Was Dubya in Dealey Plaza on 11/22/63?

[Jeanie Dean]

On 4/7/2020 at 9:51 AM, Norman T. Field said:

IIRC, he was a bomber pilot. 

I'm sorry is there a difference? They were called fighter pilots  back then.

[David Andrews]

1 hour ago, Jeanie Dean said:

I'm sorry is there a difference? They were called fighter pilots  back then.

GHWB flew a variety of the Grumman Avenger, a small three-man torpedo bomber, capable of carrying one large torpedo or bomb, or four smaller bombs to be dumped at once.  They were principally anti-ship weapons launched from aircraft carriers or Pacific island bases.  They had the capacity to engage or outmaneuver fighter planes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_TBF_Avenger

Edited April 9, 2020 by David Andrews

[Jeanie Dean]

Thanks for the excellent details. He is still a fighter pilot to me as was the parlance of the post war regular non military public. He was the pilot too, not the gunner or navigator.  Right?  If GHWB could fly a Grumman Avenger,  I am sure its a fair assumption he could pilot a private plane for fun or profit.  I would be quite surprised if he could not.

[Norman T. Field]

15 hours ago, Jeanie Dean said:

I'm sorry is there a difference? They were called fighter pilots  back then.

In all of the dozens of books I have read about WWII, and the multiple bios of G.H.W.Bush, bombers were never described as 'fighters'. Only the most skilled pilots were assigned to true fighter aircraft like a P47 or a Hellcat. Lesser pilots flew bombers. There is a major difference between the two classes of war plane. 

[Jeanie Dean]

Thanks for the details.  For the nonmilitary general public lingo of the postwar 1950s and 1960s the generic term was fighter pilot, without distinctions about aircraft,  models or names,  rank ect. Meia culpa.