Lt. Col. Hadley Thompson

Story Credit: Bobo

Every so often, I see a name "from the past" listed in one of the various publications I receive—the name of someone who has taken his "Final Flight West." The other day, I saw the name: Colonel Hadley N. Thompson.

I met Colonel Thompson at Randolph Field, Texas, in late April 1970. He was the Commander of the 3517th Student Squadron.

When Col. Thompson walked into a room, he didn't "walk"—he swaggered. If you've ever seen a John Wayne movie, you've seen how Col. Thompson walked. When I first saw him, I actually looked to see if he had a 6-shooter strapped on his hip! And to go with his swagger, he had this deep, booming voice.

Col. Thompson was assigned to the T-37 squadron for flying, and I had one flight with him. On September 21, 1970, we flew a contact ride for 0.8 hours. The ride was graded "Incomplete," so I'm thinking we had a mechanical problem of some kind or another... But be that as it may, I do remember enjoying the flight I had with him.

In his obituary, I saw that he had been a teacher at Judson High School in Converse, Texas. We used to live in Converse. It sits just under the Randolph T-37 traffic pattern! I wish I had known this when I was stationed at Randolph. I would have loved to have seen him.

GBU, Colonel Thompson.