I was born in Ohio, in 1930. From as early as I can remember, I wanted to fly. I guess all kids do that, but I never stopped. When I was two, my Dad took me to an air show in Cleveland. I still remember how much I loved it. Seeing those planes changed everything for me. When I was five I took my first ride in a plane, before I could even read or write. My heart was pounding up there in the clouds. I watched the landscape below grow distant, until it looked completely different – beautiful, and spectacular. A few years later I went to Purdue University in Indiana. I was seventeen, and had stars in my eyes. My dream was to fly. I loved everything about aviation. I was a total nerd, the kind of student who’d stay up all night studying. Anything to be the best. I was as humble as I was determined. Math was my thing. I needed to come out on top – I had a goal, and that goal was to slip the bounds of the earth. My grades weren’t exactly stellar, but I stayed the course. I’d need to do two years of college, two years of pilot training, a year serving as an aviator in the marines, before doing two more years of college to get my bachelor’s degree. It was a real trial at times, but I didn’t flinch. I was eager, and impatient. I knew why I was getting up every morning.
I was very close to my family, too. My greatest joy was seeing my Mom and sister at my graduation ceremony from the Navy Pilot School. I’d achieved my dream. The sky was the limit, they said, but I didn’t buy that. I joined a US Navy fighter jet squad, and was the youngest officer to ever do so. Tensions were rising between Communists and Capitalists. War broke out in Korea, and I did my part like any good citizen. I carried out recon missions above the Songjkin region, and flew low-altitude bombing raids. Once, when I was releasing bombs from my VF-51, my wing clipped an electrical cable in enemy territory. The wing was cut in half, but I managed to bring my plane back to non-hostile territory. That was my first exploit. I was shaking with fear, but that was only the beginning. I won various medals for bravery, having flown seventy-eight missions over Korea, and for my devotion to the US Navy.
After serving in the marines, it was time for me to go back to school. I returned to Purdue. Being back at college didn’t stop me from dreaming big. I worked even harder, and my grades got better. More importantly, I became president of the Purdue Aviation Society. Flying in college helped me slake my thirst for adrenaline. One day, when I was going to Wapakoneta, I had to make an emergency landing. There was no runway or landmarks; I just saw a field and I landed. The plane was a wreck, but I made it out. A little beat up, but alive – could’ve been a lot worse. I remember the farmer running over, as mad as he was worried. Couldn’t understand what had happened to his tomatoes. Still, he was nice enough to tow me back to the university. When I told my friends about it they looked at me with new respect. They called me a hothead, a real hero. I was in a frat, too, Phi Delta Theta, and things were good in those years. Then my studies came to an end, and with them my glory days of youth and daredevilling. I got my masters in aeronautical engineering.
“Neil Armstrong flies in a way that’s more mechanical than flying. His mind absorbs things like a sponge!” was what my superiors had to say when I was a test pilot. I was an asset for mankind’s aviation exploration, and then I became a candidate for space exploration. In 1958, I was selected for the US government’s “Man in Space Soonest” program. It was starting to feel like my dream might just be within reach.
Alan Alfredo Geday
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