Thu, Jan 15, 2015
Former Navy Pilot Served As Member Of The ICAS Board
Air show performer and former ICAS Board member Jan Collmer passed away Tuesday morning at his home near Dallas after battling a rare blood disease for several months.
ICAS notes on its Facebook page that as a well-recognized and popular air show performer, particularly in and around his home state of Texas, Collmer flew jet fighters with the U.S. Navy before beginning his air show career in 1978. He performed more than 1,000 times at 400 different air shows during the last 35 years.
On the website www.collmer.com, a bio for Collmer notes that he was born in Dallas in 1934, graduated from Jesuit high School and got an Associates degree in Mechanical Engineering from Arlington State College (now UTA) before going into the Navy Flight Training program in Pensacola, Florida.
After four years active duty flying the early Navy jets he returned to Arlington for a four year program in Math and Physics. He graduated from UTA with high honors in 1963 after five years of night school (and 3 young daughters by then).
He joined the Navy Flight Program in Pensacola at age 19 (June 1954), got his first carrier landing in April 1955 and his Navy Wings of Gold in January 1956. He flew the early Navy jets such as the Panther, Cougar, Banshee, and Fury and finally the Dallas built Chance Vought F8U Crusader fighter. He was on active duty four years and then served eight years in the reserves at Naval Air Station Dallas (now NAS Fort Worth) He left the reserves to start graduate school at SMU. His final military rank was Lt Commander.
Collmer wrote in his bio that he really missed the flying and started airshow flying in 1978. His his plane was a German built Extra 300L.
Collmer also was appointed to the DFW International Airport Board in 2004 and was elected Chairman of the Board from February 2006 until February 2008. His prior service on the DFW Board was 1986-1990 and 1994-1998. He served an aggregate of 12 years on the DFW Board.
He was a founder and President of Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field in Dallas which opened in 1990.
(Image from ICAS Facebook page)
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