The Student Pilots
“How many of y’all are coming to Columbus from active duty?” our class commander asked.
The two first lieutenants in our class each put up a hand. They had been navigators for pilots on active duty, like Goose was for Maverick. I had noticed the silver navigator wings pinned onto their blue shirts when I first walked into the room.
While a navigator’s silver wings are about the same size as a pilot’s silver wings, the shield in the middle of the wings is different. Pilot wings have the America shield in the middle, which looks like a cool front grill of a classic car. I don’t know what the shield is called on navigator wings, but to me, it looked like a Hanukkah lamp floating above a castle wall.
The rest of us in the classroom were second lieutenants, and most of us, the Academy grads, had been second lieutenants for all of about 60 days. I wasn’t sure about how long the handful of non-grads had been second lieutenants. It really didn’t matter now, though, because we were all here to learn how to fly.
I've used the names of some of my classmates for characters in my story with their permission. But rather than track down everyone, I changed most of the names. Besides, this grants nearly everyone plausible deniability - except maybe me.
Kurt's UPT Hero Shot
This is the real Val.
Even Air Force flight school has school picture day. Columbus rolled a freshly painted T-38 onto the ramp, and we all took turns posing with it. At the time, I had no idea that this jet would also be my first assignment after UPT.
This was Kenny and my real T-37 instructor pilot in Dagger flight. All Dagger IPs had these Hero Shots on the wall of the flight room.
Beez contributed this classic "Beez with a Cheese" photo to Kenny for his Wall of Fame.
Another picture for the Wall of Fame
Kenny had some custom glass work done for his bedroom. The guy looking into the camera introduced his assistant as his boy.
Kenny loved to take pictures. He also enjoyed catching people off-guard. Doley doesn’t seem to mind much.
Tripp
After UPT, I spent four more years in Columbus as a T-38 instructor. I don't remember another class being profiled in the local newspaper (outside of the Police Blotter section). When I turned 50, my mom sent me a time-capsule full of pictures, keepsakes, memorabilia, and newspaper clippings. This long-forgotten story and the associated pictures from the Columbus Commercial Dispatch were among the treasures in that time-capsule.
I had saved a copy of the base newspaper, Silver Wings, with our graduation mug shots. I'm glad to be able to digitize the pictures to preserve them here, because my original paper is about to fall apart.
I think I moussed my hair before this picture was taken. It didn't help.
Aaay! Dat's Kenny.
This was Doley's picture in the graduation edition of the base newspaper.
This is my buddy, Kurt.
This is my real-life friend Chuck back in the day. I did not use her real name in the story.
Our Class Leader. I changed his named, too. Nobody called him Ho Ho after UPT. As the top grad, he won the ATC Commander's Trophy for our class.
Here's the real Val. I changed his name, too. Val won the Military Training Award and the Academic Excellence Award for 88-07.
This is the real Golden Hands. I didn't use his real name in my story. He was a Distinguished Graduate of 88-07.
"Al Turbiglio"
"Saeed"
