Foil: 14 Panel: Retired United Pilots Association Column: 4 Line: 80

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

In 1971, fresh out of Air Force pilot training, Glenn spent the next year flying EC-47 aircraft at DaNang Air Base, Viet Nam. On return to the states in April, 1972, he went through transition training for the KC-135. Immediately afterwards, he volunteered to return to Southeast Asia. During that three-month temporary duty assignment in the tanker, he flew air-refueling support missions for Linebacker II, the United States' air offensive against North Viet Nam. Flying stateside for the next six years at Plattsburgh AFB, NY, he advanced all the way to Assistant Branch Chief of Standardization and Evaluation. In November of 1978 he left Active Duty and joined the AF Reserve at Westover AFB, MA. From then until his Air Force retirement in December of 1991, he flew C-123, C-130, and C-5 aircraft. While flying C-130s, he received a Humanitarian Award for participating in a disaster relief operation in Peru. Called back to Active Duty for Desert Shield in the summer of 1990, he spent nearly a year flying military personnel and materiel to and from the Persian Gulf in C-5s. After being released from Active Duty, in the summer of 1991 he was privileged to be selected to fly in a formation, of over 80 different types of aircraft, over the Washington Monument, as part of The General Norman Schwarzkopf Welcome Home Parade in our Nation's Capital. That flight capped Lieutenant Colonel De Forge's Air Force flying career.
In March of 1979, just after joining the AF Reserve, Glenn felt that he caught the brass ring in commercial aviation when United Airlines hired him. He then spent many years flying concurrently both military cargo aircraft as well as commercial airliners.
Over the span of his 26 year career at United, Glenn went from flying sidesaddle in the B-727 flight engineer seat, to piloting Airbus 319s and 320s, as well as Boeing 727s, 737s, 757/767s, and 777s. After upgrading to the left seat in August of 1991, Glenn then flew as Captain on each of the previously listed aircraft until his retirement in December of 2005; thus completing 35 totally enjoyable years in aviation, so far.