In Memoriam

October 22, 1943 - December 3, 2024

Captain Rick Drury, 81, peacefully flew west on December 3rd after a long illness at his home in Friday Harbor, WA with his wife Carol by his side.  Hired by Tigers in April 1973 and retired as an ANC MD11 Captain in 2003, he was a respected and admired instructor, serving as B727 Chief Pilot when the aircraft was introduced into our fleet.

Prior to beginning his career with FTL Rick is most memorialized by his gallantry in Vietnam, earning the Silver Cross and four Distinguish Cross Medals for his bravery as an Air Force A-1 Skyraider pilot while flying over 220 combat ground support missions.

In his 1979 book, My Secret War, he writes of his experience that "A pilot lives in a world of perfection, or not at all." He would later fly B-52s and then C-130s for California Air National Guard.  More about Drury's valor can be found by visiting the links below.

FAA Lifetime Achievement Award
Veteran Tributes

Condolences can be sent to:

Carol Drury
P.O. Box 445
Friday Harbor, WA 98250

Smooth skies our dear friend and thank you for your service to our country!

Capt. Bill Baird writes "Had some fun flying with Rick and spending our money in London. Great pilot and great friend. Will be behind you Amigo!"

Capt. George Gewehr knew Rick well and submitted the following:

A fine pilot was never better than Rick, I Know I flew with him. When I met Rick, I was a new captain on the DC-8-63 flying domestic out of LAX, Rick was my F/E at the time, I think that was the timeline back then. But I'm going to skip a few years ahead to 1980 or around that time. I was now flying captain on the 747 International and Rick was one of my many copilots then. As it happened in those days, recurrent training was more of a classroom environment and it lasted three days with a sim check afterwards. Rick was in my recurrent class on his copilot recurrency as well. On the second day of ground school Rick asked me if I wanted to go flying with him in his T-6 when we quit for the day at 16:30. My answer was, "Sure I do, where are we going?".  "Over to Van Nuys to the Condor squadron, that's where my T-6 is". So, at 16:30, we split and headed to Van Nuys. He drove and got there in no time. This was during the summer, so the sunlight was ample and the weather perfect. We went into the Condor squadron meeting area; Rick introduced me to several guys there and Rick changed into his flight suit, and we walked out to the flight line to his airplane. There were two other pilots already climbing into their T-6's so Rick and I made the third. As I got in the back seat with my parachute on, a plane captain came up to me and checked my seat and shoulder harness and my parachute. With engines started the three of us T-6's taxied out and took off. I had no idea where we were going, and Rick didn't say. We climbed up to 5,000 feet and headed over to the far west end of San Fernando Valley. We arrived there, Rick asked me on the intercom, "Are you ready George?". "I guess I 'am", was my reply. He pulled up into a steep climb and I thought it was going to be a loop, but he rolled over into a split S and dove for the hills, then he pulled up level and snap rolled left then right. Then he climbed back up to 5,000 feet and did something I didn't recognize. So, while breathing deeply and flexing my stomach muscles, "I asked him, with some strain in my voice, "What is this we are doing now Rick?". "It's a falling leave", he said. "Oh", was my answer as I flexed my stomach muscles yet again. When he finished that maneuver, we began a dive for the hills to the south of the valley. As we got lower, I could see some buildings in a small clearing and wondering what they were, I asked. He answered, "It's the MASH set where they film MASH", as we shot over the top of it. No filming was going on, but I had a good view of it. Before I knew it, we were behind another T-6 and one behind us as we entered a canyon. We weren't more than sixty or eighty feet above the valley floor doing steep turns following the valley in its turns. I sat in the back and looked at the needle and ball instrument and the ball never moved from the space in the middle. Thats when I said to myself, "This guy can F**king fly". After the demonstration of airman ship, we went back the airport, landed and continued with a squadron party. Rick and I returend at about 0100. We crashed in our rooms and started the third day of Ground school. RIP my friend, we miss you.     

Anyone else wishing to contribute to this page with archived pictures or testimonials is encouraged to contact us at email@flyingtigerline.org