The USAF Drum and Bugle Corps and Pipe Band

Bolling AFB, Washington, DC | 1949 - 1964

The United States Air Force became a separate branch of the United States military in 1947, in the aftermath of WW II. Soon after, in 1949, the USAF Drum and Bugle Corps was formed. General Sidney “Rosie” Grubbs had become the base commander at Bolling AFB, and he proposed there be a drum corps for the USAF, a drum corps he suggested that be of the highest order. The task began with Airmen being selected from various fields in the USAF. Most had musical experience, but some were chosen from military police squadrons because of their ability to march and understand precision.

General Grubbs had specific ideas for the USAF Drum Corps. E.g., he wanted not just drums and bugles, which constituted the usual makeup of drum corps, but, having seen and enjoyed bagpipes while he served overseas, he wanted to add bagpipes as well. He also knew whom he wanted to be the Commanding Officer of this new organization: Captain Herbert Gall, who was charged with organizing the Corps.

bass drum

The outset of the Korean War in 1950 brought many talented musicians into the United States Air Force, and subsequently into the USAF Drum and Bugle Corps. At that point, in the early 1950s, the USAF Drum Corps had reached the lofty goals set forth by General Grubbs, who by then had been transferred as base commander to Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico.

The size and musical makeup of the Corps changed from time to time. E.g., there were larger numbers of drummers in the early years of the Corps. Pipers were added later. Eventually, the Corps was comprised of sixty performing members, plus a drum major, conductor, arranger, a first sergeant and CO.

Though the instrumentation numbers would vary from time to time, the number of sixty members remained nearly constant. In 1953, the Corps performed with six tenor drummers, eight snare drummers, four bass drummers and two cymbal players. There were thirty buglers and ten pipers. Later, the drum line was reduced in size and the horn line increased to thirty-six members.

The  USAF Drum Corps soon became part of the USAF Band Squadron stationed at Bolling AFB. The USAF Band Squadron then included the USAF Band, the Strolling Strings, the Singing Sergeants, the Airmen of Note, and the Ceremonial Band.

The USAF Drum Corps performed for US Presidents, as well as leaders and royalty of many foreign countries. The Corps performed on numerous military bases in the United States and abroad. Here in the United States, the Corps performed at the White House and on Capitol Hill; marched in three Presidential Inaugural parades, 1953 and 1957, for President Eishenhower, and in 1961 for President Kennedy; played at all the major bowl games, including the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Gator Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and the Military Service Bowl, the Shrimp Bowl; and to balance the books, as it were, and in the words of AF snare drummer Nevin Wise, the Corps also played for less consequential events, which Sgt. Wise termed “spider races and marble games.”

Over the course of its fifteen years of existence, the Corps performed in seventeen countries, thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia, two U.S. Territories, and on four continents.*

The United States Air Force Drum and Bugle Corps flew to many of its performances. Flights were made on military aircraft, which were either WW II era planes, or aircraft developed during WW II. Those planes included the C-46 Commando, C-47 Dakota or affectionately, the Gooney Bird, C-54 Skymaster, C-74 Globemaster, KC-97 Stratofreighter, C-118 Liftmaster, C-119 Flying Boxcar, C-121 Constellation, C-123 Provider, and C-124 Globemaster II, or “Old Shaky.”

All of the aircraft were piston engine aircraft, and the cabins were unpressurized;  the flight ceiling for those aircraft was limited. Thus, there was no flying above bad weather. Since piston engines were less reliable than jet engines, there were numerous problems as a result. Corps members flew wearing parachutes, and with good reason. Though none of the Corps members jumped from a faulty plane, there were numerous close calls, and a crash which resulted in loss of life.

Four members of the USAF Drum Corps died in the crash of a C-119 the night of March 19, 1954. The plane had been one of two which transported the Corps from its performance at Maxwell AFB Alabama back to Bolling AFB. After discharging all the Corps members save four, who had determined that they’d catch a “hop” to Mitchell AFB and have a weekend at home, the plane refueled, took on other passengers and departed for Mitchell AFB, New York. Shortly after takeoff, the C-119, reportedly on fire, crashed in a  corn field south of Annapolis Maryland. All aboard the aircraft, eighteen military personnel, including the crew, died in the accident.

The four members of the USAF Drum Corps who died in that crash were Gerald Baldassaro, Paul Springer, Bob Strauss, and Joseph Valente. Strauss was a former national champion drummer.

Musical leadership of the Corps included Jimmy Roland, Siggy Norman, Bobby Felder, and Truman Crawford. M/Sgt. Crawford eventually became Colonel Crawford, the arranger and instructor for the US Marine Drum Corps.

The former members of the USAF Drum Corps were influential in the world of drum corps. Airmen John Bosworth, Truman Crawford, John Dowlan, Ray Eyler, Dick Filkins, John Flowers, Ricardo Gabriel, Rodney Goodhart, Harold “Skip” Groff, Eric Landis, Tommy Martin, Whitey Roberts, John Simpson, John Tully, Elmer “Red” Winzer, and Bob Zarfoss were all inducted into the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame.

The USAF Drum and Bugle Corps was innovative in many ways. The aforementioned inclusion of bagpipes was unique. Captain Gall, wanting to change the sound and instrumentation of the drum corps, contacted Holton, builder of high quality musical instruments; they collaborated in the creation of the Holton double bass bugle. The USAF Drum Corps was the first corps to employ bass bugles. (The Holton double bass bugle was the predecessor to the contrabass bugles which drum corps employ today.)

*Areas of Performance of the USAF Drum and Bugle Corps:

Countries: Azores, (Portugal) Bahamas, Canada, England, France, French Morocco (Currently Morocco) Germany, Greece, Holland, Japan, Korea, Libya, Luxembourg, Okinawa, (Japan) Scotland, Turkey, the United States of America.

Territories: Hawaii, (pre-statehood) Puerto Rico

States: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. 

The Corps existed from 1949 until 1964, when it was terminated for financial reasons.