Notable graduates of the United States Air Force Academy
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This article is a list of notable graduates of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Contents |
[edit] Military
- Lt. Gen. Bradley C. Hosmer, Class of 1959: The first graduate in the order of merit in the first class at the Academy, the Academy's first Rhodes Scholar and the first graduate to return to the Academy as Superintendent
- Gen. Hansford T. Johnson, Class of 1959: The first graduate to be promoted to the rank of general (four-star); assistant secretary of the Navy for Installations and Environment 2001-2005, and Acting Secretary of the Navy in 2003
- Gen. Robert C. Oaks, Class of 1959: Commander of Air Training Command and United States Air Forces in Europe
- Gen. John M. Loh, Class of 1960: Commander of Tactical Air Command, Air Combat Command, Vice Chief of Staff, and Acting Chief of Staff of the Air Force
- Gen. Ronald W. Yates, Class of 1960: Commander, Air Force Materiel Command and Air Force Systems Command
- Gen. George L. Butler, Class of 1961: Commander, United States Strategic Command
- Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman, Class of 1963: The first graduate to be selected as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, serving in that position from 1994-1997
- Gen. Richard E. Hawley, Class of 1964: Commander, Air Combat Command
- Gen. John G. Lorber, Class of 1964: Commander, Pacific Air Forces
- Brig. Gen. R. Stephen "Steve" Ritchie, Class of 1964: Vietnam War flying ace
- Gen. Howell M. Estes III, Class of 1965: Commander, United States Space Command
- Gen. Michael E. Ryan, Class of 1965: Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, 1997-2001
- Capt. Lance Sijan, Class of 1965: Prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, and the first graduate to be awarded the Medal of Honor. His story is told in the book Into the Mouth of the Cat by Malcom McConnell.
- Gen. William J. Begert, Class of 1968: Commander, Pacific Air Forces
- Gen. R. Edward Eberhart, Class of 1968: Commander, United States Space Command and United States Northern Command
- Col. Jeffrey S. Feinstein, Class of 1968: Vietnam War flying ace
- Gen. Charles R. Holland, Class of 1968: Commander, United States Special Operations Command
- Gen. Charles T. Robertson, Class of 1968: Commander, United States Transportation Command
- Gen. William R. Looney III, Class of 1972: Commander, Air Education and Training Command
- Gen. John D.W. Corley, Class of 1973: Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force
- Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, Class of 1973: Commander, United States Transportation Command
- Gen. Duncan J. McNabb, Class of 1974: Commander, Air Mobility Command
- Capt. Brent Brandon, Class of 1984: EF-111 pilot who downed an Iraqi F-1EQ in an air-to-air engagement on the first day of Operation Desert Storm
- As of June 2005, 403 graduates have become general officers; 164 graduates have been killed in combat; 36 graduates are repatriated prisoners of war.
[edit] Astronauts
- Karol J. Bobko, Class of 1959: The first graduate in space, and the only astronaut to have flown on the maiden flight of two space shuttle orbiters
- Frederick D. Gregory, Class of 1964: Former Deputy Administrator of NASA, former acting Administrator for NASA, commander of two space shuttle missions, the first African-American to pilot the space shuttle and the first African-American to command any space vehicle
- John E. Blaha, Class of 1965
- Roy D. Bridges, Jr., Class of 1965: Director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center from 1997-2003 and Director of NASA's Langley Research Center from 2003-2005.
