Lucas Victor Beau, 91; Retired AF General, World War I Pilot

WASHINGTON — Lucas Victor Beau, a retired Air Force general whose career included service as a World War I pilot and as commander of the Civil Air Patrol, is dead at the age of 91.

Beau died Wednesday at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington after suffering a heart attack.

Beau, a native of New York City, saw his first active duty as a member of the New York National Guard along the Mexican border in 1916. He transferred to the Army Signal Corps aviation section in 1917 and flew in France for nine months during World War I.

Commanded Air Depot

In 1943 he was placed in command of the San Bernardino Army Air Depot and later became chief of personnel at Army Air Corps headquarters in Washington. He later commanded the Mediterranean Air Transport Service in Africa and Italy.

He returned to Washington in 1947 to head the Civil Air Patrol, the Air Force’s civilian auxiliary. Under Beau’s leadership, the patrol developed an aerospace education program for its members and created the International Air Cadet Exchange, in which the patrol’s cadets were exchanged with those from other nations. He retired in 1955.