LADD-Col. Avery J. “Jack”, USAF (Ret), age 99, died on June 1 at Brookestone Village Nursing Home in Omaha. Col Ladd retired from the U.S. Air Force in Oct., 1961 as the colonel with the most flying time of any pilot at that time with 24,272 hours in the cockpit. He also achieved 6,250 hours in civilian aircraft before logging military flying time. Ladd was inducted into the Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame in 1998. He served in the USAF for 30 years. Col. Ladd was born in Brooklyn, IA on Aug. 14, 1906 and raised in Newton, IA. Ladd began flight instruction in 1929 and moved to Des Moines. He was a flight instructor and charger pilot until he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as an instructor and check pilot in 1939. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Ladd reported to Sebring, FL, as a squadron commander and instructor in B-17 aircraft in combat crew school. Col. Ladd made 25 trips over “The Hump,” the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains. He also flew 20 bombing missions in India and China. In 1945 Col. Ladd was assigned to Roswell, NM as director of training at a B-29 combat crew school. He was given the assignment by Gen. Curtis LeMay. After WWII, Col. Ladd was assigned to a C-54 unit that was supporting the atomic bomb tests, “Operation Crossroads,” in the Pacific. In 1949 Col. Ladd received a call from Gen. LeMay with a special request to go to the Douglas Aircraft Plant in Long Beach, CA. The plant was building a C-124, the only aircraft large enough to carry an assembled atomic bomb inside its fuselage. Ladd later was put in charge of 60 C-124s at a base in Roswell, NM. During his 34 year aviation careet, Ladd flew 23 types of Canadian planes, 25 USAF models and 32 different varieties of commercial airliner. He was preceded in death by his wife of 61 years, Dora “Dee” Helen Ladd; brother, Ernest E. Ladd; sister, Betty Swander. He is survived by nieces, Marjorie and Gilbert Casanova, Long Beach, CA, Joni and Bill Isaacson, Portland, OR; nephew, John and Jody Swander, Tumwater, WA. Services Mon. 10 AM West Center Chapel. Graveside Service Mon. 3 PM Union Cemetery, Newton, IA with full Military Honors by Offut AFB. Memorials to West Hills Presbyterian Church, Omaha, or to First Presbyterian Church, Newton, IA. Visitation from 12 Noon Sun. at West Center Chapel.
HEAFEY-HEAFEY-HOFFMANN-DWORAK-CUTLER WEST CENTER CHAPEL 78th & West Center 391-3900
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