In honor of his 85th birthday on Sept. 14, Dennis Rawls received a special gift from his wife, Martha. He took a flight at the controls of a Cessna 172 out of Peter O. Knight Airport, the same place he took his first solo flight when he was 15, all of 70 years ago.
Rawls, a Tampa native, went on to be a bomber and fighter pilot in World War II and then had a career as a pilot with Eastern Air Lines. In all he has more than 6,400 hours in the air, and said the most difficult thing about the flight on his 85th birthday was getting in and out of the cockpit.
His copilot for the flight, instructor John Brereton of Atlas Aviation, said Rawls' flying skills still were still excellent.
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