![]() ![]() His 'Take it off!' was the most direct order I had received in twenty-four years of service." During his visits to Ubon over the past year he had never referred to my breach of military standards, just seemed rather amused at the variety of 'staches sported by many of the troops. To tell the truth, I wasn't all that fond of the damned thing by then, but it had become a symbol for the men in the 8th Wing. He obviously meant my rather flamboyant mustache, which I knew somehow had outgrown all semblance of air force propriety. Olds writes, "The general pointed a forefinger under my nose and said, 'Take it off!' Just like that. Upon his return to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Olds met with General John P. The mustache became my silent last word in the verbal battles I was losing with higher headquarters on rules, targets, and fighting the war.” What was anybody going to do-send the secretary of the air force over to knock me out, sit on me, and shave it off? It became the middle finger I couldn’t raise in PR photographs. What the hell, I’d look a whole lot better with a full Tommy Burne-type World War II mustache, so it grew well beyond the regulations. When it had respectable growth to the edges of my mouth (still correctly trimmed) I decided the David Niven look wasn’t for me. ![]() What did I expect him to respond, ‘No, Colonel’? Starting that day, I grew my mustache. I asked him if he thought I’d look good in one. One evening I sat at the bar talking to a young guy named John Harris, who sported a nice, neatly trimmed, regulation mustache. The ‘Wolfpack’ had taken on a life of its own. The leader of the F-4 Wolfpack, Olds writes in his memoir Fighter Pilot, “ Evenings at the O club were great fun. Air Force 8th Tactical Fighter Wing during "Rolling Thunder," the first sustained U.S. Curtiss.” The Windy City also displayed a duplicate of the 8-cylinder engine at the Chicago Automobile Show.Ĭhicago’s interest in Curtiss may be linked to its status as “the most mustache-friendly city in the United States (a title bestowed by the American Mustache Institute.) According to the Institute, “From Civil War generals like Lew Wallace to the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft (the last Mustached American President), people of Mustached American descent were chainsaw wielding men of power, good looks, martial arts abilities, and long-lasting virility.”Īnd here’s the man alleged to have started it all, Brigadier General Robin Olds, commander of the U.S. The Chicago Daily News enthusiastically reported: “Bullets are the only rivals of Glenn H. At that time, no human had ever traveled faster. The future aircraft designer got his start by manufacturing motorcycles, setting a speed record at Ormond Beach, Florida, on January 23, 1907. And airmen who submit photos of their own Mustache March projects to our online Reader Scrapbook this month are guaranteed posting.Īviation pioneer and inventor Glenn Curtiss “had a few ‘stache-n-beard combos that were decidedly Zappa-esque,” says Paul Glenshaw, director of the Discovery of Flight Foundation and a frequent contributor to Air & Space/Smithsonian. ![]() If we left somebody out, let us know by posting a comment below. ![]() See the gallery below for more memorably mustached aviators. Can’t be Louis Paulhan, he’s too goofy looking. And I don’t think it’s Roland Garros, his mustache went straight across. “Chromenut” correctly identified the aviator by saying: “Let’s see, it’s not Adolphe Pagoud, his mustache was way smaller. His image was recently posted on the “guess the face” portion of. They kiss my cheeks.” (We can see why they avoided planting one on his kisser.)īlériot’s mustache remains famous today. After his daring feat, Blériot told the New York Times in a special cable, “Soldiers in khaki run up, and policemen. One of the best-known aviator ‘staches belongs to Frenchman Louis Blériot (pictured above), who became world famous in 1909 when he flew across the English Channel in his monoplane. (More about him in a minute.) However the custom started, we think aviators and their freaky facial hair deserve some recognition. Legend has it that Brigadier General Robin Olds began the tradition while serving in Vietnam. Air Force tradition known as “Mustache March,” when airmen encourage their facial hair to flourish for 31 days. It’s March, and signs of spring are everywhere: bulbs are blooming, birds are singing, and mustaches are sprouting out all over. ![]()
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