Airport Journals

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Carroll Shelby—from Curtiss to Cobra. Born
January 11, 1923 Flown West May 10, 2012

Read My Lips

Steve Ritchie—The Last Ace

Julie Clark’s Flying Adventures as Captain and Aerobatics Superstar

Bobbi Trout: “Just Plane Crazy”

Harry Combs Enters the Jet Age

Harry Combs: The Early Years

How Emily Hanrahan Howell Warner Conquered the Male-Dominated Airline Industry

An American Classic: A Tribute to Pilot, Actor and Humanitarian Dennis Weaver

By S. Clayton Moore

The West is a little lonelier following the passing of one of its heroes, the great American actor Dennis Weaver. Weaver, 81, passed away at his home in Ridgway, Colorado, on February 24.

Dennis Weaver wasn’t only an award-winning and popular actor, but also a passionate humanitarian and environmentalist.

Weaver is best known for his memorable portrayals of larger-than-life characters, most notably Deputy Chester Goode in “Gunsmoke,” Tom Wedloe in “Gentle Ben,” and in later life, Sam McCloud, a New Mexico cop on the streets of New York. “McCloud,” in which Weaver was seldom without his horse, his cowboy hat and a sheepskin coat, carried the same western sentiments as the talented actor who played him.

Three miracles

Weaver’s own flying career wasn’t quite as glamorous, but it was filled with jeopardy. Long before he claimed fame as an actor, he joined the Naval Air Corps, at 18, and entered the V-5 flight training program.

While he was stationed at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Weaver learned to fly a Piper Cub. A flight in that aircraft was just one of three nearly disastrous flights for him.

But as he attempted the maneuver at 6,000 feet, the plane started spinning out of control, heading right for the brown fields below.

“Overlapping thoughts of terror raced through my mind. … Am I going to eat it on my first solo flight? Should I bail out? Will I get washed out? Will my damn parachute work?” Weaver wrote later.

Miraculously, the plane leveled out and a wrung-out Weaver managed to take the plane back to the airport. On shaking legs, he passed the flight board to find his plane, number 23, marked with a warning, “Do not spin plane 23!”

After Weaver had pre-flight training in Oakland and primary training in Livermore, Calif., he got his wings in Corpus Christi, Texas. He was next stationed at Opa-locka Naval Air Station, near Miami, Fla., where he and his fellow pilots would stage mock dogfights to pass the time. He was making a dive on one of his buddies when he nearly ended his acting career before it ever started.