Stunt pilot joins National Aviation Hall of Fame
James HannahStunt pilot Sean Tucker, who has thrilled air show audiences with daredevil moves in more than 1,000 performances, said he got his start by trying to face his flying fears.
As a young pilot in the 1970s, Tucker had an instructor get him into a beat-up, single-engine, fabric-skinned trainer, take him up in the sky over San Jose, Calif., and demonstrate a roll.
"I'll never forget the dust and dirt that came off of the floorboards — and we recovered," Tucker said. "I fell in love with aerobatics. That's when my journey began."
Tucker, 56, of Monterey, Calif., was among pilots and aviation pioneers being inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame on Saturday.
"When I got done flying today upside down, 10 feet from the ground and 250 mph, I thought 'I'm going to make it. I'm going to be inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame,'" he said.
The other enshrinees include Herbert Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines Co.; naval aviation pioneer William Moffett; and Col. Clarence "Bud" Anderson, a military pilot who flew in both World War II and the Vietnam War.
"The Aviation Hall of Fame enshrines so many of my personal heroes and heroines that it sends chills down my spine to be among them," Kelleher, who is not a pilot, told a crowded audience at the Dayton Convention Center.
Kelleher is chairman emeritus of Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, which began service in 1971 with three airplanes. Today, Southwest operates more than 530 airplanes performing about 3,400 flights a day.
Anderson became a triple ace while flying P-51 Mustangs over Europe in World War II. He later flew F-105 Thunderchiefs on bombing runs over North Vietnam.
Moffett received the Medal of Honor for his action in support of the landing at Veracruz, Mexico, in 1914 while commanding the cruiser Chester. During World War I, he took command of the Great Lakes Naval Training Station and established an aviation training program.
Moffett died April 4, 1933, when the airship Akron went down off the coast of New Jersey.
Tucker said he is honored to be inducted into the hall with the likes of the Wright brothers and astronaut Neil Armstrong and 193 other previous inductees.
"Those are some big footsteps and some big shoes, and I'm really humbled. I've never done anything great like these guys," Tucker said. "I'm a journeyman 20th century barnstormer."
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