Lt. Gen. John George Albert is commander, Air Force Acquisition Logistics Division, Air Force Logistics Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
General Albert was born in Dansville, N.Y., in 1923, and graduated from Dansville High School in 1941. He attended Cornell University for 18 months prior to enlisting in the Army Air Corps. He was assigned to Hamilton College in 1943 as a student in the meteorology program for one year and subsequently served as a weather observer/forecaster at Walnut Ridge and Little Rock, Ark. In 1945 he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., where he attained the rank of cadet captain and became a battalion commander. He graduated in 1949 with a commission as a second lieutenant in the Air Force.
His first duty assignment after graduation from the academy was at the Air Tactical School, Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. In January 1950 he was transferred to Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. There, he began his career in guided missiles which subsequently led to his major role in this nation's space activities. At Holloman, General Albert was project officer for the X-7 Ramjet Test Vehicle which tested large diameter ramjet engines up to altitudes of 80,000 feet at a speed of Mach 3.
In June 1951 General Albert went to the University of Michigan for graduate engineering studies and in June 1953 received a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. He next was assigned to the Air Force Missile Test Center, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., where the long-range missile testing capability was being established.
In June 1954 General Albert returned to the U.S. Military Academy, where he served for three years as an instructor and assistant professor for guided missiles and atomic weapons. His next assignment was to the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division of the Air Research and Development Command in Los Angeles, Calif., where he served successively as project officer for the operational propellant loading system of the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile; officer responsible for development of an operational communications satellite capability; and finally as director for the Range and Mariner launch vehicles. The Ranger program made a significant contribution to this nation's unmanned lunar exploration effort, and the Mariner was this nation's first interplanetary endeavor which resulted in valuable information pertaining to the planet Venus.
In July 1963 General Albert was assigned to the 6555th Aerospace Test Wing, Cape Kennedy, Fla., where he was chief of the Gemini Launch Division and launch director for all 12 of the Gemini launches. All of these were successful, and 20 astronauts were launched into space under General Albert's direction. Following completion of the Gemini program, he attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., in 1967-68. In 1968 he was awarded a master's degree in business administration from The George Washington University.
In August 1968 General Albert was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in the Directorate of Space, where he served successively as chief, Program Development Division and chief, Policy and Plans Group until August 1970, when he was named the director of space. He held this position until July 1972, when he was assigned to the Space and Missile Systems Organization of the Air Force Systems Command, at Los Angeles, as the deputy for space defense systems.
General Albert assumed duty as commandant, Defense Systems Management College, at Fort Belvoir, Va., in July 1974. He became vice commander, Air Force Acquisition Logistics Division on July 15, 1977, and assumed command Feb. 9, 1978.
His decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, the Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with oak leaf cluster, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Exceptional Service Medal. He also wears the Master Missileman Badge.
He was promoted to the grade of lieutenant general Feb. 24, 1978, with the same date of rank.
(Current as of May 1978)