Presentation Date: July 23, 2009
LT COL Jim Reed USAF (Ret)
USAF Command Pilot, FAA Airline Transport Pilot Rating, Corporate Pilot, Coast Guard Master of Motor Vessels (500 Tons), Coast Guard Master of Sailing Vessels (50 Tons & Unlimited Radar)
* Joined USAF & earned his pilot wings November 1954 @ Jet Fighter School
* Assigned to France flying C-119s, then to Randolph AFB, TX as a KC-97 Air Refueling Instructor.
* After Randolph, assigned to classified duty for seven (7) years with world-wide travel
* In 1969 assigned to SCATBACK flying T-39 Saberliners for Combat Courier Missions, including US Ambassador to Vietnam, Ellsworth Bunker
* After Vietnam Tour, assigned to Air Defense Command Headquarters in Colorado Springs, as Operations Officer and Command Flight Examiner
* Next, Commander of Air Force Radar Squadron @ Boca Chica Naval Air Station, Key West, FL
* After 20+ years in the USAF, joined a start-up airline called Air Sunshine based in Key West flying DC-3s; achieved Captain, Chief Pilot, then Director and VP-Operations USAF Command Pilot, FAA Airline Transport Pilot Rating, Corporate Pilot, Coast Guard Master of Motor Vessels (500 Tons), Coast Guard Master of Sailing Vessels (50 Tons & Unlimited Radar)
* Born 29 January 1933 in Brooklyn, NY; started school in Panama Canal Zone in 1939; evacuated after Pearl Harbor to Rock Island Arsenal, then Tokyo and Yokahama after WWII
* After short tenure in Merchant Marine, joined USAF & earned his pilot wings November 1954 @ Jet Fighter School; married Colleen five days later
* Assigned to France flying C-119s, then to Randolph AFB, TX as a KC-97 Air Refueling Instructor.
* After Randolph, assigned to classified duty for seven (7) years with world-wide travel
* In 1969 assigned to SCATBACK flying T-39 Saberliners for Combat Courier Missions, including US Ambassador to Vietnam, Ellsworth Bunker
* After Vietnam Tour, assigned to Air Defense Command Headquarters in Colorado Springs, as Operations Officer and Command Flight Examiner
* Next, Commander of Air Force Radar Squadron @ Boca Chica Naval Air Station, Key West, FL
* After 20+ years in the USAF, joined a start-up airline called Air Sunshine based in Key West flying DC-3s; achieved Captain, Chief Pilot, then Director and VP-Operations
* In 1975 became Company Pilot for Codding Enterprises in Northern California, near parents and family
* In 1980 offered job as Aviation Manager, US Army Missile Range in Kwajalein, Marshall Islands; later, in 1993, returned to Kwajalein as Marine Manager; had 40' sailboat in Kwajalein & sailed it to Yokosuka, Japan
* In between, served as Ferry Boat Captain for San Francisco's Red & White Fleet, then later became Port Captain for the Blue & Gold Fleet (acquired Red & White ) until retirement in 1998
* Since 1998 Jim & Colleen have traveled extensively and he wrote his book TURNING FINAL--A Pilot's Autobiography