![]() Later, he was named winner of the state 118-pound championship as a Golden Gloves boxer. He spent many hours preparing to take the real test and playing an imaginary pilot.Īlthough he weighed only 104 pounds, Dwight excelled at track and football. Dwight's love for airplanes and all things related to that remained throughout junior high and high school during which he studied sample pilot tests in library books. While in high school, the Sumner High School Majorettes caught the attention of Dwight, particularly Sue Lillian James, who gave him little initial attention, but later became his wife. Eventually Dwight's hope to fly became a reality when a pilot gave him a ride in a Piper Cub two-seater, an experience he found to be both exciting and terrifying. At that moment Dwight decided that he would learn to fly.Īfter the war, Fairfax Airfield returned to its civilian status and Dwight and his friends did odd jobs around the hangars, with the hopes of being flown in exchange for the work. Dwight believed that that would not happen to him if he were piloting a plane. The live ammunition exploded in the plane causing the cockpit to catch fire and burning the pilot. At the age of ten, he and some friends saw a P-39 fighter spin out of control and crash in a nearby field. Dwight spent a lot of time watching planes near the fence surrounding the airfield. The family garden helped to provide food for the family and to instill a love for the land in young Dwight. He and his sisters were taught the importance of hard work and to use time wisely. Dwight attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help grade school. and their four other children.ĭwight Jr.'s parents were devout Catholics. After a long distance courtship, he married her and they settled in Kansas City, where they raised Dwight, Jr. While on a road trip, he met his future wife and Dwight Jr.'s mother, Georgia Baker, in Sioux City, Iowa. Dwight's father, Edward Dwight Sr., quit school at age fifteen to play professional baseball in the Negro Leagues. He grew up near Fairfax Airport, a municipal airport that was turned into an Army Air Force base during World War II. He was born September 9, 1933, in Kansas City, Kansas to Georgia and Edward Dwight Sr. was denied a place in space and eventually became a highly praised sculptor. Sculptor, astronaut trainee, research pilotĮdward Joseph Dwight Jr.
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