Joe Guthrie was born March 24, 1926 in Pittsburgh, PA to Joseph Aloysius Guthrie and
Margaret Hommel Guthrie. In 1940 his family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where he
attended Elder High School. He was an
honor student all four years and earned letters in football, basketball and
track. After graduation in 1944, he
received an appointment to West Point.
The appointment was for the 1945 class.
In the meantime he accepted a football scholarship to Indiana
University. (While at West Point he played football on the Plebe and “B” squad
teams with daily scrimmages against the great Blanchard-Davis teams of that
era.)
Joe
graduated from West Point in 1949 and was commissioned in the Infantry which
was not his Service of choice. He wanted to be in the newly (1947) formed Air
Force. A week after graduation Joe wrote
a request for transfer and walked it through the Pentagon. The request was
turned down. Joe’s classmate Doug Bush also suffered the same fate. Bush, who was a veteran of WWII and knew how
to get things done, talked his way in to General Omar Bradley’s quarters one
evening and convinced the General to transfer him, Joe and four others to the
Air Force.
Thus
began Joe’s 28 year career in the Air Force. He flew as a Forward Air
Controller during the Korean War and piloted classified reconnaissance missions
during the Cold War. During the Vietnam War he was assigned to Udorn Air Base
in Thailand as squadron commander of the 602nd Fighter Squadron
flying A-1Es for close air support, forward air control and escort for Jolly
Green rescue helicopters. Following his
tour in Vietnam he was assigned as Chief of Test for the C5A Transport
Aircraft. From 1972-1975 Joe was Commandant
of the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base. Then he was assigned as the Air Force Flight
Test Center’s Deputy Commander for Operations (Test Wing Commander) until his
retirement in 1977.
He
continued his career as a test pilot and director of flight operations for the
next fourteen years, first for American Jet Industries (now Gulfstream
American) and Tracor Flight Systems.
In
1991 he moved to Montana. He continued to work part time for Flight Systems in
the 90’s and flew light planes locally. He enjoyed taking his neighbors flying
and especially giving young folks their first ride in a light plane.
Joe
was a Fellow and past president of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, a
member of the Montana Pilots Association, the Helena Hangar of Quiet Birdmen
and other military and aviation organizations.