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BG George G. Eddy
Commander
12 January 1950 - 14 June 1954
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BG George G. Eddy, 3rd Commander 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.
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