From Pilot to President
Do aviators make better leaders?
- By Barrett Tillman
- Air & Space magazine, August 2009
Young man on a mission: A baby-faced George H.W. Bush (above), shown in 1943-44, flew the Grumman TBM Avenger in the Pacific. Half a lifetime later, he would land in the Oval Office.
George Bush Presidential Library and Museum
(Page 2 of 4)
Hussein remained an avid flyboy until his death in 1999. His son, Abdullah, who took over the throne, is also a pilot.
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak graduated from the country’s military academy at age 20 in 1949. He entered the air academy and took the standard curriculum of flying, along with scientific and technical studies. With a bachelor’s degree in aviation science, he flew fighters, then bombers.
Egypt got much of its operational training from the Soviet Union, where Mubarak qualified on Il-28s (NATO name: Beagles) and later Tu-16 Badgers. He became an instructor and unit commander, and in 1964 headed a military delegation to Moscow. At home he earned a reputation as a crack operations officer and planner.
After the 1967 war with Israel, Mubarak rebuilt the air force with an emphasis on training. As air force commander he waged the far more successful October 1973 war with Israel. Under his watch, in 1979 the Egyptian air force received its first F-4 Phantoms. Today the EAF inventory is about 30 percent American, including F-4s, F-16s, C-130s, E-2 Hawkeyes, and Apache helicopters.
After Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981, Mubarak became president, declaring an open-ended state of emergency that continues.
Israeli Ezer Weizman entered the British Army during World War II and flew in France and India. He studied aeronautics in Britain and returned home to fly in Israel’s 1948 war of independence. He also flew in a 1949 skirmish pitting Israeli Spitfires against RAF counterparts. Weizman commanded one of Israel’s first jet squadrons, then rose to lead the air force from 1958 to 1966. His role in planning the spectacular 1967 war against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria cemented his pilot credentials.
Weizman was far from politically correct, and once told a woman who wished to enter flight training that females were better off darning socks. She appealed to Israel’s high court and received permission to take the air force’s pilot entrance examination, but failed her medical tests.
Elected president in 1993, Weizman resigned in 2000 amid charges of unreported income. His peace efforts with the Palestinian Authority did not help his case among hardliners in his conservative Likud party. But he remained a pilot’s pilot, and flew his shiny black Spitfire after most of his fellow jockeys had retired. Weizman died at age 80 in 2005.
South Vietnam’s Nguyen Cao Ky trained to be a pilot in France and North Africa in the 1950s, attended the U.S. Air Command and Staff College, and, in 1964 became head of Saigon’s air force at age 34. Often sporting a lavender scarf and aviator sunglasses, as well as a pearl-handled revolver on his hip and a cigarette in his mouth, he flew Douglas A-1 Skyraiders. His young wife attracted equal attention in a form-fitting black flightsuit that matched his.
In 1963, Ky supported the Kennedy administration’s coup that overthrew Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem and was rewarded with promotion to air marshal. He was later appointed prime minister and remained head of the air force through 1967. In 1975, he moved to the United States, settled in Los Angeles with his glamorous third wife, and opened a liquor store, prompting wags to opine that he had realized the dream of aviators everywhere.
Certainly the most junior airman to lead his country was Flight Lieutenant (the equivalent of U.S. Air Force first lieutenant) Jeremiah “Jerry” Rawlings of Ghana, whose titles include “Twice Head of State” and “First President of the Fourth Republic.” In 1967, he enlisted as a flight cadet in Ghana’s air force, and was later selected for officer training. An accomplished airman, Rawlings received the Speed Bird Trophy in 1969 for top flying grades in his class.
Rawlings was no less accomplished on the ground. In 1979, concerned about systemic corruption, he overthrew his government for the first time at age 32. During the first coup, Rawlings was most often seen wearing a flightsuit and air force hat, though by then the extent of his flying experience remains questionable. Ghana’s air force seldom numbered more than 30 aircraft at any time, none of which was combat-capable.
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Comments (9)
Fascinating article and well-researched. But I am surprised that the author did not mention that King Hussein of Jordan was married to American Lisa Halaby, Queen Noor, who was the daughter of Najeeb Halaby, a one-time director of the FAA.
