Lord Jones

James includes the line about "Lord Jones is dead" in his list of Chestertonia below. Actually, some of the late lamented Lord Joneses in the newspaper are fascinating people, and I wish I'd heard about them sooner. Take General Hoff, for example. You'll have to wade through the whole list of obits, unfortunately, as there is no separate link to this one.

In 1958, he returned to Madison and served as a pilot in the Wisconsin Air National Guard (WI ANG) until 1989, when he retired as Air Commander of Truax Air Base and Wing Commander of the 128th Tactical Fighter Wing with more than 6000 hours flying time, including 1000 hours in the A-10 Thunderbolt II. As Commander, Hoff lead the 128th TFW back into the jet age following its near deactivation and the removal of its jets in the 1970s, giving the base its working motto, "Dedicated to Excellence." He also graduated from the U.S. Air Force Air War College in 1975 and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1978. General Hoff worked regularly with Congress in the WI ANG congressional liaison program, which he initiated. Senator William Proxmire awarded General Hoff the Reverse Golden Fleece Award in 1984, for using his own money to purchase and expedite the placement of safety clips on all Air Force, ANG and Air Force Reserve A-10 pilot air hoses to prevent inadvertent disconnect at high G forces in flight. The G-suit modification, which he designed and then implemented in a test program at Truax before receiving U.S.A.F. approval to equip every A-10 unit in the military, took three months and cost \$1,100; Air Force experts had told General Hoff it would cost tens of thousands of dollars and take two years to accomplish the same result.

Mrs James