Raymond Armstrong Raymond Armstrong Lieutenant General Raymond Fullarton Armstrong (14 December 1917 — early 1990s) was a South African Air Force officer, who served as Chief of Defence Staff. Armstrong attended Rondebosch Boy's High School before attending the South African Military College. He joined the Special Service Battalion in 1936 and soon thereafter joined the Permanent Force. He was trained as a pilot, serving in World War II and later in the Korean War. He was Armed Forces Attache in Washington. He served as "Chief of Air Staff" before being appointed acting "Chief of Defence Staff" from 1 March 1974 to 30
Neil Armstrong December 23, 1968, as Apollo 8 orbited the Moon. In a meeting that was not made public until the publication of Armstrong's biography in 2005, Slayton told him that although the planned crew was Commander Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, he was offering Armstrong the chance to replace Aldrin with Jim Lovell. After thinking it over for a day, Armstrong told Slayton he would stick with Aldrin, as he had no difficulty working with him and thought Lovell deserved his own command. Replacing Aldrin with Lovell would have made Lovell the lunar module