My father, Jesse Greene Chilcoat, Jr. (who always went by Jess, not Jesse), passed away on August 24, 1998 in his sleep after a long and uncomfortable struggle with smoking-related emphysema. Born in Freeport, Texas, he was a former Army Air Corps pilot/instructor in WWII, an Air Force Pilot with SAC during Korea, and a long-time GA pilot before selling his last plane in the early '70's. He logged well over 10,000 hours in Stearmans, BT-13's, AT-6's, P-38's, P-39's, P-40's, B-17's, B-25's, B-29's, the YB-50, B-36's (including the very aircraft on display at the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio), and C119's. These are some of the military aircraft he flew. There are many more, which are listed in the last of these stories. He owned a Mooney Mite, a Luscombe (the only general aviation airplane he ever crashed), a Comanche, a 310B, a Twin Bonanza, and an S-35 Bonanza (his last airplane and the only one he ever bought new).

My brothers and I grew up with aviation, and always loved to listen to Dad's flying stories. Dad's history included periods in which there was fantastic progress in aviation. Some of the things that happened to him and those around him are worth preserving. I originally wrote these reminiscences up and published them in the Rec.Aviation.Homebuilt Usenet newsgroup as a memorial to my father. I thought that the participants of that newsgroup would particularly enjoy Dad's history and appreciate his place in aviation. Since their original publication, many people have suggested that the stories might deserve a wider audience. I have since edited them to correct errors, and have included additional information that came to light after their original publication. I hope anyone reading this finds them as amusing and interesting as my brothers and I always did.

Robert T. Chilcoat, 1998

Contents

E-Mail: RChilcoat@verizon.net

Some other Aviation Stuff I wrote:

The Flight of the Terminator

Art and Aviation