I heard a wonderful story once about a pair of American women who were competing in an air race, I believe from England to Australia, in an ancient and worn Piper Tri-Pacer. The plane was too tired to go any further than Jordan and they were ready to give up and ship it back home when King Hussein heard of their problems and offered to have the plane repaired in his own shop.
A few days later they got a call at the hotel that their Tripacer was ready to go and that they would be picked up and driven to the airport. They were nearly there before they realized that the polite gentleman who was giving them the ride was the king himself!
I love stories like this that show how the love of flying makes brothers and sisters of us all, regardless of our origins.
Posted by Kay Roam on July 17,2009 | 11:56 PM
Why in the world was George W. Bush not contained in this article? EDITORS' REPLY: He was included.
Posted by Dick Suhay on August 27,2009 | 01:02 PM
WOW! I'm sorry I missed the buried (one sentence)reference to George W. Bush. Dick Suhay
Posted by Dick Suhay on August 28,2009 | 04:00 PM
This is Steve Rahm, son of Dave Rahm who was killed while training the Royal Jordanian Falcons. I must point out that he was American and NOT Canadian as written here. EDITORS' REPLY: We are terribly sorry for your loss, and apologize for the error. We will fix the online version of the story.
Posted by Steve Rahm on January 15,2010 | 06:07 PM
Dave Rahm met King Hussein at the Abbotsford Air Show if I am not mistaken. Dave may have been flying there as he practiced out of Bellingham, WA, just a few miles to the south. I used to refuel Dave's Bucher Jungmann before he practiced. And I always declined his offer to fly with him. Hammerhead stalls look great from the ground only, in my opinion. And I regularly watched his routine from the field.
Dave was a wonderful man. Very soft spoken and very laid back. He always had a big smile. He actually made his living as a geology professor at the local college where he was equally loved.
Posted by Patrick Cullumber on February 9,2010 | 06:04 PM
Dr. Dave Rahm was one of the most impressive people I have ever met. During the summer of 1972 I was fortunate to be included in a cross country trip organized by Mr. Gregory Boyle our Marist high school earth science teacher. We were
away for about a month. During that month we stayed in Bellingham for two weeks and attended a geology summer program for high school students at WWSC. That is when we met Dave Rahm. He took us up in his Cessna Cardinal and flew us around the Cascades. He also put on an aerobatics show for us in his Bucher Jungmann. We also saw him perform at the Abbotsford air show. He was very generous to us.
Posted by William Gutzat on February 22,2010 | 02:39 PM
It would have been nice to see mention of John Grey Gorton - 19th Prime Minister of Australia (1967-1971).
Gorton flew Hawker Hurricanes for the RAAF. He was badly injured in the face and arms after a forced landing. The ship that was carrying him back to Australia was torpedoies and sank and he survived on a liferaft. His craggy, scarred face became one of his trademarks.
Gorton was an unusual polition - when a learship challenge left his part split 50-50 (which would have allowed him to remain in power) he resigned.
Posted by Ari Unikoski on February 23,2011 | 08:05 AM
It's worth noting that the 1968 Democratic party nominee for President, Sen. George McGovern, an anti-war candidate during the Vietnam War, was a decorated World War II combat pilot, commanding a B-17 Flying Fortress in Europe, having flown something like 29 combat missions (four more than the requisite 25, after which pilots were reportedly sent home, having risked their necks quite enough).
Ironically, he was defeated by the pro-war Republican nominee, Richard Nixon, who -- as a military lawyer -- had flown only a desk in the War.
The main issues of the election was each man's position on the Vietnam War -- a war fought largely (and quite unsuccessfully) with airpower.
Posted by RH on October 3,2011 | 04:56 AM
Most accounts have Bush bailing out of the Avenger with perhaps one other crew member and the other going down with the plane. At any rate John Delaney and William White died.
I don't know that "the Japanese Army routinely cannibalized captured flyers..." but Captian Shizuo Yoshii, Mayor Sueo Matuba, and General Yoshii Tachibana of the island involved were executed for war crimes.
Nasty business to think one of our Presidents might have been eaten.
Posted by Dean S. Bird on May 7,2013 | 10:22 PM