General Raymond Arthur Gilbert

RAYMOND ARTHUR GILBERT, Brig Gen, USAF (Ret) Age 94, a longtime resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, died Saturday, December 28, 2013, after a short illness. General Gilbert was born in Mattoon, Illinois on April 19, 1919, as the eldest son of Arthur Monroe Gilbert and his wife Reba Pratt Gilbert. He is survived by his wife, Constance B. Young, of Albuquerque. As an Air Force officer, he had several tours of duty in Albuquerque, including serving as the first Director and Commander of the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque from 1963 until 1966. He eventually retired permanently in Albuquerque as well. Loved Ones In addition to his wife, Constance B. Young, formerly of Eunice, Louisiana, General Gilbert is survived by his oldest son Richard K. Gilbert and his partner, Sallie Strang, of Washington, D.C., by his youngest son, Thomas A. Gilbert and his wife Diana of Bulverde, Texas, and their son Andrew and daughter Naomi; by his younger sister Rose G. Shaw and her children, Linda Warren and her husband John Bush, Pamela Anspach and her husband David, Charles "Chip" Shaw and his wife Barbara, and Sue Van Woerkom and her husband Linn; by his youngest brother, John L. Gilbert and his wife Mary Jean and their children, John Michael Gilbert, Anne Gilbert and her husband Robert Duff, and Carol Gilbert and her fiancée, Joseph Giampetroni, by his sister-in-law, Shirley Virginia Gilbert and by brother-in-law, James Robert Slagle. General Gilbert is also survived by his stepdaughter Daphne Orner and her husband David, as well as their children, Jonathan Orner and Laurel Christensen and her husband Preston and their daughters Sawyer and London, all of Albuquerque. Preston Christensen, a pastor at Grace Church, will participate in the service. General Gilbert was preceded in death by his first wife Frances Keith Gilbert of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, his middle son Jack A. Gilbert of Studio City, California, and his younger brother Charles H. Gilbert, and younger sisters, Shirley K. Rekers, Harriet S. Slagle and Janet R. Gilbert. Education General Gilbert graduated from high school in Mattoon in 1936 and studied electrical engineering at the university of Cincinnati on a work / study program from1936 to 1941. He attended Ohio State University from May 1951 until June 1952 where he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in 1950 and his Master of Science degree in physics in 1952. General Gilbert also received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Albuquerque in 1967. a�� Military Service General Gilbert entered US Army Air Corps as Aviation Cadet , May 29, 1941, graduating on December 27, 1941. He spent all of World War II in Texas, initially as an Instructor Pilot, then as Director of the B-26 Ground School. He also served as the Senior Liaison Officer on Frangible Bullet Project, and then the Officer in Charge of the Research Planning Board of the Army Air Force Central School for Flexible Gunnery. After the war, General Gilbert had a brief tour at Eglin Field and attended the Military Government School at Carlisle Barracks. He was sent then to Germany in August 1946. He served as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Traffic at the European Air Transport Service. He then served in intelligence posts, first as the Chief, Scientific and Technical Intelligence Branch, at the U.S. Air Force Europe; he was then assigned to the Office of the Director of Intelligence, for the European Command as the Chief, Projects and Collections Branch. Since he was also a pilot, in 1948, he participated in the Berlin Airlift. He remained in Europe until 1949 when the Air Force sent him to Ohio State University. After obtaining his Masters degree in 1952, General Gilbert began his long career of his Air Force assignments in the field of research and development, which lasted until his retirement in 1970. He was first assigned as a Nuclear Research Officer, Research Directorate, AF Special Weapons Center, Kirtland AFB. Then in January 1953, he was assigned as theoretical physicist, University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, California. In fall 1954, he proposed a design for a fusion test device; the design was approved and he was selected as the project manager. This device was successfully tested at the Nevada Test Site in March 1955. He returned to Kirtland AFB on August 1, 195 5, as the Chief, Analysis Division, and later as Director, of the Research Directorate. In December 1958, he was assigned as the Deputy Commander, Sciences, Office of Scientific Research, US Air Force Headquarters. There he helped organize the Air Force Research Division of the Air Research and Development Command and in January 1960 became the Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Operations and later Chief of Staff of that Division. He remained Chief of Staff when the Air Force Research Division became the Office of Aerospace Research with the establishment of the Air force System Command on April 1, 1961. In July 1961 he became the Air Force member of the Director's Staff Group and later Military Assistant to the Deputy Director, Research and Information in the Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering, Office of the Secretary of Defense. On May 1, 1963, he returned to Kirtland AFB as the first Director and Commander of the Air Force Weapons Laboratory and served in that position until September 1966. During that period, The Air Force Weapons Laboratory received two consecutive Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards. In September 1966, he became Vice Commander, Research and Technology Division, Air Force System Command. In April 1967 that Division was combined with the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Research and Technology in Headquarters Air Force Systems Command to form the office of the Director of Laboratories and he was named Director. In that position he had line responsibility for all US Air Force basic and applied research organizations and staff responsibility for all of the Air Force's research and technology programs He served in that position until his retirement. He retired July 31, 1970 as a Brigadier General with 4200 hours flying time and 30 years military service; 28 years of which involved science and engineering, including 18 years in research and development. His military awards include the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal. Also while Director of the Air Force Weapons Laboratory, the laboratory received two consecutive Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards. a�� Post-Retirement Contributions After his retirement, from August 1970 to November 1971, General Gilbert was the Deputy to the Executive Secretary, National Aeronautics and Space Council, in the Executive Office of President. In December 1971, he became Vice President and later President of NRDC, a small corporation of scientists and engineers providing technical advice and management services to federal, state and local governments and to business and industrial concerns. In 1974 and 1975, he was a staff member of the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans under the chairmanship of Nelson A. Rockefeller. He assisted Dr. Edward Teller in preparing a report to the President on a national energy policy for the remainder of that century. In 1976, he volunteered to assist in the preparation of New Mexico's response to Request for Proposal from the U. S. Energy Research and Development Administration for a National Solar Energy Research Laboratory. Then in 1977, he was selected to head a group to prepare a proposal from the 1 3 Western states, including Alaska and Hawaii, for a regional organization to encourage the use of solar energy. In 1978, he was asked to be the first Executive Director of Western SUN that resulted from that report. In April 1979, General Gilbert decided to return to Albuquerque and to go into semi-retirement . He later served briefly as a consultant to the University of New Mexico Engineering Research Institute. He was a life member of the Air Force Association, the Retired Officers Association, the National Association for the Uniformed Services, and the American Legion. Locally, he was active in the Order of the Daedalians, a professional society for military pilots. Services Services will be held Monday, January 13, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. at Grace Church of Albuquerque, 6901 San Antonio Drive, NE, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87109. A military burial service will be conducted at 2:15 p.m. at the Santa Fe National Cemetery, 501 North Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, at woundedwarriorproject.org or at P.O. Box 758517, Topeka, KS, 66675.