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RUFUS DANIEL HUTCHESON was born 3
Aug 1931 in Barre, VT. He grew up in the
small town of Atkinson, NH, with one older
and two younger brothers and a sister. His
father worked as a farmer, accountant, and
realtor, and his mother was a school teacher.
Dan, as he was called by his family, was an excellent
athlete; in fact, he played on the high
school baseball team when he was in the seventh
grade. He then attended Phillips Exeter
Academy, where he wrestled and played
squash and tennis. At West Point, he played
varsity squash and tennis all four years, was
captain of the squash team, and was a member
of the winning intercollegiate squash
doubles team. He was commissioned in the
Air Force upon graduation in 1954.
Following graduation, Dan married
Euphemia “Chris” Finlayson and soon thereafter
earned his wings as a fighter pilot. In
his first assignment, he flew the F-89s of the
“Flying Tigers” squadron based at Presque
Isle, ME. There, the young pilot’s exploits
included sneaking up behind a fog-bound
commercial airliner to identify it and then
turning on the afterburner right next to it.
He also buzzed the family house and once
almost hit his father, who was fishing from
a canoe in the lake near the family camp.
Those pranks had some repercussions: the
airliner pilot launched an official complaint,
his mother called the base to report a pilot
having airplane trouble, and the man in the
canoe was not his father!
In 1960, Dan earned a master’s degree in
Aeronautical Engineering at the Air Force
Institute of Technology and was elected to
Tau Beta Pi, an honor society. At that time,
he also was considered for the space program.
After a tour at Hanscom Field, MA, where he
worked on future aerospace surveillance systems,
he attended the University of Michigan,
earning a professional degree in aeronautical
engineering in 1965. He then was assigned to
Andrews Air Force Base, MD, where he had
particular responsibilities for wind tunnels
and flight dynamics laboratories.
In 1967, Dan went to Viet Nam as a
flight commander in the 16th Tactical
Reconnaissance Squadron, based at Ton Son
Nhut, flying RF-4Cs. While there, he flew
more than 200 missions, including 48 involving
combat. He was awarded a Silver Star
for one particularly dangerous low-level mission
under intense anti-aircraft fire. He also
was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross,
ten Air Medals, the Republic of Vietnam
Gallantry Cross, the Legion of Merit, and the
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award. Upon
returning to the States, he was assigned to
Headquarters, U.S. Air Force. There he was
responsible for the technical and fiscal aspects
of the Air Force’s rocket development
programs. Beginning in 1972, Dan was the
system program director for the Combat
Grande program, the aircraft control and
warning system for the Iberian Peninsula.
He was responsible for the design, development,
production, installation, checkout,
and maintenance for the $180 million system.
For his work, he was awarded the Cross
of Aeronautical Merit by the government
of Spain. In 1972, Dan was assigned to the
Pentagon as chief of the Electronic Systems
Division, responsible for 37 development
and acquisition programs with a total annual
expenditure of about one billion dollars. In
1978, he retired as a colonel.
Dan then joined the MITRE Corporation
as an information systems engineer, working
on a project to install 160 weather radars
in the U.S. and overseas. He later joined
Westinghouse to work on a new air traffic
control system. He moved to Hughes/STX in 1982 and in 1989 was named manager for
Air Transport Control Development Programs—Europe for Hughes, with his office in Brussels. He helped establish Hughes
as a viable air traffic control system competitor
in Europe. In 1993, he retired from Hughes.
Chris and Dan’s children always loved to
ride horses. In 1971, they bought a large farm
in Aldie, VA, and thus Misty Brae Horse
Farm was born. It grew until it had 50 horses
and an indoor riding arena that was, at the
time, the largest facility without internal supports
in the area. Chris continued in Pony
Club leadership roles, and Dan organized and
helped train international tetrathlon (riding,
running, shooting, and swimming) teams.
Dan and Chris—and their two sons and two
daughters, all of whom lived in or close to the
old farmhouse—managed the farm and various
careers as a large, loving family, complete
with children and grandchildren of all ages.
Dan also was very active in the Boy Scouts
and his church. His whole extended family
and a wide circle of friends and neighbors
counted him as a most successful, caring, and
dedicated husband, father, and friend.
For many years, Dan fought a long and
valiant fight with cancer, volunteering for research
programs and studies. He died 4 Dec
2001 and was buried at Arlington with full
military honors.
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