Capt Charles C. Dent

Foil: 14 Panel: Retired United Pilots Association Column: 2 Line: 15

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Capt. Richard P. Munger

Charles C. Dent: 1917-1994

March 1940
Received pilot's license in Allentown, PA.
July 1940
Hired by United Airlines.
Sent to training at Oakland, CA as Boeing 247 copilot.
1941
Qualified as DC-3 copilot.
1943
Assigned to Air Transport Command flying supplies and personnel to Australia.
1944
Promoted to DC-3 captain at Chicago.
1956
Transferred to New York flying the DC-6 and DC-7.
1959
One of the first group of pilots flying the new DC-8 jet.
1972
Flying Los Angeles to Honolulu on the Boeing 747.
1977
Retirement flight, Boeing 747, Los Angeles to JFK (New York).

Significant Events:

Halloween, 1957: Unable to extend the landing gear at Los Angeles on a DC-7, Charles circled for one hour while the runway was foamed, then made a successful landing covered by network television. It was the first commercial airliner to make a wheels-up landing on a foamed runway. Actor Jimmy Stewart performed a re-enactment of the air-ground communications from the event.

1960: During Khrushchev's visit to Iowa, Charles flew the press charter from Des Moines to Pittsburgh.

1971: Charles organized the T+ anti-hijacking committee of pilots and airline personnel. He chartered a Pan Am 747 for a flight from New York to Montreal, briefing UN ambassadors while on board on the need to support international treaties to combat hijacking. Also on the flight were 29 airline crew members who had endured various hijacking experiences. ABC TV News covered the entire event.

1981: Charles participated in the committee to organize a three-day reunion in Paris for aces from both sides of World War I, culminated by the Armistice Day ceremonies at the Arc de Triomphe.

Extra-aviation Accomplishments:
- Founder of the Business Council for the United Nations
- Responsible for the completion of Leonardo da Vinci's unfinished work, the Bronze Horse, which now stands in Milan, Italy.

Member: ALP A, RUPA, QB