View Full Version : Famous Pilots/Co-Pilots
HeryBird
12th Jun 2006, 17:07
Hi all
I know of John Travolta for Qantas and the Iron Maidan band member for Astraeus. Are there others worth a mention?
thanks
colin
Agaricus bisporus
12th Jun 2006, 17:35
If by "famous pilots" we think of an Iron Maidan member (!) and John Travolta (!!!) then NO, I don't think there are any others worth mentioning.
St Ex, Bader, Ball, Mc Cudden, Roe and Santos Dumont, amongst hundreds of others, must be reaching take-off revolutions in their graves at this slight!
Hey, stick to OK magazine, eh?
virgo
12th Jun 2006, 17:37
Wasn't John Denver a professional flight-engineer before giving up commercial aviation and becoming a private pilot - at which he subsequently got killed ?
I think I read somewhere that his famous song, "Leaving on a jet plane" was composed on the flight-deck of whatever he was flying and the event - several years before he became a successful singer - persuaded him to give up the nomadic life of aircrew and settle down with his guitar and girlfriend.
Maybe the 80's equivalent of "Hello" magazine but it makes quite a nice story !
kevmusic
12th Jun 2006, 19:12
If by "famous pilots" we think of an Iron Maidan member (!) and John Travolta (!!!) then NO, I don't think there are any others worth mentioning.
St Ex, Bader, Ball, Mc Cudden, Roe and Santos Dumont, amongst hundreds of others, must be reaching take-off revolutions in their graves at this slight!
Hey, stick to OK magazine, eh?
A little hard, methinks AG. Let's be pedantic then and say that HeryBird means "people who are pilots but whom have achieved fame in other walks of life" In which case I think his given examples apply. :rolleyes:
Kev.
barit1
12th Jun 2006, 21:38
John Denver was the son of a USAF (perhaps USAAF too) officer and had a lot of aviation background.
HeryBird
13th Jun 2006, 06:35
Hi all
You are correct Kevmusic, that is what I meant to say.
thanks
colin
Albert Driver
13th Jun 2006, 08:12
If there's one thing that's refreshing about the world of professional aviation it's the general disinterest in celebrity.
Let's keep it that way.
"I don't care who you are, love, the seat belt sign is switched on".
If you are talking civy & Mil how about Jimmy Stewart ?? I think he ended up as a Brig Gen in the USAF after tours in WW2 in B17s, Korea in B29s and Vietnam in B52s, thats some going.
ATR42300
19th Jun 2006, 07:44
There ws also the cmedian Jimmy Edwards awarded the DFC as a C-47 - KG444 - captain trying to save the lives of two despatchers at Arnhem on 21/9/44.