“Keen on becoming a pilot,
he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942 and flew B-17 Flying Fortresses on 29 bombing missions over Germany. He left the military with the rank of captain, a Distinguished Flying Cross and hopes of becoming a commercial pilot, but lack of a college degree disqualified him.”

So Cal Worthington began selling cars. His advertising antics and his sales volume made him the most famous car dealer in America.

“I never much liked the car business,” Mr. Worthington said in 2007. “I just kind of got trapped in it after the war. I didn’t have the skills to do anything else. I just wanted to fly.”

From his obituary in
The New York Times, Sept. 9, 2013.

Fly, Cal, Fly.

– Indiana Beagle