Maj. Gen. Jerry Larson - Pilot

555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Wing

A Distinguished Veteran

General Larson attended the Aerospace Research Pilot School from August, 1964, to September, 1965, and then was assigned as an operational test and evaluation project officer with the Tactical Fighter Weapons Center at Nellis AFB. During this assignment, he performed temporary duty in Thailand with the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, flying the F-4 Phantom in combat. In July, 1968, he became an operations staff officer with the 1137th Special Activities Squadron, Washington, D.C. General Larson returned to the Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in 1971, and served as operations officer, and later became the commander of the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron. After graduating from the Air War College in July, 1973, he was assigned as Chief of Maintenance, 86th Tactical Fighter Wing, Ramstein Air Base, Germany. In February, 1974, he transferred to the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing at Royal Air Force Station Bentwaters, England, as Deputy Commander for Operations, and later as Vice Commander and Commander of the Wing. He took command of the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing at Royal Air Force Station, Upper Heyford, in June, 1977, and then became Inspector General for the United States Air Force in Europe at Ramstein Air Base in April, 1978. He was named the command’s Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Intelligence in June, 1979.

In June, 1980, he took command of the Strategic Air Command’s largest flying division, the 45th Air Division at Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire. He was promoted to Major General on June 1, 1982, and a month later, General Larson was assigned as commander, Air Force Inspection and Safety Center, Norton Air Force Base, California. In July, 1984, he became the Deputy Chief of Staff, Air Division, at Headquarters Allied Forces Northern Europe, in Oslo, Norway. General Larson is a command pilot with more than 6,700 flying hours and 235 combat missions. His military decorations and awards include the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with three oak leaf clusters, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with 25 oak leaf clusters, and Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters. He served in the Air Force for 34 years and retired from the service in July, 1987. He flew the following types of aircraft: F-86, F-100, F-101, F-104, F-111, F-4, and the F-16.

“Our Thunderbird 1961 South American tour was progressing nicely-- we were right on schedule leaving Kelly AFB, Texas, and transiting to Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, and arriving in Rio De Janeiro to perform the first three airshows of the tour. The Rio crowds at the beach and the airport were mesmerized by the red, white, and blue F-100’s, as the team performed tight formation loops, rolls, and all the combinations of those maneuvers--the trailing white smoke was vivid against the deep blue sky. As the solo performer, I filled the short time lap sets between the four ship formation maneuvers with crisp, fast, single ship maneuvers. Rio was a big success. After Rio, we performed in Ascension, Buenos Aries, Montevideo, Mendoza, Santiago, Arica--and then it was a flight up to La Paz, Bolivia, high in the Andes for our eleventh airshow of this Good Will tour.

Natives of La Paz had never seen high performance jet airplanes, and our F-100’s captivated their full attention. The airport elevation of 12,800 feet made our airshow work especially challenging-topping loops in four ship, close formation at 20,000 feet was far more delicate than normal. We followed this show with demonstrations at Lima, Peru, and Guayaquil, Ecuador, and then deployed back to the high country of Quito, Ecuador. There was a magnificent turn out of spectators for the airshow, and as at La Paz, the thin air made us all sweat a lot more than usual. But the thin air wasn’t our biggest challenge. It became apparent that crowd control was non-existent, and thousands of excited spectators moved in mass onto the runway at the start of our airshow. As we finished our 22-minute performance, we assumed that the security police would move the crowd off the runway so we could land, however, it became clear that wasn’t going to happen.

At the finish of our air shows, the fuel remaining is minimum, and it is necessary to land without delay. There was no divert fuel, and no place to land except on that Quito runway, which was now loaded with people. Thunderbird lead asked me to make a low, high speed pass down the runway, hoping that would clue everyone to move. My low pass was thought to be just part of the airshow; spectators stayed on the runway, enjoying the close up view, noise, and heat of the jets. Time was running out. We all had to land or bail out, and I decided that a low pass with gear and flaps down in landing configuration might give the crowd a clue that they should move. It didn’t work. Spectators were eager and excited, really enjoying the performance.