Ernest T. Cragg

Infobox Military Person
name= Ernest T. Cragg


caption=
born= Birth date|1922|1|19
died= Death date and age|2006|3|9|1922|1|19
placeofbirth= Mount Vernon, New York
placeofdeath= Arlington, Virginia
placeofburial=
nickname=
allegiance= flag|United States of America
branch=
serviceyears= 1943 – 1975
rank=
unit=
commands=
battles=
awards= Air Force Distinguished Service Medals (2) Legions of Merit (3) Distinguished Flying Cross Air Medals (14)
relations=
laterwork=

Ernest T. Cragg (19 January 1922 – 9 March 2006) was a Major General in the United States Air Force.

Biography

Pre World War II

Ernest T Cragg was born 19 January 1922 in Mount Vernon New York. He spent his youth in the Greenwich / Cos Cob area of CT, graduating from Greenwich High School in 1939. He subsequently attended the Stanton Preparatory Academy in Cornwall New York to complete work needed for enrollment in the United States Military Academy

World War II

On 1 July 1940 he entered the first of the World War II accelerated 3-year West Point classes, completing basic flight training by graduation on 1 June 1943. He received advance flight training at Craig Field and Matagorda Island.

After training, he was assigned to the 401st fighter bomber squadron, 370th fighter group which joined the 9th Air Force in England in early 1944. He served the squadron as pilot, flight commander and assistant operations officer. The unit began combat operations 1 May 1944. By October he had competed 76 combat missions, totaling 175 flying hours in P-38 and P-51 aircraft. During those missions he compiled a air-to-air combat record of 2 confirmed kills, 2 probable kills and 1 damaged. He flew two air cover missions over the Normandy Invasion fleet on D-Day.

Having completed his combat tour, rather than return to the US, he requested and received an assignment to the 9th Infantry Division and the 9th Armored Division as air liaison officer and forward air controller; then to the IX Tactical Air Command as combat operations duty officer. By V-E Day he had attained the rank of major and had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 13 oak leaf clusters.

In the days following the end of the war he met and subsequently married, while still in Germany, his wife, 1st Lt Helen Petraborg, a nurse with the 91st Evacuation Hospital. After the wedding she returned to the United States while he made preparations to go to the Pacific for the then expected invasion of Japan. With the surrender of Japan, he stayed on in Germany for another year, serving in the occupation with the 70th Fighter Wing at Neubiberg, Germany, as the assistant chief of staff, operations.

Military Career After World War II

After the war, he served in the Tactical Air Command at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, as director of special weapons. He next became the commander of the 563rd Fighter-Bomber Squadron (which flew F-86 aircraft) at Clovis (now Cannon) AFB in New Mexico. He led the squadron on its "Fly Away" to Bitburg Air Base Germany in 1954. His next assignment was with with the Twelfth Air Force in Ramstein, Germany. There he served as chief, Special Weapons Division; chief, Tactical Operations Division; and later deputy director of operations and training. In January 1958 he was appointed director of the Combat Operations Center, Twelfth Air Force, and U.S. Air Forces in Europe Advanced Echelon, (aka Kindsbach Cave)

In 1958 he returned to the United States and was assigned to Headquarters, USAF in the Pentagon.

In 1963, was became first the vice commander, and then the commander of the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing (flying F-100s) at RAF Wethersfield England. He also served as commander of the 3500th Pilot Training Wing (flying T-37s and T-38s) at Reese AFB outside Lubbock, Texas, which he considered his favorite and most challenging assignment.

Upon his promotion to Brigadier General he became deputy chief of staff, operations, the Air Training Command, Randolph AFB Texas. In 1969 he returned to the Pentagon, first as Assistant Director and then as Deputy Director of Aerospace Programs (after receiving his second star).

With the death of his wife Helen in 1972, He was reassigned to be Vice Commander of Second Air Force at Barksdale AFB. A year later he became the commander of the Air Force Inspection and Safety Center at Norton AFB, California., His final assignment was as chief of staff of the Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, based in Naples, Italy.

A command pilot with more than 5,000 flying hours, he retired in 1975.

General Cragg's decorations include the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 13 oak leaf clusters.

Activities after Retirement

Upon retiring from the military, he became general director of RTB-Olympic Travel in New York City. This company was chartered to provide the logistical planning and management for all US travel to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The US boycott of those games effectively ended operations for that company.

After the Olympics, RTB-Olympic travel was reorganized in Washington DC as Travelmasters International and The Society of Military Travelers. General Cragg served as chief executive officer. The companies catered to military personnel and their families. In this capacity he wrote a space available travel guide for retired military personnel. The agency's specialites were hunting trips (to Turkey and the former Yugoslavia) and trips to WWII European battlefields. With the advent of 50th anniversaries of various battles he was quite active, culminating in a formal dinner in England sponsored by Queen Elizabeth on the evening before the 50th anniversary of D-Day At his home in Arlington, Virginia, General Cragg was active with a local chapter of Ducks Unlimited He loved hunting on Maryland's Eastern Shore. He also hunted pheasants in North Dakota.

He died on 9 March, 2006 and was buried with full military honors along side his first wife Helen in Section 5, Plot 104 Arlington National Cemetery. cite web |url=http://ernest.cragg.info/ETC_albums/060327%20Funeral/Originals/Z2%20P5262019c.jpg|title=Reverse side of Ernest T Cragg's gravestone

References

* [http://www.af.mil/bios/bio_print.asp?bioID=5099&page=1 Biography: Major General Ernest T. Cragg] . United States Air Force. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
*cite news |title=Obituaries - Maj. Gen. Ernest T. Cragg Air Force Officer |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/16/AR2006031602117_pf.html |work=The Washington Post |date=March 17 2006 |accessdate=2008-05-26 |pages=B06
*cite book |title=CAT - 6: Revised Space "A" Handbook for Retirees |last=Cragg|first=Ernest T. |year=1996|publisher=Travelmasters International |location=Springfield, VA | isbn=0-912731-12-1 |pages=
*cite book |title=The 370th Fighter Group in World War II |last=Jones|first=Jay|authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2003 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing |location=Atglen, PA |isbn=0-7643-1779-2 |pages=320
* "The Compass - 1939", Greenwich High School Year Book. Available at Greenwich Town Library, Greenwich CT.
* "The Howitzer - June 1943", USMA Year Book. Available at the West Point Association of Graduates office, West Point NY.
* "Ernest T Cragg Oral History interview" March 1994

External links

* [http://www.aogusma.org/class/1943jun/ West Point June '43 Home Page]
* [http://ernest.cragg.info/ Ernest T Cragg Memorial Web Page]