EE19-100

Photo of Gen and Mrs Eubank at 100th BD by 19th BG Association, Photo by V Chandler

            He learned to fly in a Curtiss JN4 "Jenny," helped mold the bomber forces of the early Air Force, saw action in both theaters of World War II, and saw men walk on the moon.

            Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Eugene Eubank, and his family, celebrated his 100th birthday Dec. 2. 1992.

Retired Air Force Maj Gen Eugene and Helen Eubank

            A resident of Air Force Village I, General Eubank and his wife Helen are among those who can truly say they saw the birth of the Air Force.

            The son of a north-Texas lawyer, General Eubank entered the service in 1917 as a flying cadet in the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps, and came to Kelly Field as an instructor of flying.

            He taught flying in various Texas locations, including Ellington AFE, Et Paso, and Maria. He returned to Kelly in 1920 for the Air Service Mechanical School.

            He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Service of the regular Army on July 1, 1920.

            One of his military contemporaries - Jimmy Doolittle - and others like him, forged a young aviation service into a modern fighting force.

            General Eubank was one of the military's early pioneers. In 1927, he was assigned as a test pilot at McCook AFB, Ohio, and later served as chief of the flight test unit at Wright-Patterson AFB.

            "We went to different factories testing aircraft for the military," the general recalled. "Helen even had a chance to travel with me."

            Mrs. Eubank recalled a connection between the Ohio assignment and the future Air Force.

            "I remember going to the Wright Patterson hospital to see a friend's newborn son," she said. "And I know that if I'd told anyone that some day I'd see a picture of that little blond baby walking on the moon, they would have locked me up."

            That newborn was Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., one of three Apollo II astronauts who walked on the moon in 1969.

            In 1931, General Eubank was assigned to the 49th Bombardment Squadron, Langley AFB, Va., He later became commander of the Second Bombardment Group at Langley.

            After a tour of instructor duty at the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell AFB, Ala., in 1934, he was assigned to General Headquarters Air Force at Langley.

            In 1938 he graduated from the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and assumed command of the 32nd Bombardment Squadron, March AFB, Calif.

            He became commander of the 19th Bombardment Group in 1940. A commendation from the Secretary of War was in store for General Eubank in 1941, for the "superior manner in which he skillfully planned, organized and executed the flight of 21 aircraft from Hamilton Field, Calif., to Hickam Field, Hawaii, on the night of May 13-14, 1941."

            His unit moved to Albuquerque, N.M., in June 1941.

            The group was moved to the Philippines in November 1941, just prior to America's entry into World War II. He served as the Air Force Bomber Commander in the Far East during the Philippine and Java campaigns and eventually in Australia, when troops were forced to withdraw by advancing Japanese.

            In 1942, the general was assigned to Washington, D.C. as Director of Bombardment, U.S. Air Force; and commanding general of Second Bomber Command. General Eubank returned to war as deputy commander for operations with Eighth Air Force in 1945, and later commander of the Third Division of Eighth Air Force.

            He compared the two fronts of World War II. `They were completely different," he said. "In the Pacific at the start of the war, we were short of everything. In Europe, the war was established and well organized."

            The general returned to the United States in 1945 as president of the Army Air Force Board at the Tactical Center, Orlando, Fla.

            In July 1946, he returned to the Pacific Air Command as commander of 13th Air Force, Fort McKinley, the Philippines.

            General Eubank became chief of the Air Force Manpower Group, Washington, in 1948, and one year later became the Air Force's deputy inspector general. He comeback to Kelly AFB in 1950 when he transferred to the Field Office of the Inspector General.

            His final assignment was as commander of Air Force Technical Training, Gulfport, Miss., responsible for all Air Force non-flying training.

            General Eubank retired Dec. 31, 1954, at the age of 62.