What was the final word on Bushs' "Wings"

[raysr]

I'm being hammered in a local paper about some of Bushs' medals. Did he get the wings legit?

[DemBones DemBones]

1. Yes, Walt got legit info that Bush* was

entitled to wear the medal (earned by his unit before he was in the unit) as long as he was in the unit. Not just Bush*, of course, but anyone in that situation.

IF that's what you mean by "wings." If you mean his pilot's wings, there are people who doubt that he ever flew solo. Reasons: 1) Pilots love flying, don't quit unless declining health or lack of $$$ forces them to, 2) No photos or movie film of his solo flight, a big deal which one would expect Poppy and Bar to have recorded for posterity. Make of that what you will! (I think he got chickenshit scared for some reason and could no longer make himself fly a plane. Possibly due to a near-crash while flying impaired?)

[punpirate]

3. Up until early spring, 1972, he had about 300 hours...

... in an F-102A. Couldn't have done that unless he'd soloed in basic flight. His official records show him to have completed basic flight. I think the wings are a given.

What he did with them later is quite another matter.

[crickets]

4. Fear of flying (also *'s REPLACEMENT)

The fear of flying apparently started while * was still in the TxANG. There was a segment in Conversations this week on Radio Left that addressed this, including a revealing interview with Russ Baker. Conversations repeats all weekend, BTW. The interview was probably on Thursday or Friday.

Fear of Flying
by RUSS BAKER

The Nation (Reprinted by permission | September 29th, 2004)
http://blog.radioleft.com/blog/_archives/2004/9/29/151432.html
...

However, Janet Linke of Jacksonville, Florida, says that it all came down to an inability to perform. Linke is the widow of Jan Peter Linke, who was brought into Bush's National Guard unit to replace him when Bush left the unit and the state for Alabama in May 1972.

Linke says that Bush's now-deceased commanding officer in the Texas Air National Guard's 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Lieut. Col. Jerry Killian, confided in her and her husband during an encounter at a social gathering as to the reasons Mr. Linke had been brought in to replace Bush. "He said Bush was mucking up his flying very badly and he couldn't fly the plane," Linke said. "Killian told us that he was having trouble landing, and that possibly there was a drinking problem involved in that"--which Linke took to mean a particularly debilitating one, since carousing was almost the norm in such units.
...

Linke says her husband first heard about the opening for a pilot in Bush's unit on May 12, 1972. That date preceded Bush's recorded departure from his base, suggesting that superiors were already planning to replace him. Bush's last recorded flight came on April 16, 1972. Although his contractual obligation to continue flying would not expire for another two years, Bush would never fly again for the National Guard. In August 1972 Killian suspended the departed Bush from flying, ostensibly for his failure to take an annual physical exam. But Linke says that the physical was the result, not the cause. "He just became afraid to fly," she said. "I don't believe he was a coward. But he clearly had a problem flying one of these machines, and a problem landing."

[murielm99]

5. Ten or more years ago, I read a book about early women

aviators. Each chapter or two was a brief bio of a woman who flew. The book stressed their love of flight.

In fact, I was so touched by one of the women's stories that I may go searching for that book again. This particular woman was able to fly because her husband was wealthy. When he lost all his money and told her that they could no longer afford her expensive hobby, she flew her plane into the sea.

[punpirate]

2. Yes.

As far as I can tell. Didn't respect `em though. Disobeyed a direct order to remain on flight status to take his flight physical. But, once obtained, he had a right to wear them on his uniform.