Published: October 04, 2008 01:38 pm            

Larue Barnes: Looking skyward

The Thunderbirds, the famous U.S. Air Force demonstration squadron took a young sixth grader’s breath away back in 1972 as he watched them perform at Carswell Air Force Base.

Jeff Beene set a goal — to graduate from the Air Force Academy and become a pilot.

On Aug. 4, 2008, some 36 years later, the Air Force colonel retired as the United States Air Force Academy’s vice commandant of cadets. His heroic actions had been recognized with the Mackay Trophy for U.S. Air Force Meritorious Flight of the Year in 1989.

During Beene’s 26-year Air Force career, he was a command pilot with more than 3,500 flying hours, which included 173 combat hours in support of operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

He flew the E-3, B-1, UV-18, B-52, T-37 and T-38 aircraft.

Beene credits his Coleman Elementary School sixth-grade teacher, Donna Ott, in Cleburne, with helping him see what the Air Force offered as a career.

“I had no Air Force family connections,” he said. “Born in Cleburne, Texas, and growing up during the space race and the Vietnam War had a combined major impact on who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do.

“My teacher, Mrs. Ott, was an amazing woman and teacher. Her husband, an Air Force pilot, had been shot down and killed in Vietnam.

“While she lost her husband, she knew how important flying and serving his country were to him. One time she took a few of us who she knew had an interest in airplanes to an open house at what was then Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth.

“I had never been on an Air Force base before. The Air Force Thunderbirds were there. I knew who they were but had never seen them. I got to meet several of the pilots, and I was hooked.

“By the time I was in Fulton Junior High, I knew I wanted to pursue the dream of flying and the Air Force through the Air Force Academy.”

Growing up during the space race, Jeff developed a love of flight. He said he built model airplanes and model rockets and wrote to NASA often for “every bit of material” they would send him on space.

He studied the history of flight and military history on his own. In the early ’70s he flew for the first time in a private plane with his uncle, Dr. Bill Deering, a University of North Texas professor in Denton.

Jeff spent the first two years at Cleburne High — now the Guinn Justice Center — under the house system.

Each CHS student was permanently assigned to one of six large homerooms for their high school years. Called “houses” like a British boarding school, they were named for famous Americans.

Wilson, Riley and Edison were for boys; Barton, Willard and Addams Houses were for girls.

A housemaster scheduled the student’s classes, checked attendance, provided counseling and discipline. Older students were leaders and mentors.

There was much competition between the groups and lifelong camaraderie within them. The house system ended when a new high school building was constructed in 1976.

“That was a wonderful remembrance by itself,” Beene said. “I was in Edison House, sitting almost exactly where my father, Jamie Beene, had sat. Lt. Col. Jerome H. Cribbs Sr. USAF, retired, was my housemaster. Over the course of my first year, he apparently saw something in me worth encouraging. Col. Cribbs ultimately shepherded me through the Air Force Academy application process while teaching much more than physical science and chemistry along the way.

“I learned what it means to commit to a military career and many valuable leadership lessons. He was a great mentor.

“Up until my appointment, Cleburne High had West Point and Annapolis graduates but none from the Air Force Academy. In competing for appointment to any of our service academies, recommendations play a vital role in the selection process. There were several community leaders who helped me: Judge William Anderson, Judge John MacLean, a West Point graduate, R. E. Roberts and Lowell Smith. Without their support I don’t think I would have received a congressional nomination from our then-representative, Olin Teague.”

Jeff had known Carol Recer since fifth grade, when he and his family moved back to Cleburne after living in the Panhandle and then Alvarado. At Cleburne High, Carol was active in the Golden Pride Band while Jeff played Yellow Jacket football and was a student leader. They began dating in February of their senior year.

“After we graduated from CHS in June 1978, Carol accompanied me and my family to drop me off at the Air Force Academy later that month,” he said. “She enrolled in Texas Tech, and we wrote and called each other often and spent time together during my summer leave each year. Carol was able to come to the Academy to attend several very special events, including the Ring Dance where juniors receive their class rings and 100’s Night Dining Out marking 100 days until graduation. I also had a good classmate friend from Texas whose girlfriend [now his wife of 26 years, as well] attended Texas Tech. We made several long holiday weekend trips to Lubbock.”

Jeff found the Academy to be demanding.

“In addition to the adjustment to military life and the physical demands, academics were more difficult than I expected. When I counsel young people today who want to attend a service academy I tell them to start early with mental, physical and academic preparation.

“When I look at the caliber of our cadets today, I’m not sure I could have competed with them.”

Both Jeff and Carol had university graduations in 1982. Three days after his, they were married on June 5, 1982, in Cleburne at Carol’s home church, St. Mark United Methodist Church — which had been constructed by her grandfather, A. H. “Pappy” Stuart, a longtime Cleburne builder.

Jeff’s parents are Jamie Beene of Cleburne and Margaret Beene of Whitney; Carol’s parents are Clifford and Betty Recer, all of Cleburne.

During his senior year at the Academy, Jeff had chosen the aircraft he wanted to fly.

