You probably have no idea who Captain Charlie Plumb is. But his story serves an extremely powerful lesson in leadership. Charlie grew up as a farm kid from Kansas and like many kids at the time he day-dreamed about airplanes but never thought he would have the opportunity to fly one. The United States Navy turned that around.
After Charlie graduated from the Naval Academy and completed his flight training, he reported to the Miramar Naval Air Station which is based in San Diego. It’s there where he was among the first pilots to fly in The Navy Fighter Weapons School, currently known as “TOP GUN.”
The following year Plumb’s squadron known as the Aardvarks were stationed on the Aircraft Carrier USS Kitty Hawk with Fighter Squadron 114. They were given the opportunity to fly the Navy’s coolest and hottest new airplane, the F-4 Phantom Jet.
Captain Plumb flew 74 successful missions over North Vietnam but on his 75th mission, just 5 days before the end of his tour, disaster struck. He was shot down over Hanoi where he taken prisoner and tortured. He spent 2,103 days in North Vietnamese Prisoner War Camps where his first cell was 8ft x 8 ft,
Eventually he was rescued and flew a few more years before retiring. This is where something really interesting happened that he never forgot…and neither will you.
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