Tuesday, August 21, 2012

AIR NATIONAL GUARD HISTORY AND HEROS




FROM:  U.S. AIR FORCE
Captain Russell "Rusty" Schweickart was the first astronaut with an Air Guard background, selected for astronaut training in October 1963 while serving as an F-86 pilot in the 101st Tactical Fighter Squadron, Massachusetts Air National Guard. In March 1969, Schwieckart was the Lunar Module Pilot on the Apollo 9 mission, which tested the Apollo moon-landing systems in low Earth orbit.


 
 

Major Donald J.Strait with P-51D "Jersey Jerk" in Europe, 1945. Enlisting in the New Jersey National Guard before World War II, Strait went to flight school, becoming one of two fighter aces with National Guard backgrounds with 13.5 victories. Postwar, Strait commanded the New Jersey Air National Guard, retiring in 1978 as a major general.

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