A very interesting article was written recently about AFIT  alum Brig Gen Theodore Crichton, USAF, Ret (M.S. Aeronautical Engineering, 1959).  Gen Crichton was a command pilot with more than 6,000 flying hours and completed 100 combat missions, with a total of more than 200 combat hours in Southeast Asia.  The article is below.

Harry Thetford: Retired general started military career at 17
Posted: Friday, September 2, 2016 12:00 am at www.greensboro.com

By Harry Thetford Special to News & Record

Even after several years of chance encounters with Ted Crichton, a sit-down breakfast at Herbie's Place and a morning-long visit in his beautiful Lake Jeanette home, I feel inadequate to write about this former enlisted man who rose to brigadier general during a 35-year military career.
 
His two older brothers were in the thick of World War II, but the end was in sight by the time he turned 17 and joined the Army Air Forces in 1945.
 
"I had wanted to fly since I was a kid making airplane models in Wilmington, Del." he said. "I had high hopes of becoming an aviation cadet - my timing wasn't the best - they made me an aircraft mechanic."

However, his timing for appointment to the U.S. Military Academy couldn't have been better.

"I graduated from West Point in 1950, received my U.S. Air Force wings in 1951, and remained on flying status for 30 years."

While my personal observation is that Crichton never saw an airplane he did not like, he leans to the B-45 and C-130, in that order.

"I had the good fortune to be both an aircraft commander and instructor pilot in the B-45, which became operational in the early '50s - it was our first multi-engine jet bomber," he said. "From England, we planned for operations over communist countries in B-45s equipped to deliver both conventional or nuclear weapons. In fact, the Mark V atomic bomb was designed specifically for the B-45. These missions proved to be a strong deterrence to Soviet Union advances in Western Europe."

They were commanded by Col. David M. Jones, a former Doolittle Raider.

"Early models of the B-45 were relatively short range, with insufficient fuel to reach some assigned targets and return to England," he said. "He inspired us to believe dissidents in Eastern Europe would help get us home, just as the Chinese had helped the raiders. Fortunately, we never put that theory to the test."

Inasmuch as Crichton is a graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and the National War College - with a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology - he left the B-45 in terms even a Marine could understand: "It was a good horse to ride!"

In the 1960s, Crichton became involved in air transport operations, commanding units equipped with the C-130 at Squadron, Wing and Air Division levels.

On his way to becoming a command pilot, Crichton completed over 6,000 flying hours, including 100 combat missions in Southeast Asia.

Other Crichton assignments include tours in the Pentagon senior military airlift command officer in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and from Pope Air Force Base, he commanded two active duty Air Force wings.

Crichton's personal decorations include the distinguished service medal, three legions of merit, distinguished flying cross, bronze star and several air medals.

As for the highlight of Crichton's Air Force career: "I spotted her in an officers' club chow line at Sculthorpe RAF Base in England.

"I wasn't looking for a wife, but I knew in an instant that she was the one - it was definitely love at first sight."

He married Stella Peterson in 1955.

"She was the ideal military wife," he said. "We moved 27 times over our 54 years together."

Stella Crichton died in 2009.

The Crichtons' daughter, Teresa Crichton Audilet and her husband Alex, live in Greensboro, which led to her parents moving here in 1999.

There are three grandchildren - Emily, Matthew and Claire.

Upon his retirement in 1980, Crichton became vice president of HR Textron in Los Angeles. He later joined American Nucleonics Corporation and became president in 1988. He retired again in 1992 but ANC hired him back as adviser to the president.

"My third retirement was a charm," he said. "It was concurrent with our move to Greensboro."

He is a Kiwanian, member of the Black Caps Veterans Group, West Point Society, Guilford County Veterans Memorial Board of Directors, 2008 inductee into the Delaware Aviation Hall of Fame and active member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.

His love for flying did not end with his Air Force retirement.

"I've worked as a volunteer at Oshkosh, Wis., Air Shows for over 20 years and have flown in numerous other air shows," Crichton said.

Just how inadequate am I to write about Crichton?

Except for noticing a small photo on his wall, I would have never guessed this 6-foot-4 giant of a man ran the individual half mile and the 2 mile relay at West Point.

He was a four-year letterman.

And except from a coffee table book, I would never have guessed he is the grandson of the famous illustrator and writer Howard Pyle, author of many books, mostly for young readers.

"He was the writer who put a good face on Robin Hood!" Crichton said.
 

Harry Thetford is a retired Sears store manager who enjoys writing about veterans. Contact him at htthetford@aol.com.