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| Wild Blue Yonder |
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| Dave Beatty of Wodburn flew fighter jets for more than 30 years, earning three recent medals for his duty |
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 | | | Dave Beatty |
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From the back seat of the cockpit in his F-4 fighter, Lt. Col. Dave Beatty could look through the shield and catch a glimpse of himself in the mirror.
This, he frequently told himself, was freedom.
Scorching through clear blue skies high above the ground still leaves Beatty nearly breathless.
"When you take off, you sever your ties to the earth," he said. "It's a complete feeling of freedom. You are no longer bound to the earth."
Beatty spent 32 years as a navigator for the U.S. Air Force, flying missions from Germany to Bosnia to Kuwait, and recently was awarded two medals and a ribbon for his efforts.
"It was an honor to receive these awards and I was thrilled to have them presented by the top military official in the state of Oregon," he said.
Beatty received a citation to accompany the Award of the Korea Defense Service Medal for duty in the Republic of Korea from March 1979 to April 1980.
He also received a citation to accompany the Award of the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal for duty in Bosnia-Herzegovina from July to October 2002.
And he received a citation to accompany the Award of the Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon with gold border for service in Bosnia-Herzegovina from July to November 2002.
He retired from the Air Force in June 2003, leaving behind something that had been part of his entire life - Beatty's father was in the Air Force Band, taking the family all over the world. Beatty himself graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1975.
"I grew up all over the place," he said. "We lived in Germany, California, Puerto Rico, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Being around air force people during my formative years put me in that mindset. My dad happened to be stationed at the Air Force Academy, so I got it in my head to try that route."
Beatty was a geography major with a minor in engineering, but he really had something else on his mind.
"I wanted to fly," he said. "And that's what I did. I was a navigator on F-4s my entire career."
The F-4s are now retired, with military units switching to the F-15s and F-16s, but it doesn't take away from the love of a good airplane.
"Back in those days, the Navy, Marines, and the Air Force - everybody flew them," Beatty said. "The last Air Force squadron was retired on Dec. 31, 2005."
On his last assignment, Beatty found himself in New Mexico, training a German squadron.
"It was amazing to have started out flying the F-4, and 28 years later end up flying it again," he said. "It was amazing to see the technological advances, with completely different avionics and how you go about flying combat."
The people were the same - outstanding, dedicated pilots - and Beatty found it "entertaining" to be flying with 19-year-olds, instructing them how to fly a plane.
"The airplane was basically the same, but all the stuff inside of it was completely different," he said. "They went from an analog world to a digital one, from noncomputers to computers."
And that was a good change.
"The leap in capability is just phenomenal," Beatty said. "The modern-day air force is so much more capable than 30 years ago when I came in."
With his own family in tow, Beatty moved 15 times in 28 years. They lived in California, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, Germany (three times) and Italy.
On his own, Beatty had assignments in Iran, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bosnia. He also flew combat in Grenada in 1983, calling in air-to-ground bombing missions from a helicopter.
"In my travels, Sarajevo really stands out," he said. "It seemed to be a piece of Europe that was stuck in the 12th century -- Europe how it was a couple hundred years ago. Nothing seemed to change."
That was quite a leap from the 10 years he was stationed in Germany, a very modern country that has benefited from an infusion of U.S. cash after World War II.
"I had mixed feelings about Sarajevo," Beatty said. "It was sad in a way, but also fascinating."
He visits Europe from time to time, especially enjoying England, Germany, Italy and France, but he'll always prefer to call the United States home. Beatty moved to Woodburn about four years ago, wanting to be close to a son who lives in Canby.
He's employed full-time as a cartographer for the Clackamas County Assessor's Office in Oregon City, having gone back to school at Clackamas Community College after his retirement to learn computer mapping.
"I've outgrown flying fast jets," he said. "You get to an age when it becomes painful. You've got an 18-year-old pulling eight Gs and your joints just don't work the same."
Age may have been catching up with him, but don't discount Beatty when it counts.
"Age and cunning would frequently win out over youth and exuberance in a dogfight," he said. "After flying so long, you knew how every dogfight would end up. I've seen it all. I've seen everything. When you come out of that turn, you know exactly where the plane will end up. It's just physics."
Beatty said he witnessed some air tragedies during his career and feels fortunate not to have been part of them.
"The air, like the sea, is unforgiving of mistakes," he said. "Flying is a dangerous business and should never be entered into with anything less than that concept or idea."
While many of his "flying friends" have completely given up the pilot's seat, Beatty still enjoys an occasional flight out of Aurora State Airport on a Cessna.
"I do enjoy flying," he said. "And I had a blast in the Air Force. I just had fun the whole time because I happened to be doing things I really enjoyed. A lot of things you look back on with bad memories, but those are rapidly fading among the good things."
Thanks for calling! Here are some photos - hopefully self explanatory with the titles buy LMK it you have any questions about them. In addition to flying fighters, I spent 5 years attached to the US Army as a forward air controller - 2 years with the 82d Airborne Division, 2 with the 101st Airborne Division and 1 with the XVIII Airborne Corps (I had the pleasure to be a peer of Dave Petraeus when we were both assigned to the 101st in 1993-4) - hence the picture of me getting ready to jump with the 82d.
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