“President Reagan resurrected the B-1 bomber [President Carter had canceled the program in 1977] as a major part of our build up that ultimately won the Cold War,” he said. “I immediately set my goal on flying the B-1. Later at pilot training, it was announced that those selected for the B-1 would come from other bombers, so I asked for a B-52 assignment.

“While assigned to the B-52 at Minot AFB, North Dakota, I successfully competed for assignment to the first operational B-1 unit at Dyess AFB, Texas, in 1986.

“As a B-1 aircraft commander in October 1989, my crew and I had to recover our B-1 following a training mission at Edwards AFB, California, following a series of malfunctions.”

Beene said he couldn’t lower the nose landing gear.

He gave his crew an option of bailing out, but they chose to stay on board with him.

“I was very concerned. This was the first time in my short aviation career that I faced a situation that had potential life or death implications. I remember thinking I wanted each one of my crew to be able to go home to their families. I needed to ensure the crew had confidence in me and the aircraft, so I spoke to each member individually — privately off interphone — during the flight to California.

“Each one assured me that they had confidence in me to recover the aircraft and only wanted the assurance of the engineers once we arrived at Edwards AFB that the aircraft structure would handle the landing.

“On arrival at Edwards we received those much-needed words of confidence and began a final rehearsal of our emergency procedures for landing.

“After a near-12-hour flight, we safely landed our aircraft on the dry lake bed at Edwards.”

The 1989 Mackay Trophy for U.S. Air Force Meritorious Flight of the Year trophy they received is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, D. C.

“I was privileged to command on a few occasions, as an air officer commanding at the Air Force Academy, a squadron commander and a group commander,” Beene said.

“But the one that really stands out is being a commander in combat where, as 40th Air Expeditionary Group commander, I was honored to lead B-1 bomber and KC-135 aerial tanker forces in support of operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

“We compiled an impressive 93 percent combat effectiveness rating with our bombers, flying around the clock, averaging over 16 hours per mission.”

Beene flew more than 173 combat hours, as well.

“My favorite aircraft is the Boeing B-1 Lancer. There’s no other large aircraft like it — incredible speed, range and payload. I was proud to be a part of bringing it from initial to fully operational capability and standing as our most lethal and flexible combat aircraft. It has adapted very effectively from the Cold War to the global war on terror.”

Both Jeff and Carol have found fulfillment in military life.

“Goals to serve my country were met,” he said. “It was great to raise our family, and we have lifelong friends from around the country.”

“While there are no written job descriptions or requirements for a colonel’s wife, there were several ‘traditional’ ones that both of us felt were important to the overall effectiveness of the units to which Jeff was assigned,” Carol said.

“As a colonel, there are many social requirements both within the military unit and also within the local community where the Air Force base is located. Leading, mentoring and being involved socially with younger military spouses allows for not only friendship and support but also allows for the easy flow of information from the Air Force to the spouses and also from the spouses to the senior leadership of the base.

“More often than not, there is no luxury of having extended family close by, so we all tried to fill that gap, especially during times of deployments, which are extremely common in today’s military.”

Carol said that civic or community social events helped her to have a greater awareness of the area and its people, as many cities ask senior military members or their spouses to become board members in local organizations.

But in addition to the fun and whirlwind activity involved, she admitted there was a down side, leaving friends behind.

Their children had to adjust to new schools. Through the years, Beene had 16 different assignments in nine states.

The Beenes have three children: Jeffrey, 22, a senior at Texas Tech who will commission as a second lieutenant in the Air Force in May 2009 through Texas Tech Air Force ROTC; Allison, 19, a sophomore education major at Baylor; and Austin, 12, a sixth-grader now at Midway Intermediate School in Waco, where they live.

At the Air Force Academy, Col. Beene served as the principal deputy to the commandant — essentially vice president for student affairs — responsible for the military education and training of the 4,400-member cadet wing and 300 military and civilian support staff.

He said, “One of the highlights for me was leading an Academywide task force that crafted a new cadet combat survival training course and implementation plan as part of the new USAF Survival, Evasion, Resistance & Escape vision for training all airmen.”

After his military retirement in August, Beene accepted a new position at Texas State Technical College in Waco as the director of aviation programs.

“The college has combined all of its aviation-related departments, airport operations and airport development in order to expand into a full complement of aviation technical programs while developing a very large commercial capacity at the college airport,” he said.

Beene has been awarded the Legion of Merit with two oak-leaf clusters; the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak-leaf clusters, the Air Medal, Aerial Achievement Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal and the Air Force Achievement Medal with one oak-leaf Cluster.

How meaningful, then, when 36 years ago a teacher was perceptive enough to see that young Jeff Beene was fascinated by aviation. She cared enough for her country and the memory of her Air Force pilot husband to take her students to see excitement in the air for themselves.

The Thunderbirds are coming back to Fort Worth on Oct. 11-12. There will be many there intently watching, squinting past the sun.

And in some children’s hearts there could be a dream that will take them up.



Larue Barnes may be reached at laruebarnes@yahoo.com.

        

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