Maj. Gen. Bill Eubank, B-52 icon, passes away

[Bill L.]

Maj. Gen. Bill Eubank, B-52 icon, dies
By John Andrew Prime • jprime@gannett.com • September 3, 2010

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William E. Eubank Jr., called affectionately by
service members and historians "Mr. B-52" and the "Father of the B-52," died
early today at Grace Home after a lengthy illness. He was 98.
In 1955, Eubank, commander of the 93rd Bomb Wing at Castle Air Force Base in
California, was chosen to bring the revolutionary B-52 Stratofortess heavy
bomber into service in the Strategic Air Command.


"There's always room for innovation and visionary thinking, and that's what
he brought to the table in his work with the B-52," said retired Brig. Gen.
Peyton Cole, a former 2nd Bomb Wing commander who emulated Eubank by closing
his military career with a nonstop around-the-world flight modeled on one
Eubank led in the late 1950s. "He brought a tremendous vision and a lot of
innovation into play, and he was such a gentleman. He was very level-headed,
and I never saw him lose his temper."
Retired Col. Steve dePyssler, head of the Barksdale Air Force Base Retiree
Activities office, said Eubank was one of the finest general officers he
knew.
"Maj. Gen. William Eubank was the best of the best, one of the finest
officers in the military," dePyssler said. "He was a fine, outstanding
person who will be missed by his fellow military members."
In 1953, after tours as commander of the 2nd Bomb Group and on the senior
staff of the new Strategic Air Command, he assumed command of the 93rd Bomb
Wing at Castle. There, his unit converted to the new B-47 jet bomber in
record time, drawing the attention of SAC commander Gen. Curtis LeMay and
paving the way for his selection as the man to introduce the B-52.
"I'd never before flown a plane that big or as heavy," Eubank told The Times
in a 2005 retrospective on the B-52. "I didn't know it would last as long as
it has or be updated as many times as it has to bring it to where it is now.
I think it's earned its way."
Eubank also "earned his way" in the Air Force, according to assessment
penned by 8th Air Force Historian Lane Callaway three years ago.
"General Eubank's career from 1948 to 1965 reflects the history of SAC from
its post-World War II struggle to define itself through its realization of
being America's premier deterrence and global strike force," Callaway wrote.
"General Eubank's accomplishments of being the first to field the B-52 and
KC-135 and of setting flight records reflect the establishment of SAC as an
institution within the larger corporate Air Force... His service reinforced
the SAC image of being America's premier global force and personified Air
Force core values."


Shreveport military historian and author Gary Joiner also knew and tapped
the experiences of Eubank.


"I was always thoroughly impressed by his demeanor and his willingness to
share information to a historian without the common braggadocio of someone
who has been in his position," Joiner said. "He conveyed what he had done
with great humility. With his death a gaping hole has opened in the history
of the U.S. Air Force."


Eubank's leadership of the first around-the-world jet mission in 1957 led to
his wing receiving the coveted MacKay Trophy for the most meritorious flight
of the year. Cole said it proved and tested the refueling that now is the
backbone of U.S. aerial force projection.


"He was one of the early pioneers who used not only the B-52 but the KC-135
and implemented those into the Strategic Air Command," Cole said. "Everyone
thinks of him being a B-52 guy but he was the first one to show the value of
air refueling when he flew the B-52s around the world. Before I flew my last
mission I asked him out to lunch at the golf club at Barksdale and we spent
a whole lunch talking about high altitude flying in the B-52. I literally
picked his brain."


The following year, he commanded a 93rd Wing KC-135 flight that established
a non-stop world speed record from Tokyo to Washington, in 13 hours and 47
minutes, and an unrefueled jet distance world record of 10,288 miles from
Tokyo to the Azores.


Later, he commanded the 4310th Air Division, under which at Torrejon Air
Base, Spain, he had operational control of Forces at Nouasseur, Ben Guerir
and Sidi Slimane air bases in Morocco.

A native of West Virginia and originally a mine engineering product of
Virginia Polytechnic Institute, he instead joined the fledgling Army Air
Corps as a flying cadet in early 1936 and never looked back. After initial
flying training, he was posted to then-Barksdale Field, where he served with
the 3rd Attack Group and the 27th Bomb Group. It was where he met and
married his wife, the former Marie Louise Moore. They settled in Shreveport
for good after his retirement, quietly living in the Pierremont neighborhood

Neighbor Fletcher Thorne-Thomsen was impressed with Eubank's memories and
accomplishments.


"He had done so much for aviation, you just could not help but be impressed
when you heard what he had done," said Thorne-Thomsen. "We became really
close friends because we both were veterans."


As commander of the 91st Bomb Squadron in the Philippines in late 1941,
Eubank took his fliers to the Bataan Peninsula where they served as
provisional infantry, then he went to the fortress of Corregidor before
evacuation by a U.S. Navy submarine to Java. On the fall of Java to the
Japanese he flew to India to serve on the staff of a fellow Barksdale
alumnus, Gen. Lewis Brereton, in forming the 10th Air Force. He served as
that unit's assistant operations officer until late 1943, when he returned
to the United States.


A command pilot with more than 4,500 hours, including 60 flown in combat, he
retired at Barksdale in late 1965 as deputy commander of 2nd Air Force.


Burial will be at the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery. Funeral
arrangements are pending.