Lt. Robert Taylor, USNR

I'm going to pick on Robert Taylor, sorry, Lieutenant (jg) Spangler Brugh, since I had a post on him last week. Yep, this Nebraskan wasn't born with the smooth, Hollywood-type name. In February 1943, RT joined the Naval Reserve and was assigned to the Navy's Aviation Volunteer Transport Division (he had a civilian pilot's license). He became a Naval Aviator on 11 January 1944 after graduating from pilot instructor training.

RT was considered *too old* at 32 to go into combat, so they kept him busy doing training films. In 1944, he was sent to NAS Glenview, Illinois, as aircraft operations officer. I only mention this cause Glenview is not far from here. The one time Navy base is now a high-end mall with Starbucks, Beemers & the like (ugh).

This is good. during a refresher training flight, RT did a slow roll - and lost his $300 gold Zippo lighter into the Mississippi River, from his wife, Barbara Stanwyck. Oops.