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.
Orville Wright (seated at right, with Wilbur) wears what’s known as “the Chevron,” a thick mustache that covers the top of the upper lip.
“He had sported a reddish mustache since high school,” writes Tom Crouch in his 2003 book The Bishop’s Boys. “Once full, almost a handlebar, it was now clipped short, just bushy enough to cover a pair of very thin lips that turned up at one corner when he smiled. He was the enthusiast of the pair, ever on fire with new inventions, and the optimist as well, the one who always saw the brighter side.”
There was a (small) outcry when Orville didn't make The Art of Manliness’ list of “35 Manliest Mustaches of All Time.” The father of aviation lost out to a puppet—the Swedish Chef from "the Muppet Show"—and a cartoon character, Yosemite Sam.
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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