Political Leaders who were Military Aviators
 

This came up on another thread which has vanished for some reason (perhaps hacked by North Koreans), the theme being political leaders associated with aviation. Our Winston trained as a pilot, on the other side, Goering and Hess were WW1 pilots. In the US we've John McCain and G Bush(x2) then Ian Smith, Tony Benn, Rajiv Gandhi and Hosni Mubarak. No doubt theres lots more....

Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings.

Norman Tebbit

Former Australian PM John Gorton, flew Kittyhawks in WW2.

Political Leaders who were Military Aviators
 

Future leader prince Charles !!

and his sons

Gough Whitlam - navigator WW 2

Richard Burton and John D Erlichman

Definitely not Charles, his sons, Burton or Erlichman!

Ezer Weizman is the one who immediately springs to mind.

Who is?...

Thing
 

He flew for the RAF and the fledgling Israeli Air Force. I believe he became their Commander. In later life he was the President of Israel. Does that help?

King Hussein of Jordan - thoroughly nice bloke - I met him.

All Jerry Rawlings' bios state that he won the Flying and Airmanship award in training, and then there's no mention for 9 years of aircraft or squadrons till the Coup.
Possibilities:
1)He's the World's only modest fighter pilot........http://rs256.pbsrc.com/albums/hh189/...FLMAO.gif~c200
2)No aeroplanes serviceable, so did ground jobs
3)He got medically dropped
4)He failed a later stage of training

John Glenn
 

We can't forget John Glenn.
WW2 Pacific combat, Korean War combat, Navy Test Pilot, Mercury http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Marine%27.jpgSeven Astronaut (the first 7 American Astronauts), Space Shuttle and US Senator.http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...-JohnGlenn.jpg

In Australia, Kittyhawk pilot, John Waddy was a pollie...and B-24 pilot Sir Walter Campbell was Qld Governor...

Jack Swigert (Apollo 13) did get elected to Congress (but died before taking office), He was ex USAF. Tony Benn doesn't count either as he was never a party leader or deputy.

the butcher of prague, REINHARD HEYDRICH...with a title like that could only be a proper b*****d, hotly tipped to take over the leadership of the third reich.


banned from flying fighters over the Russian front by hitler himself.

Don't forget Ian Smith

mis-read that for a moment and thought you wrote "Cyril" instead of Ian.