Clay Lacy
| Clay Lacy | |
|---|---|
Lacy in 2007
|
|
| Born |
August 14, 1932 Wichita, Kansas, U.S. |
| Aviation career | |
| First flight | Beechcraft Staggerwing |
| Famous flights |
Friendship One, Midway 2000 Military career |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 California Air National Guard
|
| Years of service | 1954-1962 |
| Website | |
| http://www.claylacy.com/ | |
Friendship One, Midway 2000
Clay Lacy (born August 14, 1932) is the founder and chief executive officer of Clay Lacy Aviation, established in 1968 as the first executive jet charter company in the Western United States. His professional resume' includes airline captain, military aviator, experimental test pilot, air race champion, world record-setter, aerial cinematographer and business aviation entrepreneur. Lacy has flown more than 300 aircraft types, logged more than 50,000 flight hours and accumulated more hours flying turbine aircraft than any other pilot in the world.
Growing up in the farmland of Wichita, Kansas, during the Great Depression, Lacy developed an early fascination with flight. He learned how to build model airplanes at age five and created his first gasoline-powered flying model at age eight. At age 12, Lacy piloted his first aircraft at Cannonball Airport, built on his grandmother's farm about three miles outside the city limits of Wichita, where he worked in exchange for flying time. In 1948, at age 16, he earned a flight instructor rating.
By age 19, Lacy had accumulated nearly 2,000 hours of flight time as both an instructor and ferry pilot. In January 1952, Lacy joined United Airlines as copilot on the Douglas DC-3 aircraft and was stationed at Los Angeles International Airport, where he was based for his entire airline career. During his time with United Airlines, Lacy flew the Convair 340, Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-4, Douglas DC-6, Douglas DC-7, Douglas DC-8, Douglas DC-10, Boeing 727 and Boeing 747-400. He retired seniority No. 1 in 1992 after 41½ years of incident-free flying.
In 1954, Lacy took military leave from United Airlines to join the California Air National Guard at Van Nuys Airport, where he flew the F-86 Sabre jet and became the officer in charge of instrument training. He was called to active duty in 1961 for one year during the Berlin crisis, flying the C-97 Stratofreighter on missions to Japan and Vietnam. He retired from military service three years later.
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