Major General Frank G. Barnes is deputy chief of staff, engineering and services, Air Force Logistics Command, with headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
General Barnes was born in Livermore, Ky., in 1923. He attended elementary school and graduated from high school in Hopkinsville, Ky., in January 1942. He then attended the University of Kentucky and Vanderbilt University, where he began studying civil engineering. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in June 1949 with a bachelor of science degree and a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He has a master of science degree in civil engineering from Purdue University and is a graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
His military career began during World War II when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in February 1943. He was discharged in June 1945 and accepted an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.
In August 1949 General Barnes was assigned as a student at the Air Tactical School at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and then attended special weapons courses at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and Sandia Base, N.M. In April 1951 he was transferred to the United Kingdom, where he served as a weapons officer. He returned to the United States in May 1954 and entered Purdue University under the Air Force Institute of Technology program where he was selected for membership in Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honorary society.
General Barnes was assigned as operations officer with the Civil Engineering Group at Reese Air Force Base, Texas in July 1956. He was transferred to Korea in January 1958 as base installations officer at Kunsan Air Base and later was installations engineer at Osan Air Base.
He returned to the United States in January 1959 and was assigned to the civil engineering office of the Ballistic Missile Division, Inglewood, Calif., where he served for a year as a project engineer on the Titan I missile program. In January 1960 he assumed responsibility for the propellant loading systems for all liquid fuel missile and space programs, and in July 1961, as the emphasis shifted to solid propellant missiles, he was named chief, Operational Base Design for the Minuteman Program.
From September 1963 to July 1966, he served in the base civil engineer organization at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. During this tour of duty the construction program to accommodate expansion of the cadet wing was initiated. General Barnes entered the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., in August 1966.
In June 1967 he went overseas to serve with the Military Assistance Command Vietnam as executive officer to the director of construction. In July 1968 General Barnes was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in the Directorate of Civil Engineering, where he serves as assistant chief of the construction division. He later became chief of the Civil Engineering Programs Division, with responsibility for developing all civil engineering programs, including military construction, minor construction, nonappropriated funds, and operation and maintenance.
In July 1970 General Barnes was assigned as deputy chief of staff, civil engineering, Tactical Air Command, with headquarters at Langley Air Force Base, Va., where his responsibilities included two heavy repair civil engineering squadrons (Red Horse). As part of the total force concept, General Barnes played a key role in the development of training programs for the 98 civil engineering flights and two civil engineering squadrons, heavy repair, of the Air Force Reserve forces which were designated as TAC gaining units for wartime mobilization.
In February 1973 he became deputy chief of staff, civil engineering for Air Force Logistics Command, with headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. As a result of a USAF-directed reorganization March 1, 1975, was designated as deputy chief of staff, engineering and services.
His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star Metal, and the Air Force Commendation Metal with two oak leaf clusters. He is a professional engineer and a member of the Society of American Military Engineers.
He was promoted to the grade of major general Feb. 6, 1976, with date of rank June 11, 1973.
(Current as of June 1976)