User:Billy Walker/sandbox

== Pic Walker - Aviator == W. Dillard "Pic" Walker was a Wyoming aviator (1911 - 1993). He was a founder of the Civil Air Patrol in 1941. Prior to his death in 1993, Walker was the sole survivor of the small group led by Gil Robb Wilson and Fiorello LaGuardia in founding the CAP. In 1991 the CAP honored Walker as did the State of Arizona in 1992, in conjunction with their respective fiftieth anniversaries.

Walker ran Plains Airways flight operations during WWII. Plains Airways operated three Civilian Pilot Training schools for the US Military training more than 10,000 pilots and mechanics. Plains CPT Programs were based in Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming with their pre-glider training program based in Ft. Morgan, Colorado.

Walker first flew as a teenager in 1924 flying a long-winged Alexander Eaglerock powered by a WWI era Curtis OX-5 (90 HP) engine. He barnstormed before starting Cheyenne's first full Fixed-Base Operation which became Plains Airways, Inc.

During WWII Walker's Plains Airways operated fifty four aircraft and was both a Beechcraft and Cessna aircraft dealer.

In 1992 Walker was named "Elder Statesman of Aviation" by the National Aeronautic Association who presented Walker his honor at a gala event hosted by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

In 1995 Walker was posthumously selected as the first of four individual for Wyomings newly formed Aviation Hall of Fame. Captain Ralph S. Johnson, Airmail pilot, Slim Lewis, and USAF General Sam Phillips made up the list of the first induction. Walker's son, Captain Billy Walker, was introduced by Governor Stan Hathaway as the key-note speaker. This first Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame was attended by several hundred invitees at the Little America in Cheyenne. It was in conjunction with Wyoming's Seventy Fifth Anniversary of the Cheyenne Airport.

Many of Walker's early pilot training innovations are still in use today.www.CaptainBillyWalker.com