Colonel Frank C. "Pat" Malone USAF Ret.

Col. Malone served on active duty in the Air Corps and Air Force from 1941 to 1969. His service spanned World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. A fighter pilot with the rating of Command Pilot, he flew 27 different aircraft. He accumulated more than 5,700 flying hours, including more than 300 combat hours in World War II and the Korean War.

Col. Malone earned his pilot’s wings and officer’s commission on 1 November 1941, just five weeks before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Before seeing combat he served as a flight instructor at Perrin Field in Sherman, Texas. In 1944 he deployed to the South Pacific, where he flew the P-51 Mustang.

After the war he was stationed in Okinawa, Korea, and Japan. The outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 took him back into combat. In November 1950 then-Maj. Malone was on a combat mission 100 miles behind enemy lines when his single-engine F-80 flamed out at 20,000 feet. After several unsuccessful attempts to restart his engine he faced the prospect of ejecting over mountainous, snowy terrain, in sub-zero weather. After dropping to 2,000 feet, his final attempt to restart the F-80 was successful, and he landed safely in friendly territory at Kimpo Air Base.

In February 1951 he had to attack Kimpo because it had fallen into enemy hands. After shooting up enemy oil and gas supplies, he spotted the Quonset hut where he and his family had lived in 1946-47. He strafed his old quarters and "evicted" the new, undesirable tenants—a turnabout that rated an AP news story and a mention by commentator Paul Harvey. He finished the Korean War as a fighter squadron commander.

On his return from the Korean War he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assigned to Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He then served 18 months as an operations staff officer at Air Defense Command Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, before his assignment to the Air Command and Staff School in Montgomery, Alabama. From there he took command of an F-86F Saberjet squadron at Alexandria Air Force Base in Alexandria, Louisiana. He went to Turkey in 1955 as Chief of the U.S. Fighter Training Division of the U.S. Military Assistance Delegation, where he helped in the training and deployment of Turkish Air Force units.

Following his promotion to colonel in 1957, he was assigned to the Pentagon, where he served as a war planning staff officer, first at Air Force headquarters and then with the U.S. Delegation to the NATO Standing Group. He became the U.S. Delegation's Assistant Chief of Staff in 1961.

In 1963 Col. Malone was assigned to the 49th Tactical Fighter Wing (flying the F-105 Thunderchief) at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, where he served first as Deputy Commander for Operations and then as Vice-Commander. In 1965-66 he was Commander of the 66th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing (flying the RF-101 Voodoo) at Laon Air Base in France.

From 1966 to 1969 Col. Malone served as Commander of the 75th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing (flying the RF-4C Phantom II) at Bergstrom Air Force Base. Bergstrom was then a Presidential Support Base, and as Wing Commander Col. Malone regularly greeted President Lyndon Johnson and party arriving on Air Force One.

Col. Malone's awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit (2), Distinguished Flying Cross (2), Air Medal (5), Air Force Commendation Medal, and numerous campaign ribbons and battle stars. Also, during Colonel Malone's tenure as Commander of 75th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Bergstrom, the wing won the coveted Daedelian Trophy for Weapon System Maintenance. The trophy is awarded annually to the wing determined by the Air Force Chief of Staff to have achieved the best aircraft weapon-system maintenance record in the entire Air Force.

Col. Malone took seriously the importance of good relations between Bergstrom and the Austin community. An article in the October 18, 1968, issue of the Statesman notes that “city officials and civic leaders unanimously credit ‘Pat’ Malone with doing more than any commander in Bergstrom’s history toward developing a perfect working relationship between the civilian and military populations here.” Later, in civilian life, he was active in the successful effort to move commercial air traffic from Mueller Airport to Bergstrom, thus alleviating the noise, traffic congestion, and danger that Mueller’s operations imposed on area residents.

Following his retirement from the Air Force, he was appointed general manager of Austin’s Capital Cable Company. The appointment reflected his strong leadership and managerial skills, and his close ties to the Austin community. He retired from Capital Cable in 1982, having led the company through a period of rapid growth while maintaining excellent customer service.

“Pat” Malone was born in Emmet, Arkansas, on February 20, 1919, to Allie Calhoon and Frank Malone. (He acquired his nickname in the late 1930s, when friends at Magnolia A&M – now Southern Arkansas University – began calling him “Pat” after Perce “Pat” Malone, who had pitched for the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees.) He and Lucille “Ludy” Hutson of Hope, Arkansas, were wed on April 4, 1942. He is survived by his wife of 73 years and their three children, five grandchildren, fifteen great-grandchildren, and spouses: daughter Nancy and her husband Thomas Anger, of Austin; Nancy and Thomas’s son Matthew Anger, his wife Mary Jo, and their children Justin, Stefan, Marie, Nicholas, Juliana, Alexandra, Charlotte, Natalie, Joshua, and Conrad, all of Chester, Virginia; Nancy and Thomas’s daughter Cory, her husband Richard Frear, and their children Trey and Anna, all of Maplewood, New Jersey; daughter Lynda and her husband Clare Andrus of Austin; Lynda’s daughter Mary Jane, her husband Michael Lorkowski, and their children Evan and Sidney, all of Houston; son Patrick Jay (aka. Pat) Malone, his wife Karen, and their daughter Katie, all of Austin; and Pat’s son Patrick J. Malone Jr., his wife Jocelyn, and their son Patrick Jay Malone III (aka PJ III)., all of Houston.

“Pat” Malone is also survived by many nieces and nephews and their children and grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers Archie, Charles, and Floyd Malone; sister Marjorie Malone Burke; and grandson Price Malone.

“Pat” Malone is remembered by family and friends as a loving, kind, and genial man with a quick wit and a vast repertoire of jokes and song lyrics. He enjoyed sports as a spectator and participant. He excelled at squash and played a good game of golf, with a hole-in-one to his credit. His garden flourished (to the delight of squirrels), he planted and nurtured his live oaks, and neighbors admired and appreciated his manicured lawn.

Friends are invited to a visitation with the family from six o’clock until eight o’clock in the evening, on Friday, the 11th of September, 2015 at Cook-Walden Funeral Home, 6100 N. Lamar Blvd, Austin, Texas.

Funeral services will be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday, 12th of September, 2015 at Cook-Walden Funeral Home with interment following military honors at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery. Pastor Karl A. Grönberg will be officiating.

In lieu of flowers please make donations to your favorite charity.

To share condolence with the family, please visit www.cookwaldenfuneralhome.com.