Maj. Gen. T. Alan Bennett is commander of Ogden Air Materiel Area (Air Force Logistics Command), with headquarters at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. He exercises command over assigned Air Force Logistics Command installations, units, personnel and operations within the geographical area assigned to Ogden Air Materiel Area, which encompasses 11 states in the United States and part of western Canada. Included in the responsibilities of the Ogden Air Materiel Area are: logistics support of U. S. Air Force and other agencies which are dependent upon the Air Force for service; system support manager for the Minuteman ICBM, Titan II, Bomarc, Genie, the F-4C and the F-101; and worldwide management of all conventional air munitions.
General Bennett was born in Goldsboro, Md., in 1910. He graduated from high school at Smyrna, Del., in 1926 and attended the University of Delaware from 1928 to 1932.
In 1933 General Bennett entered pilot training at Randolph Field, Texas. After graduation in 1934, he was assigned to Selfridge Field, Mich., for duty with the Air Corps as a flying cadet. He served at various places within the continental limits of the United States until the beginning of World War II.
In December 1941, he was assigned the task of organizing and establishing the Miami, Fla., Information Center of which 95 percent of the workers were civilian volunteers. The center served as a direction agency for air defense activities in Florida.
Early in 1942, he was chosen to command a detachment consisting of fighters and bombers that the United States sent to Brazil to be used in the training of Brazilian pilots and crews. Upon his return to the United States he became commander of the 50th Fighter Group at Orlando, Fla. This was the first fighter group in the Air Corps to train night fighters, better known today as all-weather fighters.
From this position, he was assigned to the First Fighter Command, Mitchel Field, N.Y., in January 1943, where he had charge of training and equipping fighter groups destined for both the European and Pacific Theaters. After serving in this capacity for approximately six months, he was assigned as commander of the Third Fighter Group, which moved to China in mid-1943. During the remainder of 1943 and the early part of 1944, he commanded the Chinese-American Group in combat both in North and East China.
He was later elevated from the position of fighter group commander to commander of the entire Chinese-American Composite Wing, which consisted of fighters, bombers and photographic aircraft. General Bennett remained in China after the cessation of hostilities. He left in February 1946.
Returned to the United States, he was assigned as deputy director for training, 999th Army Air Force Base Unit, Orlando, Fla; from there he went to the Air Proving Ground Command at Eglin Field, Fla., as assistant chief of staff for operations. He served in this capacity until transferred to the Air War College in the summer of 1948 as a student.
After graduating from the Air War College in 1949, he was assigned as commander of the 325th Fighter-Interceptor Wing at Larson Air Force Base, Wash. When the 325th moved from Larson to McChord Air Force Base, Wash., he took along a small cadre of his wing headquarters and assumed command of the 4704th Defense Wing. On April 1, 1952, he became commander of the 25th Air Division (Defense) at McChord. From there he went to Ladd Air Force Base, Alaska, as commander of the 11th Air Division (Defense) in August 1954.
In 1957, General Bennett departed Ladd for reassignment as deputy for materiel, Headquarters Air Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base, Colo., where he served until July 1959. He was then assigned as director of maintenance engineering at Headquarters, U.S. Air Force. In July 1961, he became director, maintenance engineering, Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. From there he was assigned, Aug. 1, 1964, to his present position as commander, Ogden Air Materiel Area, Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
General Bennett's military decorations include the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster.
(Current as of July 1, 1966)