Well I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner, as I worked with Hod for several years at Soar Minden. As Bumper already recounted, I was able to find his service records regarding bailing out on a training mission at the (then) Murok AAF base (now Edwards). I obviously had the date of his fire, but how do you get military records from 60 years ago? I contacted a National War College colleague, who contacted a friend at the Pentagon, who combed through records and several weeks later sent me a package of records including newspaper clippings of his bailout, and numerous military records -- more than enough to prove he had used a parachute to save his life. He wore his caterpillar pin proudly on his beret from the day it was awarded.

He flew the last decade or so with a pretty withered left arm that made it impossible for him to use the spoilers and stick simultaneously, so his passenger had to pull the spoilers when he called for them.

BTW, there might be some who don't know where the name "Hod" came from. He told me that he was originally Howard, but hated war, so removed "war" from his name. Like everything else about his history, we'll never know the truth.

Finally, someone mentioned his commercial air experience. He told me he had worked for Pan Am, but had to leave because of a navigation problem. "You got lost?" I asked. "No, I was sleeping with the navigator's wife."