Buddy Brown

Contact Info

Buddy was born in Coalinga, CA, the middle child of three children. His oldest sister is a retired minister in Bakersfield CA, his youngest sister is a housewife.  His family moved to Bakersfield from Coalinga where Buddy lived until he entered the Air Force after college. 

While in college, Buddy had joined the Navy’s V5 program and was planning on going to the Naval flight school at Pensacola, Florida.  However, he ultimately was selected by the Air Force.  He completed flight training in time to fly a combat tour in Korea flying the F-86.    

After Korea, Buddy returned to

a fighter squadron in the United States and in 1956 he was selected to fly the U-2. The U-2 was a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft that was classified “secret” at the time. He flew the U-2 for the next 8 years from many overseas bases.  From the U-2 program he was selected to fly another secret aircraft, this time it was the SR-71 “Blackbird” which he flew for the next 6 years.  After his SR-71 assignment, he was promoted to colonel and transferred to Southeast Asia as commander of a U-2 unit flying out of Utapao, Thailand.  

F-86

SR-71

U-2

Upon return to the United States, he held various staff positions in the Air Force and completed another three year tour in Europe as the Director of Reconnaissance for Europe.  He was reassigned to Strategic Air Command Headquarters in Omaha, NE, where he retired in 1983 after 30 years in the Air Force.  

After retiring from the Air Force, Lockheed (The Skunk Works) hired him to work as a Staff Engineer initially on their F-117 stealth fighter program,  He was then was reassigned as the Lockheed advisor to NASA, Edwards AFB, CA on their hyper-sonic, super-sonic research programs,  He retired from Lockheed in 1996.  

Because both his mother and father were born in Tennessee and his wife, Nancy is from Kingston, Tennessee, Buddy and his wife returned to their roots to settle down and live.  Buddy is a deacon at his church, on the Board of Governors for Mission of Hope, and his wife and he volunteer for various programs in the local Knoxville Area. Buddy and Nancy have three children.  Cynthia, Greg and Scott and their families all live in California.  They have blessed Buddy and Nancy with two grandsons, two granddaughters and one great granddaughter.  

Contact Info

Business Name	Mission of Hope
Business Address	4534 Lyons View Pike
	Knoxville, TN 37919
Work Phone	524-8370
E-Mail	m3leroy@earthlink.net