Pals, peers honor Swampscott pilot, 90

SWAMPSCOTT – About 17 current and former commercial pilots made their way by land and air from all corners of the country Sunday to honor a Swampscott man who still loves to fly, even after 69 years.Friends and fellow pilots recently nominated 90-year-old Jack P. Dodge with the Wilbur Wright Master Pilot Award, the highest honor a pilot can receive. The award requires its recipient to have 50 years of flying experience and at least three letters of recommendation from fellow pilots. Dodge has not yet learned if he won the award.But so far more than 15 pilots have written on behalf of Dodge, and many attended the party held in his honor at the Saugus VFW post Sunday afternoon.Dodge spent his weekends as a teen hanging around airports and occasionally getting lessons from more experienced pilots until he learned enough to fly solo, which he did for the first time in 1942 at the age of 22.?I was always a gearhead,” Dodge said of his love for mechanics. “I had my first plane ride in St. Petersburg, Fla. when I was 9 years old.”Dodge ended up working at the Revere Airport – which was located on land that is now Northgate Shopping Center – after serving four years in the Air Force. He worked as a crew chief on B-24 planes, and began a long career with Stan Davis, flying banners over Boston and North Shore cities with a company Davis owned and eventually sold to him.Davis, who lives in North Andover and is one year older than Dodge, attended Sunday?s party.The two have been friends for more than 60 years, since Davis arrived in Revere after a two-week trip from Florida and immediately asked Dodge where he could get a beer.?He started us in the banner towing business, and we used to drink beer and fight over who was gonna pay for (them),” Dodge said. “He?s a multimillionaire now.”Dodge took younger pilots under his wing during his career as a banner pilot and taught them the ins-and-outs of flying and how to avoid hazards in banner towing. Many of his students went on to be airline captains and FAA workers.?If it wasn?t for him I wouldn?t have a career because he taught me how to fly,” said Bob Oliver, who came from San Francisco to attend Dodge?s party. “I went out there to learn and wound up as an airline captain.”Oliver showed up looking for a job at the Revere Airport one day with virtually no experience, like many aspiring pilots in the 1940s and ?50s, Dodge and Davis put him to work rolling up the advertisements that flew behind the planes, paying him in flying lessons.Oliver went on to fly for 13 different commercial airlines before retiring from Northwest Airlines.Dodge last flew a plane out of Beverly Municipal Airport last month, at age 89. He?s still got it.?I took him up last May when I got re-certified and told him to get in the (co-pilot?s) seat.” said Joe Budina, who kick-started Dodge?s nomination process. “He flew with no problem – landed like an eagle.”Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].