff Henderson Award for Aviation Achievement.[21] In 2000, Deatrick was awarded membership in the Gathering of Eagles[4] along with other aviation greats such as Ollie Crawford, Duke Cunningham, Fitz Fulton, Michael Novosel, Günther Rall, Ed Rector, and Chuck Yeager.[22] In 2001, Deatrick was selected as the Distinguished Alumnus of the USAF Test Pilot School and spoke at the graduation dinner banquet.[3] In 2005, he received the National Aeronautic Association's Wesley L. McDonald Elder Statesman of Aviation award[23][24] for his service to the United States military, especially as one of its top test pilots. In 2006, Deatrick was an invited panelist for the 38th National Conference on Aviation and Space Education's Hangar Talk tribute to the late Scott Crossfield.[25] In 2007, he was recognized as a "famous flyer" of the A-1 Skyraider.[26] At the 51st Symposium in Anaheim, CA, Deatrick was interviewed as part of SETP's History Series documenting the flight test careers of noted test pilots.[3]

[edit] References

  • (1994) USAF Test Pilot School 50 Years and Beyond. Privately Published. 
  • Boyne, Walter J. (June 2007). "Airpower Classics, A-1 Skyraider" (PDF). Air Force Magazine. 
  • Deatrick, Eugene. (2007). SETP History Series, Interview with Eugene Deatrick [DVD]. Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
  • Dengler, Dieter (1979). Escape from Laos. Presidio Press. ISBN 0-89141-076-7. 
  • Engen, Donald D. (1997). Wings and Warriors. Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1-56098-795-2. 
  • Keeler, Albert T. (2001). VIP Pilot. Privately Published. 
  • LaPointe, Robert L. (2001). PJs in Vietnam. Northern PJ Press. ISBN 0970867107. 
  • Marshall, S. L. A. (1968). West to Cambodia. Cowles Education Corp. Library of Congress 68-31132. 
  • Simpson, Charles M. (1983). Inside the Green Berets. Presidio Press. ISBN 0-89141-163-1. 

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Science, The Scientists Newsweekly, Recent Deaths, March 14, 1947, p. 12, retrieved January 1, 2008
  2. ^ Science by The American Association for the Advancement of Science, University and Educational News, 1922, p. 248, retrieved January 1, 2008
  3. ^ a b c d e f SETP History Series, Interview with Eugene Deatrick
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gathering of Eagles Biography, retrieved June 3, 2008
  5. ^ (1994) USAF Test Pilot School 50 Years and Beyond, p. 70
  6. ^ USAF TPS History, The Move West, retrieved August 5, 2007
  7. ^ Express-20 A-1 Skyraider Class Photo from Skyraider Association, retrieved January 18, 2008
  8. ^ Keeler, VIP Pilot, p. 170
  9. ^ Digital Journalist Larry Burrows' Photo of 1st ACS CO E. Deatrick's 100th Combat Mission, retrieved January 15, 2008
  10. ^ Skyraider Association, Escape from Laos Excerpts, retrieved January 15, 2008
  11. ^ a b Dengler, Escape from Laos, pages 207-208
  12. ^ LaPointe, PJs in Vietnam, p. 229
  13. ^ a b c Marshall, West to Cambodia, p. 88
  14. ^ Simpson, Inside the Green Berets, p. 203
  15. ^ (1994) USAF Test Pilot School 50 Years and Beyond, p. 63
  16. ^ Internet Movie Database, Actor in Little Dieter Needs to Fly, retrieved January 2, 2008
  17. ^ Operation TAILWIND Review, Extract of U.S. Air Force Report, July 16, 1998, retrieved January 2, 2008
  18. ^ Defense Link, Rescue Dawn Premiere Inspires, Provides Example for Today’s Troops, retrieved January 2, 2008
  19. ^ Capital Flyer, AF aviator recounts participation in rescue operation, retrieved January 2, 2008
  20. ^ Engen, Wings and Warriors, p. 216
  21. ^ Henderson 1990-1999 Winners, retrieved May 6, 2006
  22. ^ Gathering of Eagles 2000 Index, retrieved June 3, 2008
  23. ^ Wesley L. McDonald Elder Statesman Award Notice, retrieved August 5, 2007
  24. ^ Wesley L. McDonald Elder Statesman Award Presented by Scott Crossfield, retrieved May 6, 2006
  25. ^ NCASE Program Guide, pages 11-12, retrieved January 4, 2008
  26. ^ Boyne, Air Force Magazine, p. 88

[edit] External links