Synopsis
For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a pilot, and when I first saw F-80 fighter jets making practice gunnery passes on a firefighting training tower in Anchorage, Alaska, I knew I had to become a fighter pilot. This experience happened when I was 12 years of age and during the period of the Korean War. Seventeen years later I was invited to join the Oregon Air National and informed that I was going to become a fighter pilot in the 123rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron, in Portland, Oregon. The squadron is known as the “Redhawks,”
My journey in this chapter of my life began in Miles City, Montana, the place of my birth. Miles City bills itself as “The Cow Capital of the West”, holds an annual bucking horse sale in May of each year, and was the only American city in the contiguous United States to be bombed during World War II. That feat was accomplished by our own U.S. Army Air Corps. On both sides of my family, my grandparents were ranchers and farmers, and the hired workers on the ranch were trustees from the Miles City jail, reform school teenagers, and German POWs. I spent summers in the country and rode a full-size horse at the age of five. I didn’t ride a bicycle, however, until the age of eight when my family moved west to Portland, Oregon.
Circumstances in my life, extending into early adulthood, generated a host of highly unusual real-life stories, ranging from the humorous to the tragic, several of which were woven into the fabric of then-current events that made their mark in history. The interesting people I came into contact with during these events contributed significantly to the richness of the experiences.
A divorce and remarriages by both of my parents sent my already active early life into a tumultuous spin. In eight grades of schooling, I attended six different elementary schools in three different states plus the Territory of Alaska. Although we were settled for my years in high school and college, those disruptive moves created a restlessness within me that made it a challenge at times to remain focused on my studies. My selection as the University’s Air Force ROTC Drill Team Commander and the program’s Flight Indoctrination Program in which I received my Private Pilot License, imbued me with the direction and confidence I needed to successfully complete Air Force pilot training which I did in South Georgia.
My first assignment after pilot training was as a T-33 jet pilot training instructor in Texas. The T-33 was the trainer version of the Korean War vintage F-80. In meeting my “need for speed”, I later converted as an instructor into the supersonic T-38 trainer. After four years of instructing basic flight training, I was reassigned to Korea as a Forward Air Controller and became the Air Division’s T-33 flight program manager. When I completed this overseas tour, at the height of the Air War in Vietnam, I resigned from the Air Force and joined the Oregon Air National Guard. This started a new chapter in my life.
About the Author
Major General David E.B. "DEB" Ward retired after completing over 36 years of military service with the U.S. Air Force and Oregon Air National Guard. He held several command positions in Aircraft Maintenance and Operations and was promoted to Colonel when he became Commander of the 142nd Fighter Group (now wing) flying the F-4 Phantom. When he was selected to command the Oregon State Air National Guard, he received his promotion to Brigadier General.General Ward graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon in June 1960 with a BA in Mathematics, and through the University's Air Force ROTC program he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force at the same time.After graduating from Air Force pilot training in March of 1962 he became a jet instructor pilot in the T-33 aircraft at Laughlin AFB, Texas. Approximately midway through his tour, he transitioned into the supersonic T-38.He received an unaccompanied remote duty assignment to Osan Air Base, Korea as a Forward Air Controller and T-33 Instructor Pilot in 1966 and after one year overseas he returned to the States and resigned from the Air Force. In August of 1967, he joined the Oregon Air National Guard and completed F-102 Interceptor Training in February 1968.In April 1968, He joined Pan American Airways as a pilot-flight engineer, but at the end of 1969, he was furloughed for over 17 years.In 1971 he became a full-time instructor pilot, flight examiner, and functional test flight pilot, in the 142nd Fighter Interceptor Group prior to assuming command positions in the unit.Beginning in January 1986, he was selected for an 18-month active duty tour flying the F-4D Phantom at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It was the first time an Air National Guard Unit provided combat alert for a customary Air Force mission. He served as the alert detachment's Vice Commander and Chief of Aircraft Maintenance. During this tour, he was recalled from furlough by Pan Am and upon his return to Portland resigned from his full-time Oregon ANG position and was selected to serve as the 142nd Fighter Group Commander as a traditional guardsman.In his military flying career, the General had logged over 6400 hours in tactical jet trainers and fighter aircraft including the last 6 years flying the F-15 Eagle. At the end of his military flying career, he was possibly the oldest operational fighter pilot in the country at the age of 57. He was also a commercial pilot for Pan American World Airways and later for Delta Air Lines. He has flown many different types of airplanes by different manufacturers to include: Cessna 140, 150, 172, U-3, T-37, Citation; Lockheed T-33, L-1011; Northrop T-38, Boeing 707, 727, 757, 767; Airbus A-310; Republic F-105; Convair F-102; McDonnell F-101, F-4, F-15; De Havilland L-20; and General Dynamics F-16.General Ward's final military assignment was as the Air National Guard's Special Assistant to the Commander, U.S. Air Forces Europe. It was during the time of the War in Bosnia wherein a Command mission observation role, he flew several humanitarian missions in Air National Guard C-130 aircraft. The Command was also responsible for enforcing the 'no-fly zone over Northern Iraq at the conclusion of the First Gulf War. The Air National Guard had significant involvement in both missions as well as others in Europe and Africa.He is a graduate of the Air Force, Air War College.
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