The Editor's Vault: Air pioneer rubbed shoulders with Lindbergh, Doolittle, Mitchell Published Jan. 23, 2015 By Annette Crawford Air Force Recruiting Service Public Affairs JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas -- Editor's note: In 1993, I was a technical sergeant assigned to the Public Affairs Office at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio. On Veterans Day that year, 2nd Lt. Sidney J. Brooks Jr. was reinterred at the base that carried his name. As part of the coverage of that event, I had the opportunity to interview one of Brooks' flight training classmates, retired Maj. Gen. Eugene L. Eubank. Eubank retired from the Air Force in 1954. At the time, he was 62, had more than 14,000 flying hours and was the oldest pilot on active duty. He was 100 years old when I interviewed him in 1993. Despite his age, he was still able to recall details of his early years in the military. At one point though, he became agitated with one of my questions. He pointed at me and said, "Now, Missy, if I knew what you were asking for, I would tell you!" The general died on April 9, 1997, at the age of 104. The pages of a history book come alive when you talk to Eugene L. Eubank. The retired major general, two weeks shy of his 101st birthday, was a contemporary of such aviation pioneers as Charles Lindbergh, Billy Mitchell and Jimmy Doolittle. The general now lives in Air Force Village I with his wife, Helen, who has been at his side for nearly 70 years. From their fifth floor apartment, the Eubanks can see the lights of the outskirts of San Antonio - a magnificent view of miles and miles of Texas. The general once had a bird's eye view of such landscapes. He took to the skies in 1917 with a group of fledgling aviators, and counted among his peers a young San Antonian named Sidney J. Brooks Jr. The two were classmates both attending ground school at the University of Texas. After two and a half months of preflight training, they transferred to Kelly Field for flight instruction. There were 40 aviation cadets, and the class was further broken down into groups of four for individualized training. Brooks and Eubank were not in the same small group, but saw each other at other class-related activities. "There were just 40 of us here and we all lived in the same barracks so I knew Sidney quite well. He was a very popular young man that everyone liked," the general recalled. While Eubank went on to soar in an Air Force career that last 37 years, his classmate's aspirations were cut short by a fatal airplane crash. Brooks was killed on Nov. 13, 1917, during the final leg of his solo flight in a Curtiss JN-4A. "We marched to his funeral," Eubank said. "It was a military funeral with the cadets marching behind the procession." A 21-gun salute was fired during the funeral, a salute of three volleys fired over the grave. "I was one of the cadets in the squad who fired that volley," he said. Eubank was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Signal Reserve on Feb. 13, 1918. His first assignment was as a flying instructor at Kelly Field, but from there his career took him all over the world. He was stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii in 1922, where he met the future Mrs. Eubank. Her father, Col. William Kelly Jr., was also stationed in Hawaii. "My father was a linguist - he could speak Spanish beautifully," Mrs. Eubank said. "He was an instructor at West Point when I was born, and we traveled everywhere with him." The Eubanks were married in 1924 in Hawaii. It was there that the general would meet one of the most controversial heroes the military would ever know - Billy Mitchell. Mitchell was briefly stationed in Hawaii before continuing on to Asia. During his tour, Eubank was his aide. "General Mitchell was a very unusual man. He was ahead of his time in thinking, and visualized the use of aviation and aircraft in military battles that hadn't been thought of before," Eubank said. "I looked up to him very much." Eubank was even called to testify at Mitchell's court-martial. "I was ordered to General Mitchell's court-martial as a witness and was there the entire trial. I had great respect and admiration for him and that continued throughout his entire life," the general said. Eubank, who was born in Magnum, Okla., on Dec. 2, 1892, was also a peer of Jimmy Doolittle's. "I knew him well. Jimmy Doolittle and I had similar experiences," Eubank recalled. "We had been on border patrol together and we had both been test pilots." The border patrol the general spoke of occurred over year-long period in 1919-20. According to an oral history interview done with Eubank in 1982, the pilots on border patrol flew missions from Brownsville to San Diego to keep the Mexican bandit, Francisco Villa, in check. Because of the rough terrain the pilots flew over, it turned out to be some of the best flying experiences the young aviators would receive. Being a test pilot also afforded Eubank the opportunity to meet other pioneers of his time. "We were stationed at Wright Field, and we tested the newer aircraft before the Air Force would use them," Eubank said of the years 1927-29. "One of the planes was being built by the Ford Tri-Motor Aircraft Company, so we went to the factory and saw the planes being assembled. We met with Henry Ford. I didn't get to talk to him too much, but he certainly did impress me." Even though he was in the Air Force during its young, formative days, Eubank said he never felt that he wasn't taken care of. "I certainly felt well provided for," he emphasized, nodding. "And except for the war, Helen and I were always together." The Eubanks moved to Air Force Village in 1982, returning to the city that the general's career had started in. At the time of his retirement in December 1954, he was the oldest pilot in the Air Force, and had spent three years as commander of the Technical Training Air Force at Gulfport, Miss. Until his return to San Antonio, he served as chairman of the board of directors for a bank in Gulfport. As recently as a few years ago, the general still played golf regularly. He did shoot a hole-in-one once, but "I don't consider myself an outstanding player." His wife proudly pointed out that he had also been an avid polo and tennis player. If World War I hadn't started, Eubank said he may have followed in his father's footsteps. "My father was in the real estate business in Port Arthur and I was a member of his firm when the war started," he said. But it's hard to imagine Eubank anything but an aviation pioneer, a founding member of today's Air Force. A century's worth of memorabilia and recollections in the Eubank apartment stand witness to that. He speaks matter-of-factly about his contributions. "The use of aviation and air power in war was developing and we were growing up with it. We knew it was important - no army could exist without it." As he approaches his 101st birthday, the general offers his success formula for life. "I was associated with something very new and interesting," he said, speaking of his early years in aviation. "I've had a beautiful home life and many friends and done many things. My life has been a very fortunate experience." "The Editor's Vault" takes a look at articles written by retired Master Sgt. Annette Crawford throughout a career in public affairs that began in 1982. Stories are run exactly as they were at the time of publication; if there are words or terms that are unfamiliar, or if the writing style doesn't seem consistent with other articles on this website, that's why.