Archie J. Old Jr. (August 1, 1906 – March 24, 1984) was a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force.
Early life:
Old was born in Farmersville, Texas, on August 1, 1906. Here he grew up and went to the normal childhood schools and graduated from high school. Old then studied civil engineering at Trinity University and at the University of Texas.
Old enlisted as a private in the Texas National Guard on April 16, 1930. He then attended aviation cadet training in the United States Army Air Corps. Appointed a flying cadet in February 1931, he completed his flying training at Brooks and Kelly Fields in Texas.
Old was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Reserve on February 26, 1932. He then was assigned to active duty with the 13th Attack Squadron at Fort Crockett, Texas. There he served until February 1933. Old for short periods during the following seven years was on active duty as a reserve officer.
Military career:
On September 6, 1940, Old was ordered to extended active duty. At that time, he was assigned to the 52d Bombardment Squadron at MacDill Field in Florida. There he was an assistant armament and chemical officer.
In the following February Old became operations officer of the 29th Bombardment Group. The group later moved to Gowen Field, Idaho, where he followed with them. Old assumed command of the 96th Bomb Group at Walla Walla, Washington, in September 1942. In January 1943 he moved his group to the European theater. In December 1943 Old became chief of the 45th Combat Bomber Wing.
Old flew 43 combat missions against Germany. On October 14, 1943, Old led the second raid on the Schweinfurt ball-bearing factories in the Fertile Myrtle III. Of 291 B-17s that reached the target, 60 were downed by flak or enemy fighters, for a loss rate of 20 percent. On June 21, 1944, Old led the second shuttle bombing run to Russia.<Jeffrey Harwood, World War Two from Above (Minneapolis: Zenith Press, 2014)152-153.ref Richard Overy, The Bombing War, London: Allen Lane, 2013, p. 233.> The B-17 that COl. Old was in for the first Schweinfurt mission aborted, so Col. Curtis Lemay and BGen. Robert Williams led the first Schweinfurt raid on 17 August; Col. Old and Col. Budd Peaslee led the second Schweinfurt raid on 14 October 1944. On June 21, 1944, Col. Old led the second Shuttle Mission to Russia. Old returned to the United States in July 1945. There he was assigned to the Army Air Forces headquarters at Washington, D.C. In August he was transferred to Air Transport Command headquarters at Gravelly Point, Virginia. Later in December of the same year he became commanding general of the Southwest Pacific Wing of Air Transport Command.[3] In January 1946 he assumed additional duty as commanding general of the China Wing.
On June 1, 1948, Old became commanding general of the 530th Air Transport Wing of Military Transport Service at Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base in California. In July of that year he was named commander of the Atlantic Division of the Military Air Transport Service.
Old became acting commander of the Eighth Air Force at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, in March 1950. In 1951 Old got two of SAC's important overseas jobs of commanding the 7th Air Division in England and the 5th Air Division in French Morocco. In February 1953 Old was assigned as director of operations for the Strategic Air Command. On August 22, 1955, Old assumed command of the Fifteenth Air Force. Old retired September 1, 1965. He died March 24, 1984, at the base hospital at March Air Force Base.
