Retired Gen. Bennie Davis, who led Strategic Air Command from August 1981 through July 1985, died on Sept. 23 in Georgetown, Tex., at age 84, according to an Air Force release. He was scheduled for interment at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio. Born in McAlester, Okla., in 1928, Davis graduated from West Point in 1950, states his official Air Force biography. He then joined the Air Force, earning his pilot wings in 1951. Davis was a bomber pilot with more than 9,000 flying hours throughout his career, including in the B-29, B-47, B-52, and B-57. Among his early assignments, Davis was a B-52 instructor pilot. He then flew the B-57 over Vietnam from 1967-8, accumulating more than 350 combat hours, according to the biography. Later, Davis led the Air Force Recruiting Service and subsequently became deputy chief of staff for personnel from 1977-79. He received a fourth star in April 1979 for his assignment as Air Training Command commander at Randolph AFB, Tex. He then led SAC until his retirement in August 1985.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…