#Old time pilot movie

As a kid, Diz was about as far as you could get from the sky - he helped his father tend to the family farm’s crops, and eventually earned the responsibility of milking cows.

#Old time pilot movie

And in 1969, he even broke into showbiz, flying 160 hours worth of stunts for the blockbuster movie “Tora! Tora! Tora!” about the attack on Pearl Harbor.īut there was a time before Laird was one of the most decorated Navy pilots in history, back when Commander Laird was just “Diz,” short for Dizzy. He also had a little fun along the way: Laird won first place at the 1949 National Air Races flying an F2H Banshee – an early jet – from the USS Midway in the Atlantic to Cleveland, Ohio, clocking 549 mph, the fastest air speed recorded at the time.

He also earned the rare title of an “ace.” Laird died at 101-years-old on Aug. In Laird’s 29 years, career, he earned numerous commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Congressional Gold Medal. Dean “Diz” Laird the only known WWII Navy ace who shot down both German and Japanese planes while flying a Grumman Wildcat, F4F or F6F Hellcat. He nabbed the rare title of an “ace,” a classification of fighter pilots credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft. In nearly three decades of service, Laird, of Walnut Creek, earned numerous commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Congressional Gold Medal. His Navy career started in January, 1942, less than one month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and ended 29 years and three wars later. Even so, the kid from Northern California never could have imagined what was to come. To the man who embodied “fighter pilot bravado” since he was a boy scout, anything seemed possible. The key to life, his family and friends said, was his “just ask” mentality. Between 19, Laird spent much of his time weaving through bullets over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in a Grumman Wildcat or Hellcat, becoming the first fighter pilot to shoot down enemy craft in both naval theaters. If you had told any of Dean “Diz” Laird’s friends or family that he would die of old age at 101, they probably would have written you off as crazy.