{"id":5224,"date":"2021-02-06T21:55:24","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T02:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/?p=5224"},"modified":"2021-02-06T21:55:28","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T02:55:28","slug":"general-horner-air-commander-of-the-first-gulf-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doctoraviation.com\/general-horner-air-commander-of-the-first-gulf-war\/","title":{"rendered":"General Horner: Air Commander of the First Gulf War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We continue to look back on the 30th<\/sup> Anniversary of the First Gulf War.  Today\u2019s spotlight is on General Horner: Air Commander of the First Gulf War<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Years<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Charles Albert Horner was born and raised in the cornfields of Iowa.  He attended the University of Iowa and as a Hawkeye was part of the Air Force ROTC program.  He received his commission upon graduation in 1958 and was off for preflight training\/screening at Spence AFB (Georgia) and then Laredo AFB in Texas.  Both facilities are now closed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fighter Pilot<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
F-100<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Horner earned his pilot wings and a spot in the F-100 Super Sabre and found himself at RAF Lakenheath as a young lieutenant and then captain.  These were the days when the Century Series aircraft were filling the sky. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
F-105D Thunderchief & KC-135<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

He eventually served two tours in the air over Vietnam while his future bosses Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf were officers on the ground.\u00a0 Horner flew the F-105 Thunderchief out of Korat Royal Thai AFB, Thailand in 1965.\u00a0 He returned in 1967 as a Wild Weasel pilot in the F-105, again, out of Korat.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Officer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Horner did all the normal schooling and made his way up the ranks.  He commanded Fighter Wings at both Luke AFB and Nellis.  Soon after leaving Nellis, Horner pinned on his first star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central Command<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In March of 1987 Chuck Horner was made Commander of the 9th<\/sup> Air Force.  With that position also came Commander, U.S. Central Command Air Forces.  When the Iraqis invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Horner was the man to lead the air activities and campaigns of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.  In this interview<\/a> he tells how plans were already underway due to the leadership of Schwarzkopf. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Decisive Man<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Horner drew up the Allied Air Strategy<\/a> based heavily on the work of Colonel John Warden.  The central premise was to first take out the Iraqi\u2019s Central Command and Control structure.  Due to their heavy reliance on centralized command coming from Saddam Hussein, this move went a long way towards securing a swift allied victory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day into the war, the Iraqi\u2019s began to fire missiles into Israel, hoping to lure the Jewish State into the Conflict and fracture the Allied coalition, which included Saudi Arabi, and which enjoyed the support of other Islamic nations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli\u2019s showed remarkable constraint but urged the Americans to step up the bombing campaign.\u00a0 One night, Horner looked at a high-ranking intelligence officer and asked him what targets would satisfy the Israelis.\u00a0 The intelligence officer looked bewildered, stuttered, and stammered and then went silent.\u00a0 Horner turned to a junior officer.\u00a0 He looked at a young captain, \u201cWhere do we bomb\u201d?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The captain calmly pointed at several targets.\u00a0 \u201cIf we hit these targets it will satisfy the Israeli\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0 Horner gave the command for those targets.\u00a0 The high-ranking officer was gone the next day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Humorous Story<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Air Campaign was directed from a facility separate from General Schwarzkopf\u2019s Command Center.  The Air Staff was essentially in a Quonset hut with desks lined in three columns.  My friend, also a young captain, sat three or four desks behind General Horner.  Each desk had a telephone.  Daily the phone would ring on the captain\u2019s desk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to talk to Horner\u201d boomed Norman Schwarzkopf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each day the captain would go and get General Horner and bring him to the phone (it was a land line with wires).  One day my friend decided it would be quicker for General Schwarzkopf if he just called General Horner\u2019s desk directly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the next day when General Schwarzkopf called, my friend said, \u201cSir, General Horner\u2019s direct line is\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before he could finish the sentence, Schwarzkopf bellowed, \u201cI don\u2019t want his number, give me Horner now\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the last time the captain suggested the direct line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Gulf<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By all accounts, military experts hail the air campaign in the First Gulf War as a masterpiece of success.  Due to the strategic approach, ground causalities, when the ground invasion began on February 24, were held to a minimum.  This allowed the Coalition to claim victory on the ground in 100 hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One year later, General Charles Horner was awarded his fourth star and the Command of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Space Command at Peterson AFB, Colorado.\u00a0 He retired from that position on October 1, 1994.\u00a0 For a review of his 36-year career see this site<\/a> and the video piece<\/a> on his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genera Chuck Horner truly excelled as the Air Commander of the First Gulf War.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We continue to look back on the 30th Anniversary of the First Gulf War.  Today\u2019s spotlight is on General Horner: Air Commander of the First Gulf War Early Years Charles Albert Horner was born and raised in the cornfields of Iowa.  He attended the University of Iowa and as a Hawkeye was part of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":338,"featured_media":5218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[39],"tags":[1246,1241,1243,1244,1183,1245,1242],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGeneral Horner: Air Commander of the First Gulf War - 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