At thirty-eight, he was old for a combat aviator, but he'd been flying a fighter of one type or another for over fifteen years.
Among them were noted combat aviators Earl Ricks and I.G. Brown who were elected mayor and sheriff, respectively.
His turn came in the Korean War, where during a nine-month tour in 1952-1953, he proved to be one of the best combat aviators of his generation.
Hall was one of America's first combat aviators, flying with the famed Lafayette Escadrille in France before the U.S. entered World War I.
Afterward, he attended flight school and earned his wings in 1966, serving as a combat aviator in the Vietnam War.
The crews do not come to learn how to fly, but instead learn how to be combat aviators.
He reportedly shoots down Manfred von Richthofen early in his flying career, and is a highly decorated combat aviator by the end of the War in 1918.
As an early combat aviator, Browning helped develop and implement fighter aircraft tactics and strategy; he also helped shape how naval warplanes were designed and built.
As a combat aviator, Wyatt was a decorated WWII pilot by age 21.
She'd begun her career as a combat aviator for the Peacekeepers.