Francis E. McGowan, WWII bomber pilot and lifetime aviator

Frank McGowan's love affair with aviation began at age 10 when his father took him to a Long Island, N.Y., fairground and let him go for a ride in a gyrocopter, a cross between a plane and a helicopter.

Once in the air, young Frank was hooked for life, said his sister, Kathleen Johnson of Miami. It was the prelude to a high-flying life story as a bomber pilot in World War II, a cargo pilot in the Korean War and a test pilot and leisure flyer thereafter.

Francis E. McGowan, 89, of Peachtree City died Tuesday of heart failure at Southland Health and Rehabilitation. A memorial celebration is planned between 6 and 9 p.m. Saturday at the Commemorative Air Force Facility at Falcon Field, Peachtree City. Carl J. Mowell & Son Funeral Home, Fayetteville, is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. McGowan was eager to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps even before Pearl Harbor, his sister said, but he was turned away because he didn't meet the minimum weight requirement. After the Japanese attack, he was readily accepted.

He first saw combat as a co-pilot aboard a B-25 medium bomber in the North African campaign but soon was piloting his own B-25. Michael McGowan of Peachtree City said that because his father had a talent for flying in tight formation, he was assigned to the most critical spot in a formation -- known to the airmen as the "Tailend Charlie" slot. By maintaining a steady defensive position, he kept at bay enemy fighter pilots who preferred to attack loose formations or stragglers, his son said.

After the Germans were routed from Tunisia, Mr. McGowan bombed targets in Italy prior to the Allied invasions of Sicily and the Italian mainland at Anzio. Once he had logged 50 combat missions, Mr. McGowan was assigned to duty stateside as a flight instructor.

Called back into service during the Korean War, Mr. McGowan spent 14 months ferrying supplies from Japan to South Korea aboard a C-46 cargo plane.

Returning to civilian life, Mr. McGowan became a flight test engineer at Vought Aircraft, working on its F-8U Crusader, one of the first supersonic carrier-based fighter planes. In 1962 he moved to Atlanta as the Federal Aviation Administration's chief test pilot here.

In that capacity he rigorously checked all kinds of aircraft before they received FAA certification. Among the planes to receive his seal of approval were Lockheed's C-141 Starlifter, three models of the Piper Cherokee, a Brazilian-made commuter plane, a Sikorsky helicopter, a Gulfstream business jet and even a Pitts biplane built to perform aerobatics at air shows.

"Frank was a real detail man. He'd go over aircraft evaluations that the rest of us test pilots made with a fine tooth comb," said Ed Wilson of Atlanta.

Mr. McGowan's daughter, Patricia Sandgren of Barnesville, Minn., said her father had a phenomenal memory for numbers, names and dates.

Just as he loved the wild blue yonder, he took a liking to the greens. An avid golfer, Mr. McGowan carried a 10 handicap into his 70s. "Dad's drives flew straight as an arrow, and he swung a mean wedge up close," his son said.