- John H. Casper, Class of 1966
- Ronald J. Grabe, Class of 1966
- Charles L. Veach, Class of 1966
- Loren Shriver, Class of 1967
- Richard O. Covey, Class of 1968
- Guy S. Gardner, Class of 1969
- Gary E. Payton, Class of 1971
- Sidney M. Gutierrez, Class of 1973
- L. Blaine Hammond, Class of 1973
- Terence T. Henricks, Class of 1974
- Mark C. Lee, Class of 1974
- Donald R. McMonagle, Class of 1974
- William A. Pailes, Class of 1974
- Dr. Ronald M. Sega, Class of 1974: Currently serving as Under Secretary of the United States Air Force
- Brian Duffy, Class of 1975
- Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, Class of 1976: Currently serving as Commander, Air Force Space Command
- Thomas D. Jones, Class of 1977
- Charles J. Precourt, Class of 1977
- Curtis L. Brown, Class of 1978
- James D. Halsell, Class of 1978
- Kevin R. Kregel, Class of 1978
- Richard A. Searfoss, Class of 1978
- William G. Gregory, Class of 1979
- Brig. Gen. Susan J. Helms, Class of 1980: Space flights included 163 days aboard the International Space Station
- Michael J. Bloomfield, Class of 1981
- Steven W. Lindsey, Class of 1982: Two space flights as shuttle pilot, including flight with Sen. John Glenn. Another two spaceflights as commander, including the recent STS-121
- Benjamin A. Drew, Class of 1984
- Gregory H. Johnson, Class of 1984
- James M. Kelly, Class of 1986
- Eric A. Boe, Class of 1987
- Terry W. Virts, Class of 1989
- James P. Dutton, Class of 1991
- As of January 2005, 34 Air Force Academy graduates have become astronauts [1]. The Air Force Academy is second only to the United States Naval Academy in the number of graduates who have become astronauts (11 of whom had graduated USNA prior to the first USAFA graduating class).
[edit] Government, law and politics
- T. Allen McArtor, Class of 1964: Former Administrator of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration; former CEO, Legend Airlines; current chair, Airbus, North American Holdings
- F. Michael Burkett, Class of 1970: Assistant Minority Leader of the Idaho State Senate
- Chuck Reed, Class of 1970: Mayor of San Jose, California
- Charles Brown, Class of 1972: Democratic candidate for Congress in California
- Gary A. Grappo, Class of 1972: U.S. Ambassador to Oman
- Matthew K. Fong, Class of 1975: Former Chair of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation advisory committee, former Treasurer of the State of California, and Republican candidate for the Senate in the State of California in 1998
- John C. (Chris) Inglis, Class of 1976: Deputy Director of the U.S. National Security Agency
- Darryl Jones, Class of 1977: Former Florida State Senator and gubernatorial candidate
- Vernon Robinson, Class of 1977: Former Winston-Salem, North Carolina City Council member and Republican candidate for congress in North Carolina
- Charlie Ross, Class of 1978: Mississippi State Senator
- Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), Class of 1982: The first graduate to be elected to the United States Congress and currently the only female veteran serving in Congress
- Greg Ball, Class of 2001: New York State Assemblyman
[edit] Business and industry
- Richard T. Schlosberg, Class of 1965: Former president and CEO of the David & Lucile Packard Foundation and former publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Times
- J.W. "Wild Bill" Stealey, Class of 1970: CEO of iEntertainment Network, and the founder of MicroProse Software and Interactive Magic.
- Charles E. Phillips Jr., Class of 1981: President of the Oracle Corporation
[edit] Sports
- Gregg Popovich, Class of 1970: Head coach of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs who led the team to NBA championships in 1999, 2003 and 2005, and won the NBA Coach of the Year Award for the 2002-2003 season.
- Alonzo Babers, Class of 1983: Winner of two gold medals (400m and 4x400m relay) at the 1984 Olympics
- Chad Hennings, Class of 1988: Winner of the Outland Trophy, played nine seasons for the Dallas Cowboys and earned three Super Bowl rings
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Susan Grant, Class of 1982: Award-winning "aviation romance" novelist
- LeRoy Homer, Class of 1987: Co-pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked and crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
- Reichen Lehmkuhl, Class of 1996: Winner of the reality game show The Amazing Race 4.
- Michael Mangold, Class of 1978: 2005 Red Bull Air Races World Champion.
