William H. Baker

I was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1944. I remember attending air shows at Barksdale AFB and always wanted to fly. I graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University where I was a member of the ROTC Unit and obtained my private pilot license through the Cadet Flight Indoctrination Program. In 1968 I entered Undergraduate Pilot Training at Reese AFB, TX. After UPT, I followed the standard “Pipeline” route to SEA. I completed F-100 gunnery at Luke AFB and then off for my year at Bien Hoa. As the war wound down, I rotated back to CONUS with the Tuy Hoa Wing to reform the unit at England AFB, LA. After a year, the senior pilots were pulled out to fly Gen Momyer’s Edsel – the F-111. I spent five years at Mtn Home AFB with a TDY in ’72 to Takhli RTAFB during Linbacker II. In ’75, I was selected to do an exchange tour with the RAAF and enjoyed two years drinking Australian beer. In ’78 I was required to pay back for the Oz assignment with a tour at Hq TAC. After three years in purgatory, I went to the AFSC at Norfolk followed by a year and a half at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monteray, CA. With great stealth technique, I escaped MPC assignments and returned to Australia as the Asst Air Attaché for the remainder of my 20 year military career flying the C-12 around the South Pacific.

I retired from the USAF in 1988. My first job in civilian life was to join General Dynamics as an Engineer. After a year at GD, I was picked up by Northwest Airlines where I flew for 15 years to age 60 retirement. My last base with the company was flying the DC-10 in Hawaii where my wife and I still retired to beach life.