User:RFlackAttack/sandbox
US Air Force colonel / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rudolph Emil Flack (November 11, 1916 – January 20, 1974)[4] was a Colonel in the U.S. Army Air Force. Captain Flack piloted Brigadier General Ira C. Eaker, the commander of the Eighth Air Force’s VIII Bomber Command in England who flew as an observer aboard Flack’s 414th squadron B-17E YANKEE DOODLE (41-9023),[5] on the historic first All American Flying Fortress bombing mission against German-occupied Europe, the railway marshalling yards at Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France on August 17, 1942. At this time Captain Flack was the Commander of the 97th Bombardment Group’s 414th Bombardment Squadron,[6] the RAF Grafton Underwood airfield (Station #106) base commander[7] and the mission commander.[8] On September 1, 1942 Captain Flack was promoted to Major.
Rudolph Emil Flack | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | "Chief" or "Rudy" |
Born | (1916-11-11)November 11, 1916 Fanwood, New Jersey, U.S. |
Died | January 20, 1974(1974-01-20) (aged 57) Oxnard, California, U.S. |
Buried | Greenoaks Memorial Park, Baton Rouge, LA, U.S. [1] |
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/ | United States Army Air Corps United States Army Air Forces United States Air Force |
Years of service | 1937–1957 |
Rank | Colonel |
Commands held | |
Battles/wars | World War II American Theater Anti-submarine campaign Air offensive, European campaign Tunisia campaign Egypt-Libya campaign Sicily campaign Cold War |
Awards | |
Spouse(s) | Dorothy Louise Collins [2], [3] |
Typically as the flight leader and mission commander, Flack piloted other historical figures, such as: (1) Col. Frank Alton Armstrong, Jr., (the 97th BG CO), as his copilot on the August 21st and September 6th 1942 bombing missions; (2) Col. Joseph Hampton Atkinson,[9] (the 97th BG CO), as his copilot when the 97th Bombardment Group transferred from RAF Polebrook in England to Northwest Africa (Twelfth Air Force) in November 1942, and as his copilot on the November 23, 1942 bombing mission; (3) Margaret Bourke-White as the first female photographer/writer to fly on a combat mission on January 22, 1943; (4) Major General Jimmy Doolittle (commanding general of the Twelfth Air Force) as his copilot on the February 15, 1943 bombing mission; and (5) on May 17/19, 1943 Major Flack piloted a B-17E from Telergma Airfield and picked up Lt. Gen. Carl Spaatz (commander of the Twelfth Air Force and the Northwest African Air Forces) and flew him to Oued N’ja, Morocco landing on May 19, 1943 where Lt. Gen. Carl Spaatz inspected the 99th Fighter Squadron, later referred to as the Tuskegee Airmen.[10]
On September 17, 1943 Major Flack was appointed as the Air Inspector of the 46th Bombardment Operations Training Wing (BOTW) located at the Second Air Force's Ardmore Army Airfield[11] in Ardmore, Oklahoma under the command of Brig. Gen. Frank Alton Armstrong, Jr., who was instrumental in having Flack reassigned stateside. On October 25, 1943 Major Flack was rated Senior Pilot and awarded his Senior Pilot Wings. On November 4, 1943 Major Flack was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. On April 1, 1944 Flack was appointed as the Assistant Wing Commander and then the Director of Training for the 220th AAF BU. On June 20, 1945 Lt. Col. Flack was promoted to Colonel. On June 21, 1945 Col. Flack was appointed as the Commander of Operations and Testing Division, Air Crew Training Unit, Training Secretary and Chief of the "H" Bomb Unit for the Second Air Force headquartered at the Colorado Springs Army Airfield. During this timeframe, Col. Flack’s command jurisdiction included the 509th Composite Group under the command of Col. Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. On October 25, 1945 Col. Flack was appointed to Office of the Chief of Staff of the Second Air Force headquartered at the Colorado Springs Army Airfield.[12] Flack retired from active duty on May 6, 1946 and served as a Colonel in the Army Air Force Reserves superseded by the Air Force Reserves through September 18, 1957.