Brigadier General Jack Cram
Click to view article Jack Randolph Cram
Airport Manager to USMC General
by Cal Taylor
Jack Randolph Cram was an aviation pioneer who made a substantial mark on Washington State, the city of Olympia, Marine Corps aviation and several levels of national aviation. His aviation career spanned at least thirty-nine years, during which he made key accomplishments at every stage.
Doing double duty as a state pilot and Olympia Airport manager, he promoted the value of aviation in the 1930s. CAA curricula for the CPTP helped insure that the United States had an adequate pool of pilots when WWII started. During two wars, Jack Cram’s skill, dedication and leadership were essential to successful Marine Corps air operations. Finally, as president of NANAC, he worked productively to mitigate the effects of jet aircraft operations on areas surrounding airports across the country.
The Author, Cal Taylor joined the USAF in 1963. After undergraduate navigator training, his first airplane was the B-52H. From there, he crewed in the C-141, AC-130, C-133, C-5 and C-130. Some twelve years were in AF intelligence at the Pentagon, Andrews AFB, Scott AFB and Osan AB, Korea. He retired in 1989. In 2006, he published Remembering an Unsung Giant: The Douglas C-133 Cargomaster and Its People (available from Amazon), the definitive history of the airplane. Cal is a member of the American Aviation Historical Society and the Swedish Aviation Historical Society. He has had numerous articles in the journals of both and continues to research and write on aviation topics.
Airport Manager to USMC General
by Cal Taylor
Jack Randolph Cram was an aviation pioneer who made a substantial mark on Washington State, the city of Olympia, Marine Corps aviation and several levels of national aviation. His aviation career spanned at least thirty-nine years, during which he made key accomplishments at every stage.
Doing double duty as a state pilot and Olympia Airport manager, he promoted the value of aviation in the 1930s. CAA curricula for the CPTP helped insure that the United States had an adequate pool of pilots when WWII started. During two wars, Jack Cram’s skill, dedication and leadership were essential to successful Marine Corps air operations. Finally, as president of NANAC, he worked productively to mitigate the effects of jet aircraft operations on areas surrounding airports across the country.
The Author, Cal Taylor joined the USAF in 1963. After undergraduate navigator training, his first airplane was the B-52H. From there, he crewed in the C-141, AC-130, C-133, C-5 and C-130. Some twelve years were in AF intelligence at the Pentagon, Andrews AFB, Scott AFB and Osan AB, Korea. He retired in 1989. In 2006, he published Remembering an Unsung Giant: The Douglas C-133 Cargomaster and Its People (available from Amazon), the definitive history of the airplane. Cal is a member of the American Aviation Historical Society and the Swedish Aviation Historical Society. He has had numerous articles in the journals of both and continues to research and write on aviation topics.
