Michael J. Ingelido

Who is Michael J. Ingelido?

Michael Joseph Ingelido is a retired American Air Force major general who was commander of the Fourteenth Aerospace Force, Ent Air Force Base, Colorado.

Ingelido was born in 1916, in Meriden, Connecticut, and was educated in the public schools of nearby Southington. He graduated from Central Connecticut State College in 1937 with a bachelor of science degree in education. He performed graduate work at Duke and Yale universities and then taught school for three years in Connecticut. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet in February 1941, and following his graduation from pilot training, was commissioned a second lieutenant in September 1941.

During World War II, he flew 195 combat missions in the European Theater of Operations in British Spitfires and U.S. P-39 and P-47 fighter aircraft. From June 1942 to June 1945, while commanding the 2nd and 412th Fighter Squadrons and the 373rd Fighter Group, he destroyed 22 German aircraft - 12 in the air and 10 on the ground.

Shortly after the Allied invasion in June 1944, he led his group in three dive-bombing attacks on German fortifications at Brest, France.