DATE: Wednesday, October 22, 1997           TAG: 9710220522

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   30 lines

FIRST BLACK CIVILIAN NOMINATED FOR SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE

President Clinton on Tuesday nominated Daryl L. Jones to be secretary of the Air Force. If confirmed, Jones would be the first black civilian chief of the service.

Jones, 42, a Florida state senator and Air Force Academy graduate, would replace Sheila Widnall. She is quitting to return to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jones served seven years in the Air Force, where he was an F-4 Phantom pilot. He is in the Air Force Reserve.

When his likely candidacy to head the Air Force was disclosed last month, The Washington Post reported that Jones had to stop flying F-16 fighters in 1991 as a reservist after his commander raised safety questions. Jones told the newspaper his commander was bothered that his flying skills had deteriorated as he devoted more time to his career in politics and law rather than training.

After leaving active duty in 1984, Jones got a law degree from the University of Miami and won election to the Florida Legislature in 1990. He spent two years in the state House of Representatives before winning election to the state Senate. ILLUSTRATION: Daryl L. Jones

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