Jim Ellis served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force from 1951-1972, eventually retiring as a lieutenant colonel. His service included two tours in Vietnam, the first in Da Nang in 1962 and then in Phan Rang in 1968. For his recent photo he grabbed a model of the plane he piloted, the F-100 Super Sabre, and donned his old flight jacket from his days at George Air Base in Victorville, Calif. His squadron commander at George was the legendary Chuck Yeager, the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound and the central figure in Tom Wolfe’s chronicle of America’s early days of space exploration, “The Right Stuff.”

“He was the smoothest flight leader I ever worked with,” Ellis said. “He was fabulous.”

Ellis and his wife, Shirley, moved from Alabama to Sequim in 1997 “to escape the oppressive heat and humidity of the Deep South.” Shirley died in 2001.

❝In 1957, I was a newly minted first lieutenant assigned to the First Fighter Day Squadron, George AFB, Calif., flying the North American F-100 Super Sabre.

As we all know, 1957 was the 30th anniversary of Lindbergh’s 33-hour flight across the Atlantic. To commemorate this feat, the Pentagon came up with the brilliant idea of putting Lindbergh in the back seat of an F-100-F with Major “Robbie” Risner, a Korean Air Ace, as pilot, and with two air fuelings, see just how fast they could make the trip compared to the 1927 flight.

I was tasked with flight planning the mission. The tankers were set up, the flight was approved by Wing Headquarters and then forwarded to the Pentagon for their approval. The Pentagon thought it was great so they called Lindbergh. But ‘Lucky Lindy’ told them, ‘Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve already made the trip once.’

Maj. Risner put a crew chief in the back seat and flew the mission anyway — in a little over five hours.❞
If you have a story for Verbatim, contact Mark Couhig at mcouhig@sequimgazette.com.