Leaping Off: The Tortured Path to Flight

A story about the rigors of being selected for U S Air Force Pilot Training and the 18 month path through rigorous physical and mental obstacles designed to produce only the best individuals to earn and qualify for Pilot Wings.

Colonel Dugard is a command pilot with over 5700 flying hours who has flown twice the speed of sound in the supersonic B-58 and to the edge of space in the reconnaissance U-2. He was an instructor pilot in the B-47, B-52, B-58 and the T-39. He was the #1 graduate from the Air Force "Instrument Pilot Instructor School (IPIS). He was a B-52 Squadron Commander who flew "Linebacker II" raids over North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He was the last Strategic Air Command's last Wing commander in Vietnam and participated in the evacuation of Saigon and the ultimate withdrawal of all forces from Southeast Asia. He subsequently became the Wing Commander of B-52 wings in the CONUS and served as the Deputy Commander of Operations for flying and Missile Operations in the western United States. He retired from the Air Force and Became an administrator and teacher on the high school level.