by R. E. Thull

Gene Thull grew up during the Great Depression of the '30s, and even though he lived on the 'other' side of the tracks, they were happy years. Gene learned to fly in a forty-horsepower Taylor Cub during the summer of 1941. Then, after graduating from high school in 1942, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, where he flew the F4U Corsair fighter for the balance of WW II. After the war, he flew many different types of aircraft in all phases of civil aviation, ending up with flying for a major airline for thirty-three years.