R.I.P. Sir.. SALUTE! #Repost @combat_learjet ・・・ Article from the Washington Post today! We can all be proud of how you lived your life Sir!! God Speed Brother!••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Air Force Maj. Stephen Del Bagno laid out the advice he liked to give people hoping to become a pilot like him during an interview in September. “So, the biggest thing I learned throughout my career, and what I tell all of the kids when I start talking to them, is, in life, you are going to hear a lot of no’s, and sometimes it’s just a test of your resolve,” he said during an interview with Alabama TV station WEAR before he began flying F-16s as a member of the Thunderbirds squadron, a select Air Force group known for its aerial demonstrations. “So, no matter what it is and how bad you want it, as long as you work hard and don’t accept no as a final answer, you can always turn a no into a yes,” he said. Del Bagno’s life came to a tragic end this week when the F-16 he was flying over the Nevada desert crashed around 10:30 a.m. during what the Air Force said was a routine training flight. Del Bagno, a native of Valencia, Calif., began his Air Force career when he was commissioned as an officer at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama in 2007. A graduate of Utah Valley State University, Del Bagno had also worked as a flight instructor, corporate pilot, skywriter and banner tow pilot while a civilian. According to a short biography provided by the Thunderbirds, Del Bagno was a fan of snowboarding and water sports and loved being with his family and friends in his spare time. He had at least 3,500 flight hours under his belt, including more than 1,400 as an Air Force pilot. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••#Repost @bunker27apparel⠀#combatlearjet ⠀⠀
