Originally Posted by
Psychoblues
Age 17 - 19, obviously ill educated, going through 3 substantially different airframe training exercises and assignments, even in WWII I doubt that happened.
Even military managers back then very meticulously and selectively chose candidates for pilot training and even then most flunked out within the first week. It's a nice romantic story, but, I just don't believe it. Perhaps some other documentation concerning the records of WWII and the selection of fighter pilots is in order?
My father was easily the most honest(to a fault) person I have ever known. He also couldn't have given a shit about telling stories to impress anyone. He told me he enlisted as a 17 year old and was the youngest pilot in his squadron flying the P-51 at 19, I have absolutely no doubt that what he said was true.
He was also the most thorough pilot I have ever seen, he would show up an hour and a half early to preflight the Saberliner he flew as a corporate jet pilot. I witnessed him find a cotter pin inside the nose gear-well that wasn't bent correctly and had an A&P mechanic come out and redo it before his flight. Growing up I remember the huge manuals for each aircraft he would fly........ he studied them to be thoroughly familiar with the workings of each aircraft. He flew numerous models of the F-86, the F-100, the F-89, the F-101 as a fighter pilot. Then for his career as an instructor in the Air Force he flew the T-33 (also as a member of the Lackland Air Force Base demonstration team "The Warhawks"), the T-37, the T-38 and the T-39 which also readied him for corporate pilot life upon his retirement from the military.
In civilian life he flew Saberliners(including the one that picked up Gary Hart in Bimini after the "Monkey Business" trip with Donna Rice), Lear Jet 25s and a Turbo Commander. He also flew the CEO of Riviana Foods to Houston from Lafayette, Louisiana in a Steerman biplane(basically the same aircraft he learned to fly in at 17 in the Army Air Corps) when the Saberliner was suffering from a mechanical problem.
My Dad was a great pilot and his love for flying was as great as the love he had for my Mother who he was married to for 57 years, the anniversary they celebrated the day before he died. Your doubting his story and demanding proof is an insult to him and his memory.
No matter where I've traveled or how great the trip was, it's always wonderful to return to my country, The United States of America......... me