George Robert (Bob) Veazey, Sr., Wilmington, flew a Lockheed F-80 jetfighter on 72 missions in the Korean War. He was lead pilot on many of them. On his 48th mission, he experienced a flame-out over enemy territory and, because his ejection gear failed, crash-landed on mudflats off Inchon. Unscathed, he was rescued by American helicopter crews. First Lieutenant Veazey earned the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters.
Back in the United States, Bob (as he is known by friends) served as an instructor until retiring from the Air Force in 1955 to join All American Engineering Company (AAE) at the former DuPont Airfield in Wilmington. As project engineer and product line manager, he led design improvements in runway and carrier arresting gear and development of systems for mid-air retrieval of satellites, helicopter mid-air recovery of drone reconnaissance aircraft, pilot rescue and unmanned vehicle launch and recovery. Some of his work was conducted at AAE's test site at Georgetown. He retired in 1991.
In retirement, Bob is consultant to Engineered Arresting Systems Corporation (successor to All American), NASA and other agencies. Bob and his wife Joan are the parents of a son George Robert, Jr., of Middletown, and daughter Lynn Becraft of Virginia Beach, Va.
