Major General Fred ‘Boots’ Blesse has been a member (#95-186-67) of  the 18th Fighter Wing Association since May 1995.

General Blesse was born in Colon, Panama Canal Zone in August 22, 1921, to a military family.  His father was a brigadier general in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army, retiring in 1953. Fred Blesse graduated from American High School, Manila, the Philippine Islands in April 1939. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. in June 1945 with a commission as second lieutenant, and a Degree in Science and Engineering. Upon graduation Blesse chose the Army Air Corps, earned his rating as a pilot., and spent twenty-eight years actively flying Fighter Aircraft. 

For the first three years following graduation Blesse was stationed in the United States and then on Okinawa and flew P-40, P-51, P-47 and F-80 aircraft. In March 1949 he went to Selfridge Air Force Base, Mich., as a jet fighter pilot. During the Korean War, he flew two volunteer combat tours. Between November 1950 and May 1951 he completed 67 missions in F-51 Mustang aircraft with the 67th Squadron, 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing, and between April 1952 and October 1952, he flew 35 missions in F-80 aircraft, and 121 missions in F-86 aircraft  with the 334th Squadron, 4th Fighter Group. During his second combat tour, he was officially credited with destroying nine MiG-15s and one LA-9 aircraft; probably destroying one additional Mig-15 and damaging three other MiG-15s. He was the U.S. Air Force leading jet ace when he returned to the United States in October 1952.

In December 1952 Blesse went to Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., where he served as a jet fighter gunnery instructor, squadron operations officer and squadron commander. He was a member of the Air Training Command Fighter Gunnery Team in 1954 and 1955. Both years this team won the Air Force Worldwide Fighter Gunnery Championship.  During the 1955 gunnery meet, Fred Blesse, flying an F-86F aircraft, won all six trophies offered for individual performance, a feat that has never been equaled.

During this tour of duty, Blesse wrote an outstanding fighter tactics book, "No Guts, No Glory." This book has been used as a basis of fighter combat operations for the Royal Air Force, Marines, Chinese Nationalist, Korean Air Force, and U.S. Air Force since 1955. As recently as 1973, 3,000 copies were reproduced and sent to tactical units in the field.

In February 1956 he was transferred to Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, as chief of the Fighter Division of Crew Training Air Force. Blesse was assigned to the 32d Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Soesterberg Air Base, Holland, in July 1958, and served as base and squadron commander of the F-100, F-102 organization. He returned to the United States in August 1961 as a member of the Air Staff with the inspector general, Norton Air Force Base, Calif.

In 1965 he was selected to attend the National War College in Washington, D.C. During this assignment he attended night school and earned a master's degree in international relations at The George Washington University.

Colonel Blesse again volunteered for combat duty and in April 1967 was assigned as director of operations for the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing at Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam. During this one-year tour of duty, he flew 108 combat missions over North Vietnam and another 46 in Laos and South Vietnam. He was decorated for valor for helping unload the bombs from a burning F-4 aircraft during a rocket attack.

In May 1968 he again was assigned to Nellis Air Force Base, this time as director of operations of the U.S. Air Force's first F-111 wing, the 47th Tactical Fighter Wing, and in June 1969 became commander. In July 1970 he became commander of the 831st Air Division at George Air Force Base, Calif., and then was selected for another tour of duty in the Republic of Vietnam as assistant director of operations for Seventh Air Force, Tan Son Nhut Airfield.

In September 1971 he was assigned as assistant deputy chief of staff for operations, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, and in March 1972 became deputy chief of staff for operations. In November 1973 he was assigned as senior Air Force member, Weapons Systems Evaluation Group, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

He was promoted to the grade of major general effective Dec. 1, 1972, with date of rank of Aug. 1, 1969 Major General Blesse was the deputy inspector general of the U.S. Air Force from August 1974 until  the time of his retirement from active duty on April 1, 1975..

His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal; Silver Star with two oak leaf clusters; Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster; Distinguished Flying Cross with five oak leaf clusters; Bronze Star Medal with "V" device; Air Medal with 20 oak leaf clusters; Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster; Army Commendation Medal; Purple Heart; and from the Republic of Vietnam the Cross of Gallantry; Honor Medal, 3d Class; and the Honor Medal, 5th Class.

He is a command pilot with more than 6,500 flying hours, most of which have been in fighter aircraft including the P-40, P-47, P-51, F-80, F-86, F-100, F-102, A-7, F-104, F-106, F-4, and F-111. 

After having bailed out of a P-47 into shark-infested waters, crashed a F-51 Mustang into a gasoline truck illegally crossing a short North Korean runway under extremely low visibility conditions,  ran out of fuel and had to eject from an F-86 after shooting down one MiG-15 and damaging another, ‘Boots’ Blesse finally retired in 1975 with 30 years service, 7000 hours of fighter time ... of which 650 were combat hours  and is the nation's sixth ranking jet ace

Following his retirement as a Major General, Blesse worked for 11 years as a full-time consultant to the Grumman Corporation.  In 1980 he and his wife were separately rescued by helicopter from the 25th floor of the MGM fire in Las Vegas. 

Following his second retirement .. from Grumman, he wrote his autobiography, entitled “Check Six – a Fighter Pilot Looks Back”.  He currently lives in Melbourne, FL with his wife Betty, where he remains fully occupied trying to reduce his golf handicap from 5 down to ‘scratch’.