 Lieutenant
Colonel ROBERT FRASER PAYNE, USAF (Ret.), Age 75, a resident of Austin for
13 years, and formerly of Spring, Texas, passed away Saturday, July 2,
2005. He was born in Dallas, Texas on November 11, 1929 to William Charles
Payne and Thelma Marie Herron. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 28
years, 6 months and 5 days before retiring in 1979. He was a member of the
C-7A Caribou Association and former president of River Place MUD. He is
survived by his wife, Yong Payne of Austin; son, Steven Payne of
Sacramento, CA; daughters, Jennifer Ewing of Auburn, CA and Becky
Rosensteel of Potter Valley, CA; grandchildren, Andrew and Michael Ewing,
both of Auburn, CA, Jason and Amanda Rosensteel, both of Potter Valley,
CA.Fall 1944 Highland Park Junior High. Jun 1947-Graduates High School. Sept 1947- Enters Texas A&M. Mar 1951- Enlisted in USAF Pvr Lackland AFB Tx Basic Training Promoted to PFC May 1951. June 1951- Ellington AFB Tx Security Policeman. Aug 1951- James Connally AFB Tx- Aviation Cadet training. Graduated as a 2nd Lt Rated as aircraft Observer All Weather Intercept Officer. Feb 1952- Tyndall AFB FI Advanced AOI Training F-89. Jun 1952- James Connally AFB Tx - AOI Instructor, Academic & Flight, TB-25K&M. Promoted to 1st Lt. Aug. 1953. Received a Regular Commission in Feb. 1955. Graduated from Squadron Officers Course Aug. 1955 at Maxwell AFB AL. Aug 1956- Primary flight training, Bartow AB T-34 & T-28. Feb 1957- Basic Flight Training, Goodfellow AFB TB-25. Graduated as a rated Pilot. Oct 1957- Advanced pilot training, C-54, West Palm Beach AFB. Nov 1957- 79th Air Rescue Sq Anderson AFB Guam. Upgraded to Pilot & assigned duty as SQ Training Officer. Promoted to Captain Feb. 1958. Dec 1959- Keesler AFB Miss. C-54. Flew EWO training Missions. Upgraded to instructor pilot Jul 1960. Jul 1962- IP/FE C-54 & T-29 Mather AFB Ca. Dual Rated & dual Qualified. TDY IPIS Randolph AFB Oct 1962. Sep 1964- Survival School Stead AFB. Nov 1964- 6100th Operations Sq Tachikawa AB Japan. IP & FE C-54. Oct 1965- promoted to Maj. Flew 40 combat missions (39 combat hours) in Vietnam in 1966 & 1967. Nov 1967- Stewart AFB Tn, Check out in C-7 a Caribou. Dec 1967- Cam Rahn Bay AB Vietnam. Flew 993 combat missions (769 combat hours) in C-7 a Upgraded to IP May 1968. Promoted to Lt. Col. Jun 1968. Feb 1969- Castle AFB. Check out in KC-135. May 1969- AC KC-135 407th Air Refueling Sq Loring AFB Me. Flew 27 combat missions (103 combat hrs) Vietnam. Chief alert force, Ops Planning officer, Chief non-tac stan eval (T-29), Chief MWR Div, Deputy Base Commander. Jan 1973- Chief MWR Ops 314th Air Div & 51st Air Base Wing Osan AB Korea. Feb 1974- MWR School Keesler AFB Miss. Jun 1974- Chief MWR DIV Weisbaden AB Germany. Nov 1975- Chief MWR Div USAFE HQ Ramstein AB Germany. Jun 1977- Chief MWR Ops Tac Hq Langley AFB Va. 1 Oct 1979- Retired from active duty Grand total flying hours- 8,675, 1060 combat missions in Vietnam and 912 combat hours in Vietnam. Awards and Decorations, Meritorious Service Medal with 1 OLC, Air Medal with 5 OLC, Combat Readiness Medal, National Defense Service medal with 1 OLC, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with 9 Bronze Stars, Presidential Unit Citation with 1 OLC, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with 3 OLC, Air Force Longevity Service Award Ribbon with 6 OLC, Small Arms Expert marksmanship Ribbon, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm Unit Citation, Republic of Vietnam Campaign ribbon. Condensed 29 years of service. Leaves lots of room for war stories that are better voiced than printed on paper. Graveside services with full Military Honors will be held 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 15, 2005 at Arlington National Cemetery. (Obituary courtesy of the Dallas Morning News - http://www.legacy.com/dallasmorningnews) |