Charles Pettit was born in June 1925 to Charles and Gertrude Pettit in his grandmother’s house on a farm in Illinois, which he grew up working on. His interest in aviation began when he first saw an airport beacon from his bedroom window. The small airport was 15 miles away, but the beacon was like a lure – urging him to fly.
Charles graduated from high school in June of 1943, and volunteered, despite being offered a farmers’ deferment — he wanted to do his part. His first choice was the Air Force, but wearing glasses disqualified him from becoming a pilot, so he joined the Army. His parents always thought he had been drafted.
He went to basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas. His training included the new 120mm A/A guns. His unit underwent standard infantry jungle training in Hawaii, before being sent to the Marshall Islands, where they spent most of the time cleaning out the last Japanese from the cave systems. By August 1945, their unit had moved to Okinawa, and after the atomic bombs were dropped, his unit was tasked with collecting left behind Japanese weapons throughout the Pacific. Despite being offered a promotion to stay in, Charles returned to the US in April 1946.
Charles took to the trucking business, which he was in for almost 40 years. During this time, Charles decided he needed a hobby — so he signed up for flying lessons. He found flying easy, soloing after 9.5 hours. In 1966, Charles began flight instruction, logging well over 10,000 hours. In August 1969, Charles married Moneta Mary O’Keefe and they moved to Lancaster, CA in 1972.
Charles became a full-time flight instructor until 1992, when he became director of flight operations & head instructor for the school with 4-6 instructors under him. During this time, he also was a charter service pilot for 12 years. He retired from flying in 2006 and spent most of his time after that caring for his wife who was developing Alzheimer’s, which she later passed away from.
Aside from driving through, Charles first came to Palm Springs as a snowbird in 1996, moving here in 1997. His first visit to the Air Museum was in 1997, and he soon decided to become a Volunteer. His first day of service was January 8, 1998, and he has almost 11,000 hours of Volunteer service.
