15 Facts About Allison Brooks

Allison C Brooks was a United States Air Force aviator who piloted both the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and North American P-51 Mustang aircraft in combat missions over Nazi Germany during World War II.

Allison Brooks attended high school in Pasadena, California, and earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1938.

Allison Brooks enlisted a year later as an aviation cadet in the United States Army Air Corps and graduated from Kelly Field in 1940 with a commission as second lieutenant and his pilot wings.

Allison Brooks was next assigned as executive officer and later as commander of the 1st Air Division Fighter Scouting Force, which flew P-51 aircraft.

Allison Brooks participated in the campaigns of Air Offensive, Europe; Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; and Central Europe.

Allison Brooks commanded an August 1944 raid by the 401st Bombardment Group on a V-weapons factory that was adjacent to the inmate barracks at the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Allison Brooks was assigned to various units of the Military Airlift Command since June 1952, with the exception of a one-year tour of duty from January 1964 to March 1965 in Southeast Asia as deputy commander, 2nd Air Division.

Allison Brooks returned to the United States in September 1955 and was assigned to Headquarters Military Airlift Command, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, as chief of manpower and organization, and in June 1957, he assumed duties as assistant deputy chief of staff for operations.

In March 1965, Allison Brooks assumed command of the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service with headquarters at Orlando Air Force Base, Florida.

In 1966, at Edwards Air Force Base, Allison Brooks was the first to fly an experimental device attached to an HC-130H called the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system.

Allison Brooks assumed duty as deputy director for inspection services, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Washington, DC, in April 1970.

Allison Brooks retired from active duty on July 1,1971.

Allison Brooks was promoted to the temporary grade of major general effective February 24,1970, with date of rank on August 10,1965.

In 2002, General Brooks was interviewed on the subject of whether President Franklin D Roosevelt should have ordered the bombing of the Nazi death camps during World War II.

General Allison Brooks died in Sequim, Washington, on December 9,2006.