Brigadier General Raymond Leon Haupt is Commander of the Twelfth Air Division (SAC), with headquarters at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.
General Haupt was born in 1927, in Millersville, Mo., and graduated from Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge, Mo., in 1944. He attended Southeast Missouri State College in Cape Girardeau, Mo., before he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on Nov. 9, 1945.
General Haupt ended his three years of military service in 1948 as an enlisted man as the supervisor of an Air Force Communications Service drafting section in Bremen, Germany, and had earned the grade of staff sergeant. He entered the aviation cadet program in October 1948 and received his commission and pilot wings at Williams Air Force Base, Ariz., in September 1949.
He next served at Turner Air Force Base, Ga., as a jet fighter pilot with the 307th Fighter Escort Squadron and became an air operations officer for the 508th Strategic Fighter Wing. He completed the Squadron Officer School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in 1951.
General Haupt began his association with the Strategic Air Command's reconnaissance program in May 1957 when he was assigned to the 4028th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (redesignated as the 349th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron) at Laughlin Air Force Base, Del Rio, Texas. He served there as a flight commander and chief of the squadron's standardization division and earned his first Distinguished Flying Cross while assigned to the 4028th Squadron. The citation accompanying the award states that his Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft experienced severe mechanical difficulties during a routine high altitude test flight. "After all attempts to remedy the situation failed, he contacted his home station and declared his intention to execute a flameout landing." Following prescribed emergency procedures, he successfully executed an emergency landing.
General Haupt earned his second Distinguished Flying Cross in his next assignment as Chief, Operational Evaluation Division, Detachment 1, 1129th U.S. Air Force Special Activities Squadron at Las Vegas, Nev. From November 1961 through May 1965, he participated in aerial test flights in the reconnaissance aircraft. His citation states: "The operational techniques and procedures he helped to develop, which resulted from knowledge gained during his flights, contributed to his unit reaching an operational readiness status and in providing safe operational instructions for succeeding Air Force units."
In August 1965 General Haupt was transferred to Beale Air Force Base, Calif. He served as Chief of the Standardization Division, 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, and later was Commander of the 4201st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (redesignated as the 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron). The squadron flew SR-71s.
In June 1967 General Haupt moved to Headquarters Strategic Air Command, at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., and served in the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations as Chief of the Reconnaissance Special Operations Division and later became Deputy Director of the Strategic Reconnaissance Center. He attended the National War College at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., from September 1969 to June 1970.
He then was named Vice Commander of the 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing and took command of the organization in July 1970. He was transferred to the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as Deputy Director for Operations (Reconnaissance) in July 1972.
General Haupt assumed command of the Twelfth Air Division (SAC), with headquarters at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., in October 1973.
In addition to his two Distinguished Flying Crosses, his military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit, the Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon with two oak leaf clusters. He is a command pilot with more than 5,000 flying hours.
General Haupt's hometown is Millersville, Mo.
He was promoted to the grade of brigadier general effective Aug. 1, 1972, with date of rank July 24, 1972.
(Current as of April 1, 1974)