Fred Perra

Fred Perra (AKA Fearless Fred)

Pre Columbus AFB

Born and raised in what used to be the Panama Canal Zone until Jimmy Carter gave it away, but that’s another story. After graduating from high school I left the Zone to attend the University of South Florida. I Graduated 5-1/2 years later with a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. At this point in my life I had a choice to make: Be drafted or pick my service. Not a difficult decision, I chose the Air Force. Next up was OTS at Lackland AFB followed by a trip to Columbus Mississippi. You all know the rest of the story.

Post Columbus AFB

My assignment after UPT graduation was KC-135’s flying out of Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico. After KC-135 School in California and survival school in Spokane, WA, I arrived at Charleston AFB per my orders to hop a flight to Ramey. Checking in for the flight I was informed that all orders to Ramey were cancelled as they were closing the base. I was told to expect new orders shortly and in the meantime, to take leave. So I caught a flight back to the Canal Zone for a long visit with my parents. After about a month I finally got my new orders which put a big smile on my face: EC-135’s flying out of RAF Mildenhall with the 10th ACCS under the command of USAFE. No SAC for me. What a great assignment. I fell in Love with London during that time and visit there often since retirement.

As the end of my service commitment was approaching I was offered a regular commission but elected to turn it down because I had a vision of the future as a commercial airline pilot. I separated from the service after my 5 year were up. I out processed at McGuire AFB and proceeded to drive to Miami, FL for an interview with National Airlines. On the drive, listening to the radio, the news was bad – National Airlines went on strike. So much for that plan. So I diverted to Atlanta where there was a big job fare for Engineers. I interviewed with Exxon, Pratt & Whitney, Florida Steel and General Foods. All but General Foods offered me a job and I took the one with Exxon Corp. As it turned out, the smartest decision I ever made.

I spent my first two years with Exxon as a Mechanical engineer located in Florham Park, NJ. During that time I was also flying C-141’s out of McGuire AFB. After about a year I was getting pretty bored with office work and discovered that Exxon had corporate jets operating out of Newark Airport. I arranged a meeting with the Operations Manages to discuss transfer possibilities. As it turned out, most of the current pilots were WWII veterans and there would be a large turnover in the near future. After about six months the first retirement occurred and I got my transfer to Exxon Aviation starting as a copilot flying Gulfstream II’s. I spent the next 30 years flying for Exxon.

Around 1988 the flight department moved to Allentown and about two years later the Corporation moved its headquarters to Irving, TX and the flight department moved operations to Love Field, Dallas. While in Allentown I was promoted to Operations Manager/Chief pilot. After moving to Dallas and the merger with Mobil I was promoted to Operations Manager and a separate Chief pilot position was created. After 15 years in Dallas, I retired at age 60, which, at the time was company policy for pilots.

During my Exxon career I was rated and flew in GII’s, GIII’s, GIV’s, Global Express’s, Citation III’s and Saber 65’s. I stopped tracking flight time after 10,000 hours. After retiring I moved to Washington State and now live within 3 miles of Joint Base Lewis McCord. I enjoy watching the C-17’s on approach and reminisce of my Air Force days.

On a personal note, I have 3 beautiful daughters and 11 grand kids from my first marriage to Lerlene. We divorced in 1985. I remarried to Connie in 1987. My oldest daughter, Jennifer, is a Columbus AFB baby. My second daughter, Michelle, was born at RAF Lakenheath, England, and my third daughter was born in New Jersey and had here first flight in a Gulfstream II at the early age of 2 weeks.

Life after retirement is great. Both Connie and I travel quite a bit to Europe and Mexico and have taken three European cruises on the Seabourn Line with more planned. This past spring we took an Atlantic cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Portugal. Next year we plan a similar cruise to Barcelona.

My hobbies keep me pretty busy. I have a large woodworking shop I built two years ago for furniture projects. I hop up and customize cars. My current project is a 900 HP 2008 ZO6 Corvette. I’m also into photography, electronics and I love to cook, inside and outside. And I can’t forget to mention our two beautiful and large Maine Coon cats.

So that’s about it. Really looking forward to the reunion.