Museum of Aviation comes off the ‘bucket list’ for WWII fighter pilot

In November, Jack Hallett of Leesburg, Florida, celebrated his 95th birthday flying a Pitts S-2B aerobatic biplane.

He performed several maneuvers, including loops, left and right rolls, lazy eights, wing overs, Cuban eights and spins. He also did a high-speed, low-pass about 10 feet off the runway.

On Saturday, Hallett, a World War II fighter pilot, and his friend and pilot Joel Hargis, checked out the airplanes at the Museum of Aviation — many of which Hallett had flown.

“It was on my bucket list,” Hallett said with a laugh of his visit to the museum. “Of course, at my age, everything is on the bucket list.”

Hallett and Hargis met in spring 2015 through Hargis’ girlfriend, Pam Hipsher, who is also Hallett’s barber.

With a shared love of flying, the men quickly became close friends. Hargis, 55, is a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 534 in Leesburg.

Until he met Hargis, Hallett had not piloted an aircraft since he was a civilian flight instructor after the war. He trained military pilots under contract in Bartow, Florida, for nearly a decade in the 1950s.

“It’s opened a whole new chapter of my life,” Hallett said of meeting Hargis. “I have had more opportunities to fly more different airplanes.”

Since he’s been back in the pilot’s seat, Hallett seizes every opportunity.

“A whole lot of people have said, ‘Would you like to fly my airplane?’ By the time they say, ‘Fly my,’ I say, ‘Yes,’ ” Hallett said with a laugh.

Hargis, who flew himself and Hallett in his plane to the Middle Georgia Regional Airport in Macon from Leesburg, said he enjoys spending time with Hallett.

“He’s just fun to hang out with ... He’s just a little older, wiser, with more experience,” Hargis said. “And he’s got great stories.”

At age 21, Hallett joined the Army Air Corps on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“My Uncle Jake told me that if there’s ever a war, become a fighter pilot,” Hallett said. “So, that’s all I ever dreamed of being.”

Uncle Jake, otherwise known as Percival Dexter Jacobs, wasn’t actually a blood relative, but the best friend of Hallett’s father and a fighter pilot in World War I.

Finished with training and ready to go to war, Hallett had to wait 14 more months before he saw any combat. He was immediately tapped to be a military flight instructor.

He racked up 1,800 flight hours with experience flying more than a dozen different aircraft by 1944. He started with a Stearman biplane.

Hallett flew a P-38 on combat missions in Europe. He later flew the P-47 Thunderbolt.

He was part 367th Fighter Group providing ground support and reconnaissance.

Hallett earned the rank of major and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, a military decoration awarded for "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight.”

He lead his squadron on a mission that destroyed more than 100 German vehicles at one time.

Hallett had his one and only dog fight in September 1944 when escorting British Lancasters. He was shot down twice, but was unscathed each time.

He dropped bombs on the enemy in the Battle of the Bulge. He lost a lot of good friends in combat. In his outfit alone, 97 military personnel were killed.

But Hallett does not consider himself a hero.

“I was just another one of the fighter pilots, that’s all,” Hallett said. “Just like the guys on the ground; some guy carrying a rifle.

“He was just another one of them. He did what he was supposed to do, and that’s what I did; what I was paid and trained to do, and I don’t feel like I was any hero. (Other) guys did a whole lot more than I ever did,” he said.

Those who didn’t get the credit they deserved were aircraft mechanics, Hallett said. They endured bitter cold without hangars for shelter and sleepless nights to ensure each pilot flew his own airplane, he said.

For Hallett, touring the museum brought back memories of days gone by.

He only wished a P-38 had been on display. The aircraft, which he said was “a sheer joy to fly,” remains his favorite. But he said there are only a few of the aircraft still around.

“It brings back old memories,” Hallett said as he walked through the airplanes. “And when I see the airplanes that the young people fly now, it’s just fantastic.”

This story was originally published April 23, 2016 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Museum of Aviation comes off the ‘bucket list’ for WWII fighter pilot."