30 November 1957 – Capt Benny Lacombe is killed when he unsuccessfully attempts to bail out of Lockheed U-2A, 56-6704, Article 371, 13 miles SE of Laughlin AFB. Ejection seats had not yet been fitted to U-2s at this point. The history of the U-2 program is fraught with fatalities and crashes. “CIA pilots Wilburn S.
Brigadier General Michael H. Alexander was the joint program manager for the Worldwide Military Command and Control System Information System (WIS), Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the assistant for WIS, Deputy Chief of Staff, Research, Development and Acquisition, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1950 and following the Korean conflict received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy. He received his commission upon graduation in 1956. Following graduation, he completed flying training at Stallings Air Base, N.C., and Webb Air Force Base, Texas, in September 1957. From 1957 to 1961, he was an instructor pilot at Webb Air Force Base and attended Squadron Officer School in residence in 1961. He was assigned to Case Institute under the Air Force Institute of Technology graduate program and received his master’s degree in 1963.
From August 1963 to July 1965, General Alexander was a research analyst assigned to Headquarters Air Force Systems Command at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. He then attended Air Command and Staff College graduating in June 1966. From July to December 1966, he flew F-100s at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. In January 1967 the general transferred to forward air controller school at Hurlburt Field, Fla. He joined the 20th Tactical Air Control Squadron at Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, and from March 1967 to January 1968, served as a forward air controller flying O-ls and 0-2s. He flew 420 combat missions from Khe Sanh, Dong Ha and Da Nang Air Bases.
Upon his return to the United States, General Alexander was assigned to Air Force headquarters, where he served as an operations research analyst from February 1968 to May 1970. He then served as assistant executive officer to the undersecretary of the Air Force until August 1972.
Following graduation from the National War College in July 1973, he was assigned to the Electronics Systems Division at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass. General Alexander served successively from August 1973 to May 1979 as director, Tactical Long Range Navigation Systems Program Office, assistant deputy for command and control systems, deputy for Iranian programs, and deputy for development plans. He moved to Arnold Air Force Station, Tenn., as commander of the Arnold Engineering Development Center in May 1979. In December 1981 the general returned to Hanscom Air Force Base as deputy for strategic systems, Electronic Systems Division. He assumed his present duties in April 1984.
He was promoted to brigadier general on February 1, 1981, and retired from the USAF on May 1, 1986.
