I was a fighter pilot, flying Hurricanes all round the Mediterranean. I flew in the Western Desert of Libya, in Greece, in Syria, in Iraq and in Egypt.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I've been as a pilot involved in the Gulf War. And then, in the No-Fly Zone.
I was a naval officer and aviator. I tested airplanes and got selected to be an astronaut later on.
I remember the first time that I flew on an airplane overseas, it was about when I was seven; it was 1969.
In my teens, I joined the Parachute Regiment. I jumped out of lots of airplanes, as much as the Government budget would allow us to. I did two active tours of duty: Northern Ireland, and then the Falklands war.
I fly my own airplane, and I have since 1960. I rarely fly anywhere other than my own airplane.
I was commanding officer of a supersonic fighter squadron, F-8 Crusaders.
My daddy was a World War I pilot, and I just wanted to be able to fly like he did.
I ended up in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific, operating out of Ayuka field in Hawaii.
I did pilots here and there but mostly I was doing little bits in movies.
I flew fighters for the Navy in San Diego for three years, went and did my post-graduate education, and then I was a test pilot in Patuxent River, Maryland, for a few years. I was back in the fleet in the Navy when I was selected to come back here to NASA to become an astronaut.