Remembering the Old Men on National Aviation Day

Today is National Aviation Day, and so thoughts turn to our fathers who burned through tons of aviation fuel to keep America safe and make global warming possible. Somebody had to do it. And they did it with style. Here’s my pop, not long before he died, getting ready to do some dog-fighting just for fun with the SkyFighters at the Centennial Airport in Denver.


Here he is in one of the SkyFighter’s Navy T-34A Mentors – the one on the left, I think – heading out East to pull some Gs and kick some butt.

While my old man was in it for fun in peacetime, the wartime heavy-lifting of the father of my good friend Vladimir Solaratov actually helped us win the War in the Pacific. You may know Solaratov as a regular blogger on various conservative sites, including this one. Here, his old man is receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross from Lt. General George C. Kenney for dive-bombing a Japanese ship and sinking it near New Guinea during one of the sea battles in that arena.

Sol has a much better photo of his dad in his P-40 flipping the bird to the photographer, but I don’t have that one. If you can find it, Sol, send it to me! That’s a classic.