John L. Martin Jr.

John Landrum Martin Jr. (18 October 1920 – 15 November 2009) was a major general in the United States Air Force. He enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in 1940 and flew combat missions in Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers in the China-Burma-India Theater.

In 1960, he became deputy director of the Office of Missile and Satellite Systems in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. When the office was reorganized, he became the second National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) staff director. In 1964 he moved to El Segundo, California, as vice director and later director of special projects, also known as NRO Program A. He devised and implemented an incentive contract structure for satellite programs that was still in used decades later, and introduced changes to procedures for satellite component and system testing.

After he retired from the USAF in 1970, he became vice president for engineering and operations at the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) in Washington, D.C., where he oversaw the development and deployment of the Comstar, Marisat and Aerosat communication satellite programs.

Early life John Landrum Martin Jr. was born on the family farm of his parents, John Landrum Martin Sr. and Blanche Wheeler Martin, in Fairforest, South Carolina, on 18 October 1920. He had a younger brother, Abner Broadwater Martin. From 1937 to 1940, he attended Clemson Agricultural and Mechanical College, where he studied mechanical engineering, and earned a private pilot license.

Martin completed additional training on the Consolidated B-24 Liberator four-engine bomber, and then was assigned to the 444th Bombardment Group in April 1943. He represented the group at the factory where the group's new Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber was being built and tested. In April 1944, the 444th Bombardment Group deployed to the China-Burma-India Theater as part of the 58th Bombardment Wing of the XX Bomber Command. Martin flew 14 combat missions, and made 30 trips across "The Hump" (the Himalayan mountains) ferrying fuel and bombs to a forward air base in China. He returned to Randolph Field in March 1945 as a B-29 training group commander, a position he held for the rest of the war. His decorations included the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with one oak leaf cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross with one oak leaf cluster, and the Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters.

He died in San Antonio on 15 November 2009, and was buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio. He was survived by his children and brother Abner. His wife died in 2008.