3rd Commander - Brigadier General George Eddy

WHITE SANDS MISSILE
RANGE MUSEUM

Privacy and
Security Notice

MUSEUM HOME

GENERAL
INFORMATION

WHITE SANDS
COMMANDERS

RANGE HISTORY

GIFT SHOP

WHAT? WHO?

OLD-TIMERS
BULLETIN
BOARD

MISSILE RANGE
HISTORICAL
FOUNDATION

WHITE SANDS
PIONEER GROUP

WHITE SANDS
MISSILE RANGE
Home Page

US ARMY
CENTER OF
MILITARY HISTORY

OTHER LINKS

E-Mail: Museum Director
E-Mail: Webmaster

3rd Commander
White Sands Proving Ground
Page 3 of 26

Brigadier General George Eddy
Commander
Jan 12, 1950 - Jun 14, 1954

     BG George G. Eddy, 3rd Command of White Sands Proving Ground/Missile Range, 12 January 1950 - 14 June 1954; Deputy Commander, White Sands Proving Ground, 12 January 1948 - 12 January 1950.
     BG Eddy was born in Norwich, Connecticut and graduated from the United States Military Academy in November 1918. He served in the 7th Cavalry at Fort Bliss and transferred to the Ordnance Department in 1920. During World War II he was Director of the Research Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
     General Eddy recognized early in his WSPG assignment that to perform the assigned mission, a much broader technical and administrative staff and vastly improved facilities were required. As a result of his efforts, two new divisions were established to provide a technical base for Army testing - The Electro- Mechanical Laboratories Division and the Systems Test Division. The former was largely a civilian scientific and engineering organization for designing and conducting laboratory tests; and the latter was mostly a military organization to field-test Army missile systems. Also, in 1952, after considerable planning and negotiating, General Eddy was successful in having the WSPG instrumentation responsibility transferred from the Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland to the Commanding General, WSPG. The Flight Determination Laboratory was established as a new division to support this mission. Later in 1952, General Eddy was successful in having the USAF Holloman Air Force Base instrumentation, research, development, and operational functions reassigned to the operational control and cognizance of the Flight Determination Laboratory.
     During General Eddy’s command, personnel strength at WSPG increased from 1,000 to more than 7,500 and missile firings increased from 63 in 1950 to 696 in 1954. In 1950 he established the first office of the comptroller and the first cost accounting system. He was also instrumental in providing greatly expanded post housing (breaking ground on the Wherry Housing Development in August 1952), a new theater, PX facilities, fire station, commissary, elementary school and dispensary. The expansion of facilities, personnel and technical capability was probably greater during General Eddy’s tenure than any other Commander before or since.