HANGAR 25 AIR MUSEUM - Key Persons

General Russ was born in 1933, in Portland, Oregon, and graduated from Wapato High School in Washington in 1951. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Washington State University in 1955. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Washington State University and entered active duty in September 1955 at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. He completed pilot training at Webb Air Force Base, Texas, in October 1956 and subsequently attended F-84F Thunderjet gunnery school at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, and F-100A Super Sabre gunnery school at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. In May 1957, Russ was assigned to the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing at Royal Air Force Station Bentwaters, England, flying F-84F Thunderjets and, later, F-101A Voodoos. After completing this tour of duty in May 1960, he transferred to the 437th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Oxnard Air Force Base, California, where he flew F-101Bs. Moving to Hamilton Air Force Base, California, in May 1962, the general served as chief of the Fighter Section, Directorate of Tactical Evaluation, 28th Air Division, until August 1964. After graduation from Air Command and Staff College in July 1965, he was assigned to Headquarters Air Defense Command, Colorado. That same year, he also received a master's degree in business administration from The George Washington University. While there he served as a fighter officer in the Directorate of Tactical Evaluation and later as aide to the commander, Air Defense Command. After attending F-4 training at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, from July 1967 to January 1968, Russ was assigned to the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing at Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, where he flew 242 combat missions, of which 50 were over North Vietnam.