Mustache March
Handlebar, pencil, or toothbrush? A gallery of famous aviators' 'staches in honor of a fuzzy Air Force tradition.
- By Rebecca Maksel
- Air & Space magazine, December 2012
Courtesy NASM.
It’s March, and signs of spring are everywhere: bulbs are blooming, birds are singing, and mustaches are sprouting out all over. That’s right: It’s time for that U.S. Air Force tradition known as “Mustache March,” when airmen encourage their facial hair to flourish for 31 days.
Legend has it that Brigadier General Robin Olds began the tradition while serving in Vietnam. (More about him in a minute.) However the custom started, we think aviators and their freaky facial hair deserve some recognition.
One of the best-known aviator ‘staches belongs to Frenchman Louis Blériot (above), who became world famous in 1909 when he flew across the English Channel in his monoplane. After his daring feat, Blériot told the New York Times in a special cable, “Soldiers in khaki run up, and policemen. Two of my compatriots are on the spot. They kiss my cheeks.” (We can see why they avoided planting one on his kisser.)
Blériot’s mustache remains famous today. His image was recently posted on the “guess the face” portion of PhotoCamel.com. “Chromenut” correctly identified the aviator by saying: “Let’s see, it’s not Adolphe Pagoud, his mustache was way smaller. And I don’t think it’s Roland Garros, his mustache went straight across. Can’t be Louis Paulhan, he’s too goofy looking. So I say it has to be Louis Blériot.”
See the gallery above for more memorably mustached aviators. If we left somebody out, let us know by posting a comment below. And airmen who submit photos of their own Mustache March projects to our online Reader Scrapbook this month are guaranteed posting.
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Comments (1)
You missed one of the most classy: Don Gentile, 8th AF, 4th FGp Ace, a pencil-thin, Clark Gable look. I still have the one I grew in the USAF '69-72. Several of us airmen had them, and all of them pushed the USAF Grooming Standard to the limit…and as beyond as we could. Remember, this was the 70's. Trying to approximate a Fu-Manchu was tough, but we gave it our best!
Posted by Richard Moffa on March 16,2012 | 06:09 PM