Bio, 2014: Allan McCrary
Fiftieth anniversary of the Beatles arrival in the US, the Ford Mustang and the Class of ‘64. That was a special time in history, for sure.
Upon graduation from OSU I was commissioned through ROTC as a Second Lieutenant in the USAF. Special times, indeed; remember the first two years of college at OSU EVERY male was required to take ROTC ? Imagine that in today’s world. The visual I have of sitting next to Tom Turner in Freshman English with him decked out in Air Force blue will always be with me. Nonetheless, I was off to WIchita Falls, TX, for Pilot Training and the start of what would become a lifetime career in aviation.
My first base of assignment after training was located in Northern California, on the edge of the Napa Valley and one hour north of San Francisco. I decided then and there that this was where I wanted to live long term and that’s been my home base ever since. I spent the first five years on active duty flying all over the globe but mostly in Viet Nam and Thailand. I truly enjoyed the job and once my commitment was up I elected to transfer to the AF Reserve which allowed me to continue to fly the same type aircraft and live in the same area, eventually becoming an Airlift Squadron Commander and retiring in ‘99 as a Colonel with thirty years ( yikes !) of service.
As a Reservist I still needed a full time job and was fortunate to land a position with NASA at the Ames Research Center near San Jose flying an airplane similar to my AF model but with a crew doing high altitude infrared astronomy. I eventually became Branch Chief of a group of five specialized airborne science aircraft and crews flying missions on every continent, including Antarctica. Being a Reservist can have it’s downside (especially in these times ! ) and in 1989 my unit was recalled to Active Duty for Desert Storm 1. My part time job suddenly became full time; I had to leave NASA and spend the next 10 months doing ‘desert duty’. That was an eye opener. Finally, downsizing and budget cuts set in at NASA during the late 90’s and I reluctantly elected to give it up, accept an early retirement and go job hunting once again. I was very fortunate to finish my flying career at fun-filled Southwest Airlines where I retired as a Captain in 2006. That was one great place to work and I was honored to have been able to fly with such great professionals.
My passions have always been ‘wings and wheels’ and after the third retirement I decided to get more actively involved in my life long hobby of vintage cars. Besides maintaining a small collection of my own, I formed a hobby/business researching and evaluating mostly high end investment cars for purchase by individuals and collections and usually at auction. My best customer is a large and prestigious collection in San Francisco but I work with some first time, ‘lower budget’ beginners to the hobby as well.
I’m very lucky to have found someone who understands my car craziness and her name is Susan. Actually we first met 25 years ago through my sister Patty as they have been life long friends. We have seen each other at different functions over the years but six years ago we met again at an Easter party, something snapped and we have been together ever since. Besides the cars we share a love of travel and hiking and have managed to combine the two of them at numerous locations around the world from South Africa to South America and from New Zealand to France.
I’m proud of my Stillwater heritage and thankful for all the wonderful adult role models of my youth; thankful for growing up where I did and when I did during a special time in history. Thankful for good friends and good health and for being able to report that my lifetime number of takeoffs were equal to the number of landings......
(photo from 2009 bio)
©2009 Stillwater High School Class of 1964