Major General GORDON FISK BLOOD

Maj. Gen. Gordon Fisk Blood is commander of the U.S. Air Force Tactical Fighter Weapons Center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

General Blood was born in Washington, D.C., in 1919, where he graduated from McKinley Technical High School in 1937. He next served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve while attending the University of Maryland until October 1940 when he entered flying school as an aviation cadet at Kelly Field, Texas, and received his pilot wings and commission as second lieutenant in March 1941.

He was then assigned to Air Training Command as flight instructor and flight commander. In October 1942 he was assigned to the 44th Air Base Squadron at Portland, Ore., as an operations officer. He became a pilot in December 1942 in the 396th Bombardment Squadron, Sacramento, Calif., and later in the 27th Bombardment Squadron at March Field, Calif. He was transferred to the 36th Bombardment Squadron in Alaska in June 1943.

General Blood returned to the United States in October 1943 to attend the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. After graduation in April 1944, he became the supervisor of technical training for the Fourth Air Force in San Francisco, Calif. In August 1945 he was transferred to Japan and assigned to Headquarters V Fighter Command in Kyushu, and later to Fifth Air Force in Nagoya as an operations officer. In August 1948 General Blood joined Headquarters First Air Force at Fort Slocum, N.Y., and went with the headquarters to Mitchel Air Force Base, N.Y., in July 1949. During 1949 he attended the Air Command and Staff School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.

In September 1950 he became commander of the 316th Troop Carrier Group at Sewart Air Force Base, Tenn. He was transferred to Korea in January 1952 where he assumed command of the 49th Fighter Bomber Group and in August 1952 became chief of the Combat Operations Division, Fifth Air Force. While in Korea he flew 70 combat missions in F-84 aircraft.

General Blood returned to the United States in January 1953 and became director of operations and training, Ninth Air Force (Tactical Air Command), Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. From January 1956 to August 1958, he commanded the 413th Fighter-Day Wing at George Air Force Base, Calif. He next attended the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. In June 1959 he was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in Washington, D.C., as chief of planning and programming, Force Structure Branch, in the Office of the Deputy Director of War Plans, and during off-duty hours attended the University of Maryland where he received a bachelor of science degree in 1962.

In July 1963 he was transferred to Germany as commander of the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing at Bitburg Air Base, and in August 1964 he went to Ramstein Air Base as deputy for operations, Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization command. He returned to Washington, D.C., and assumed duties as chief, Objectives Plans and Programs Division, Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in July 1966.

General Blood went to the Republic of Vietnam in September 1967 as deputy chief of staff for operations at Headquarters Seventh Air Force, Tan Son Nhut Air Base. In January 1969 he became deputy chief of staff for operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Lindsey Air Station, Germany. In March 1970 he became deputy chief of staff for operations and intelligence, Allied Forces Central Europe, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, the Netherlands.

General Blood was assigned to Tactical Air Command as commander of the Twelfth Air Force at Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas, in February 1971. He became commander of the U.S. Air Force Tactical Fighter Weapons Center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., in June 1973.

His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit with four oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, and the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster.

He was promoted to the grade of major general effective July 10, 1967, with date of rank April 2, 1963.

(Current as of Sept. 1, 1973)