William H . Blanchard General William Hugh Blanchard ( February 6 , 1916 – May 31 , 1966 ) was a United States Air Force officer who attained the rank of four - star general and served as Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 1965 to 1966 . Biography . Early life . A native of Boston , Massachusetts , General Blanchard received his high school education in Chelsea , Massachusetts , and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy before entering the United States Military Academy in 1934 . He graduated and received his commission in 1938 . Military career . After completing pilot training at Randolph and Kelly Field s , Texas , in 1939 , he held assignments as a flight instructor and as chief of advanced pilot training in the Flying Training Command , before his selection in 1943 for duty with the initial B - 29 bomber wing then being formed in Salina , Kansas . In 1944 , General Blanchard , as deputy commander of the 58th Bomb Wing , flew the first B - 29 into China to begin his participation in strategic bombing operations against the Japanese mainland . Later , assigned as commander of the 40th Bomb Group ( B - 29 ) and subsequently as operations officer of the 21st Bomber Command in the Marianas , he planned and flew low - level fire raids against major Japanese targets . In the climaxing phase of World War II , then Colonel Blanchard was directed to prepare and supervise the detailed operations order for the delivery of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima . He was the backup pilot for the Hiroshima A - bomb drop , which was ultimately delivered by Colonel Paul W . Tibbets , Commanding Officer of the 509th Atomic Bombardment Group or Wing . After the war , on January 20 , 1946 , Blanchard became Commanding Officer of the 509th , succeeding Tibbetts . By this time , post - war demobilization had reduced the 509th to a skeleton crew . But Blanchard and the 509th were immediately ordered to commence operations for the " Operation Crossroads " atomic tests at Bikini atoll . With highest priorities , crews were assembled and in March the 509th was transferred to Kwajalein , Marshall Islands for the Bikini atomic bomb tests , that ultimately took place that July . At the conclusion of the Crossroads tests , on August 23 , 1946 , Colonel Blanchard assumed the duties of Commanding Officer of Roswell Army Air Field , New Mexico ( renamed Walker Air Force Base in 1948 ) , which became the permanent home of the 509th , though now again reduced to skeleton operations after the Crossroad tests . However , in September 1946 , they received orders to remain at Roswell and train and equip a very heavy bomber air force with nuclear strike capability , which became fully operational in February 1947 . On July 8 , 1947 , Colonel Blanchard issued an official Army Air Force press release stating that the base intelligence office had recovered a so - called " flying disc " or " flying saucer " from a nearby ranch , it had been found " sometime last week , " and they were flying it to " higher headquarters " . The press release and the media feeding frenzy that followed it triggered the so - called Roswell UFO Incident . Higher headquarters turned out to be Brigadier General Roger Ramey , head of the Eighth Army Air Force in Fort Worth , Texas , who quickly pronounced it a misidentified weather balloon . Ironically , Blanchard ' s press release and the Roswell Incident it triggered are perhaps what Blanchard became best known for by the public at large decades later when the event was reopened and investigated , with many books written . ( see also Walter Haut , Blanchard ' s public information officer , who put out the press release ) A year later , in 1948 , Blanchard was assigned to Strategic Air Command ' s Eighth Air Force Headquarters in Fort Worth as director of operations . Blanchard helped direct the atomic training of crews for B - 36 s , the United States ' first intercontinental bombers . After commanding B - 50 and B - 36 bomber units of SAC , he was assigned as deputy director of operations for that command in 1953 . In June 1956 , he was a member of a group of U . S . Air Force officers who accompanied General Nathan Twining , then chief of staff of the U . S . Air Force , on an official visit to the Soviet Union which included a conducted tour of points of military interest in the Moscow and Stalingrad areas . General Blanchard assumed command of SAC ' s 7th Air Division in England in 1957 . Returning to SAC headquarters three years later , he was assigned as director of operations . After 15 years of continuous service in SAC , he was appointed the inspector general , U . S . Air Force , and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general . In August 1963 he was named deputy chief of staff , programs and requirements in Headquarters U . S . Air Force , and assumed the duty as deputy chief of staff , plans and operations , in February 1964 . He was assigned the additional duty as senior Air Force member , Military Staff Committee of the United Nations , later that year . On February 19 , 1965 , General Blanchard became Vice Chief of Staff of the U . S . Air Force , with promotion to four - star rank . Death . He died at the Pentagon on May 31 , 1966 of a massive heart attack while still on active duty . He was buried on 3 June 1966 at the United States Air Force Academy Cemetery . His wife , Anne Hutt Blanchard , his daughter , Mrs . Dale Brown , and sons William Hugh Blanchard II & Donald H . Blancard attended the interment ceremony . There is a building at Bolling Air Force Base named in his honor , as well as the golf course on Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson Arizona . Awards and decorations . His decorations included the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal , the Silver Star , Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters , the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster , the Bronze Star , the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster , the Presidential Unit Citation , the Asiatic - Pacific Campaign Medal with six bronze stars , the Missile Badge and command pilot wings .