William F. Treichel

After receiving my commission and wings at Laughlin Air Force Base I attended the fighter weapons school at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix Arizona flying F-84G fighters. The next four years I flew RF-84F and F-89C fighters in the North American Air Defense Command with the Michigan Air National Guard. I left the Air Force with the rank of Captain in 1960 and began a career as a pilot with United Airlines.

I flew with United for 36 years based in Detroit, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. During that time I flew Douglas DC-6, DC-7, DC-8, DC-10 and all models built by Boeing from the B-707 to the B-747-400. During my career I spent several years in various management positions in flight operations and in 1991 I was manager of the worldwide fleet operations for the B-747 fleet when Iraq invaded Kuwait. When the Air Force activated the civil reserve fleet I was in charge of United’s military airlift and flew the first flight from Camp Pendelton to Dhahran Saudi Arabia. We set up our airlift operation from various bases in North America to Saudi Arabia with a fuel stop in Brussels Belgium and from September to December we transported over 24,000 troops and their equipment to the Arabian Peninsula. After the war I received the "CIVILIAN DESERT SHEILD and DESERT STORM MEDAL" from the Air Force.

During my career at United I flew to all the major cities in Europe, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. In October 1995 I flew my last flight from Hong Kong nonstop to Los Angeles with my wife Barbara riding in the cockpit. Air Force and Airline total flying was just over 26,000 hours in 41 years.

We have two daughters and four granddaughters living in Minnesota. Barbara, my wife of 52 years, and I are enjoining retirement in green Valley Arizona.