New Robins defender had a varied career

Dan Penny doesn’t have the rank of his two predecessors at the 21st Century Partnership, but he makes up for it with variety of experience.

On Aug. 15, Penny will officially begin as president of the organization that works to promote the value of Robins Air Force Base.

The man who served before him, Charles Stenner, was a lieutenant general in the Air Force. The president before Stenner, Robert McMahon, was a retired major general.

Penny retired from the Air Force as a colonel, and he also has 18 years of experience working for Lockheed Martin. The company brought him to Warner Robins as a liaison with Air Force Special Operations Command, which uses the AC-130 gunship maintained at Robins.

Penny served as a navigator on the plane in the Air Force.

Penny’s primary mission at the partnership is to protect Robins in the event of a new Base Realignment Closure Commission. Penny said he believes a BRAC is coming in the next three years. He thinks Robins is in good shape for it.

He said after he left Lockheed Martin he had occasion to talk to the commander of Air Force Special Operations Command and Penny asked him how Robins was doing.

“He said ‘They are doing wonderful,’ ” Penny said. “I’m very proud of the fact that we have been able to step up and fix the airplanes and get them back to the war fighter.”

His dad had a dangerous job in World War II

Penny’s father was a World War II veteran and an original member of the Air Force when it was founded in 1947. His father learned to fly on his own and during the war was tapped to tow targets for fighter pilots to practice shooting. Penny’s father flew an open bi-wing plane and three times was accidentally shot down. He survived by parachuting out each time.

Penny was born in Pasadena, California, three years after the war ended. When he was just a month old his father was sent to Germany and Penny grew up there. His father worked directly under Gen. Curtis LeMay, who would later become the Air Force chief of staff. LeMay frequently had dinner with Penny’s family.

“I knew him well,” Penny said.

By the time he made it to the U.S. when he was eight, he could speak German better than he could English.

With his father’s other travels, at one time Penny could speak four languages, including French and Norwegian. He said it has been so long since he spoke those he would probably have to practice to do that now.

In 1966, when he was 17 and the Vietnam War was beginning to heat up, Penny enlisted in the Marines. But he signed up to be a pilot, and when the Marines told him they had other plans, he switched to the Air Force.

He finished college at St. Mary’s College of California and in 1970 entered the Air Force.

He ended up becoming a navigator and flew missions in Vietnam on the AC-130H, one of the military’s most fearsome war machines. The plane is a variation of the C-130 cargo plane, which is maintained at Robins.

The gunship circles over a target with guns pointed out of one side aiming toward the ground. When U.S. troops were in a tight spot, the AC-130 would come in and rain down fire on the enemy.

Rob Brooks, chairman of the 21st Century Partnership board, said when the search began for a president, he hoped to get another high ranking officer in the military. But he said once he spoke to Penny about the job, he saw traits that outweighed any considerations about rank.

“He had a very diverse military career,” he said. “Then coming out and working with Robins for Lockheed Martin, I felt like there was a really good balance there for somebody who had understood both the uniform and non-uniform side of the Air Force.”

Brooks said he also liked that Penny had been active with the Museum of Aviation and the Robins Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“Not only did he understand the base, but he understands the community, and that’s a big plus for us,” Brooks said.

Penny said his first task will be the visit governing bodies in the region to talk about the partnership’s mission.

This story was originally published August 5, 2016 at 8:57 PM with the headline "New Robins defender had a varied career."