Star Trek Live At The Oregon Symphony

On January 30th, 2015 in Portland, Oregon, Webmaster Matt went to see Star Trek (2009) with the Oregon Symphony playing the soundtrack live and it was fantastic! But did you know that Star Trek was based on the US Air Force? And that Gene Roddenberry was both a police officer and has flown combat missions?

Here is a short clip from the end of the show.

Gene Roddenberry Was A U.S. Combat Pilot

“In 1941, he joined the United States Army Air Corps, which in the same year became the United States Army Air Force. He began training at Goodfellow Field (now Goodfellow Air Force Base) in San Angelo, Texas with other Civilian Pilot Training alums and graduated as a second lieutenant in September 1942, Class G.^[11] ”

“He flew combat missions in the Pacific Theatre with the “Bomber Barons” of the 394th Bomb Squadron, 5th Bombardment Group, of the Thirteenth Air Force and on August 2, 1943, Roddenberry was piloting a B-17E Flying Fortress named the “Yankee Doodle,” from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, when mechanical failure caused it to crash on take-off. In total, he flew eighty-nine missions for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal before being honorably discharged at the rank of captain in July 1945.” (Source: Wikipedia)

After his military service, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department (Feb. 1, 1949). He became a Police Officer in 1951 and made Sergeant in 1953. It is widely believed that his experience as a combat pilot and police officer molded his vision for the future where “The Federation of Planets” would be a combined exploration, military and police force and later doing diplomatic and scientific missions. He original sold the series as a “Wagon Train To The Stars.”

 Rank Structures In Star Trek Based On United States Navy

“According to Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, Roddenberry’s original idea for the organization of the USS Enterprise was that the ship would be based on a merchant marine type organization with a Captain and various mates overseeing a large crew. In the pilot episode “The Cage”, the only ranks spoken of were Captain, Lieutenant, Chief and Crewman. All officers wore a single rank stripe and, according to Roddenberry, everyone aboard the Enterprise was a qualified astronaut making rank titles a formality since all crewmembers basically had the same type of training.

When the second pilot was being developed (TOS: “Where No Man Has Gone Before”), Roddenberry shifted focus from a merchant marine vessel to a military ship very clearly modeled after the United States Navy. The ranks of Lieutenant Commander and Commander were both spoken of and the Captain (James T. Kirk) wore a “two stripe” insignia to differentiate him from the rest of the crew. When Star Trek: The Original Series came into full production, Ensign and Lieutenant Junior Grade were both either seen or discussed and the concept of staff versus line officers was introduced, most predominately in “Court Martial” where an officer of the Judge Advocate General Corps is seen and Starfleet is referred to as “the service”.” (source: Ex Astris Scientia)

Star Trek Cast Members With Military Service

In the end, Star Trek may not have been completely based on the US Air Force, but we will never truly know.  It is known that Gene’s Combat Pilot training and missions were a large factor in his choices of space combat in Star Trek shows.  Also his knowledge of the US Military led to help with ship designs, ideas and naming conventions and the military structure of The Federation in the show.