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  Colonel (USAF Ret.) Wallace Stafford Ford, was born on April 16,
1914 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the foster son of Henry Ford and Susan Stafford of
Pass Christian, Mississippi. He was valedictorian of Pass Christian High School and
graduated in 1932. In 1934 he applied and was accepted to the United States Military
Academy at West Point New York. He graduated in the Class of 1938 with a Bachelor's degree
in Civil Engineering. He completed his academic requirements for a Masters in Business
Administration in the mid 1980's at Rollins University in Orlando, Florida.
 Colonel Ford began Flight Training at Randolph
Field, Texas in the summer of 1938 and after Advanced Flight Training at Kelly Field,
Texas, got his wings August 25th 1939. He was assigned to the 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron in August 1944 for flights only and
was on the staff of the 5230th Composite Rescue Group / 13th Air Force. He flew
operational missions for the 2nd ERS for a year (Read his first
mission report) and left for the states in September 1945.
He formed and led the first US jet Fighter-Bomber Wing (50th) to deploy to Europe after
WWII. He flew the lead aircraft for the scores of F-86s that relocated from Clovis, NM to
Hahn AFB, GE in 1953.
Colonel Ford
stayed in the Air Force for 25 years and retired in June 1957. From 1957 until the mid
'70s, he worked for North American Aviation (Rockwell) developing the F-108 and the B-70,
and as Assistant General Manager of the Space & Information Systems Division
developing the Apollo Spacecraft and S-IVB stage of the Saturn Rocket. From the mid '70s
until the mid '80s, he headed the National Realty Office in Brevard County, FL. He then
relocated to the North Carolina mountains and built a home on the side of a mountain in
Sylva and retired. He stayed in touch with some of his
fellow graduates from West Point (the ones he outlived!) and went to several of the
reunions in his later years.
Colonel Ford became active in the Sylva Episcopalian Church with his wife, Gerry. He
passed away at home January 4th, 2000, of congestive heart failure at the age of 85. His
ashes are spread in his church's Memorial Garden in Sylva, North Carolina.
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