Yesterday, I was thinking about some of the veterans that I’ve known throughout my life, 2 of them popped into my head as remarkable heroes.
One of the first positions I had in the AF was as a Link Instructor in AF Primary Flight Training, at Williams AFB, AZ. I had the privilege of giving instruction to some of our very earliest astronauts, and many other young men earning their flight wings. I would often give up a Saturday morning to come in and give some additional help to a young student-pilot struggling with flying the Link on a single engine. Not that single engine flying was so difficult, but rather doing it in the Link was a little tricky. Williams AFB was host to many students that were either famous, or related to famous people, Saudi Princes, sons of politicians, and of course, some of the early astronauts.
I received the greatest reward of all, from the son of then Governor Love of Colorado. One afternoon, during a regular teaching schedule, the Governor’s son stopped by my Link to personally thank me for the Saturday single engine training I had given him a year and half earlier. Turns out that he had been assigned to fly A-1Es in Vietnam, following all of his training. The A-1E (you can google it) is a formidable reciprocating prop airplane from WWII, and was used extensively for close ground support of the troops in Vietnam. AF student pilots were no longer being trained in how to handle the “P-factor”, which in simple terms, causes an airplane to turn when adding power. However, this gentleman came back to tell me that the instruction that I gave him, allowed him to adapt the single-engine rudder techniques to handle the “P-factor” in the A-1E and that probably saved his life many times. I thought it was an extraordinary effort on his part to come and single me out. I certainly appreciated his thanks, particularly because he had been in Vietnam, risking his life on a daily basis in support of the ground troops. When someone can do the incredibly heroic things that this gentleman did, and then minimize his efforts by seeking out a Link Instructor that helped with an extra hour or two of training on a Saturday morning… that person is a true HERO. His heroic deeds were not done for fame, or recognition, but rather because it was his job.
Hero #2 in the next post…
