The Friday Pilot speakers at the American Heroes Luncheon on March 8, 2017, left to right: Lieutenant General Tom Keck, Major General Don Shepperd, Lieutenant Colonel Alan Rose
The Friday Pilots weekly meeting at Hacienda del Sol, Tucson
Jenny Rink
SaddleBrooke Troop Support is proud to welcome three of Tucson’s legendary Friday Pilots to this year’s American Heroes Luncheon on Wednesday, March 8, 2017, at noon at HOA 1 Vistas Restaurant.
The Friday Pilots are a group who flew in the old days, in all kinds of airplanes and early jets. They have been to war; have crashed and burned. They are fighter pilots, bomber pilots, airline pilots, corporate pilots and astronauts. They did something everyone talks about but few do—-they wrote down their memories for kids, grandkids, families and friends.
Over lunch with SaddleBrooke residents, these American Heroes will share some of those eyewitness accounts, stories behind events and people who shaped history:
Lieutenant General Tom Keck, U.S. Air Force, retired, former commander of 8th Air Force, 1969 graduate of the Air Force Academy, flew over 4600 hours in the B-52, B-1, RC-135, U-2, SR-71 and A-10. His experiences include Vietnam and some interesting stories about September 11, 2001 when he was commander at Barksdale Air Force Base and welcomed Air Force One.
Major General Don Shepperd, U.S. Air Force, retired, retired as head of the Air National Guard; 1962 Air Force Academy graduate, 5500 hours mostly in fighters, F-100, A-37, A-7, F-106, F-15; 247 fighter combat missions in Vietnam including 58 over North Vietnam as an F-100 Misty FAC. Covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for CNN; author of five books on Amazon.
Lieutenant Colonel Alan Rose, U.S. Air Force, retired; 1964 ROTC graduate of the University of Arkansas where his dad was the head basketball coach; Fighter pilot starting in F-4s, A-10s; two tours in Vietnam, 1966-67. The second tour in 1972 ended prematurely when he was shot down west of Hanoi by a MiG, spending the rest of the war a guest of the North Vietnamese as a POW.
You’ll hear their experiences as pilots, observations on today’s military and answers to questions no one even asks. Warning! They are old and have become legends in their own minds! But you will be informed, enthralled and entertained.
For details, menu and reservations visit www.sts-1.org.