Restored P-51 "Frenesi", which was flown by General Tommy Hayes. Photo Courtesy of John Dibbs TOMMY HAYES: FROM BALI TO BERLIN Interview by Jon Guttman One of the more remarkable transformations during WW II was that of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) from an unprepared target for the Japanese onslaught of December 1941 to the most powerful strategic air arm in the world in 1945. For the most part, the USAAF could attribute its aerial supremacy to a new generation of pilots, trained by the wizened survivors of the dark early days of the war. One of the rare exceptions is Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Hayes (USAF, Ret.), a fighter pilot whose combat career spanned that entire period. In a recent interview Hayes described what it was like in the Pacific in 1942 and on the offensive over Europe in 1944. JG: What led you into aviation? TH: I was born in Portland, Oregon on March 31, 1917, and I was 10 years old when the business of aviation became of prime interest to me. It was in 1927 that Charles Lindbergh, having flown solo from New York to Paris, was touring the US, and I had the opportunity of reaching out and almost touching him as the parade passed within a few feet of my position on the curb. Inspired by his flight, with the subsequent exploits of fliers like Roscoe Turner, Jimmy Doolittle, and Amelia Earhart, and before them the aces of WW I, I couldnt wait to become an aviator. JG: What were your first steps into the air? | |
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