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| Information > Biographies > MAJOR GENERAL PETER R. DELONGA |
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MAJOR GENERAL PETER R. DELONGA
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Retired Sep. 1, 1975.
Died July 9, 1998.
Major General Peter R. DeLonga is the deputy inspector general of the Air Force. The inspector general provides the secretary of the Air Force and the chief of staff an evaluation, through inspections, of the effectiveness of U.S. Air Force units, and he monitors worldwide safety policies and programs in the interest of accident prevention. He also directs the counterintelligence program and is responsible for security policy and criminal investigation within the U.S. Air Force.
General DeLonga was born in Beadling, Pa., in 1921. He graduated from Mount Lebanon High School, Mount Lebanon, Pa., in 1939; received his bachelor of science degree at Slippery Rock College, Pa., in 1943; graduated from Advanced Management Course of Harvard University in 1964; and received his masters degree from the University of Southern California, in 1974.
He was a member of the Enlisted Reserve Corps, from May 1942 to February 1943, when he entered active military duty as an aviation cadet. He was transferred to the Royal Air Force, attended their flying training schools, and upon graduation in April 1944 received both Royal Air Force and United States pilot wings and a commission as second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces.
He served in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations from September 1944 to September 1945. He bailed out of his disabled aircraft during a mission on April 16, 1945, and lived with the Naga headhunters. He completed 86 combat missions with a total of 634 flying hours.
From November 1945 to August 1946, he was a pilot at Fort Dix, N.J., then at Long Beach Army Air Field, Calif. In August 1946 he became a member of the first class of the Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and graduated in August 1948 with the equivalent of a second bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering and logistics. His next assignment was in the Aero-Medical Laboratory, Engineering Division, Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, as research psychologist.
During the Berlin airlift, General DeLonga served in Germany, from March to August 1949, as operations officer for the 40th Troop Carrier Squadron, 317th Troop Carrier Group. He next returned to Air Materiel Command where he served until July 1952 when he was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe at Wiesbaden as assistant chief, Aircraft and Armament Branch, Supply Division. In December 1953 he entered the Air Command and Staff School.
General DeLonga was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., in July 1954, where he served in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Systems and Logistics, Directorate of Supply and Services, as chief, Distribution Branch, Aircraft Division; chief, Aircraft and Missiles Branch; and acting deputy chief, Aircraft and Missiles Division. In June 1958 he went to the Ballistic Missiles Center where he became deputy director and later deputy chief of staff, materiel and technical operations, Ballistic Systems Division, Los Angeles, Calif.
In April 1962 he was assigned as chief, Spares Management Division, and later as chief, Requirements Management Division, Directorate of Supply, at Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command. In April 1965 he went to Clark Air Base, Republic of Philippines, as vice commander, 6200th Materiel Wing, and later became commander. This wing provided complete logistics support for all Air Force units in Southeast Asia until they could develop their own capability.
General DeLonga returned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in July 1967 and was assigned to the Office of Deputy Chief of Staff, Systems and Logistics, as chief, Operations Division, Assistant for Logistics Planning. In May 1968 he was selected chairman, Long Range Logistics Manpower Task Forces, for the Office of Secretary of Defense. This task force prepared a report setting forth findings and recommendations on how to improve retention of logisticians in the Department of Defense. The report was approved by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, departments of the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Marine Corps in February 1969. He became assistant for logistics planning in August 1969.
He assumed duties as deputy chief of staff, materiel, Seventh Air Force at Tan Son Nhut Airfield, Republic of Vietnam, in June 1970. He flew 188 combat missions and 384 combat hours in F-4, F-100, AC-119, T-39A, C-130, UH-IN and C-123 aircraft. The government of the Republic of Vietnam awarded him the National Order, 5th Class, in recognition of service he rendered the Vietnamese Air Force. From January to December 1972 he was deputy chief of staff, logistics, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. He assisted in the phaseout of combat activities in South Vietnam, in restructuring the Air Forces in Thailand, and upgrading forces in Korea and Okinawa.
In January 1973 General DeLonga was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Systems and Logistics. He consolidated the directorates of Maintenance Engineering and Supply and Services and served as director of maintenance, engineering and supply. He was assigned to the Office of The Inspector General in February 1974 as the deputy inspector general, U.S. Air Force.
His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon with "V" and two oak leaf clusters, Senior Missileman Badge, Royal Air Force Pilot Badge, and the Vietnam National Order, 5th Class. He is a command pilot with 4,167 flying hours.
His hometown is Mount Lebanon, Pa.
He was promoted to the grade of major general effective March 1, 1972, with date of rank Aug. 1, 1968.
(Current as of June 15, 1974)
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