I was No. 53 and it affected my life tremendously. I went down that next afternoon, joined the Air Force, and was accepted into pilot training. I did well and actually found I had a god-given ability to fly fighters. I flew F-4s in Vietnam, became an instructor early on, was picked by Gen. Dixon to be in the first operational squadron of F-15s and became the weapons officer for the squadron. I also did all the instruction for the wing in weapons systems and was selected to attend The Fighter Weapons School at Nellis. I attended 13 Red Flag operations and was joint force leader for 6 of them. After the military I was hired by Delta Air Lines and flew 25 unblemished years for them. I am retired, on Bull Shoals Lake in southern Missouri, and still fly my Cessna 180.
