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Paul has had a long and storied career
in avaiation, both in the military and in
the private sector. He displays some of
his favorite memorabilia in his home
office.
Continued from the previous page
cover and a photo of his wedding within
the main article.
Following graduation, Lasen went to
Mariana, Florida for pilot training. He
flew the T-34 Beechcraft trainer and
T-37 Cessna jet. At his next duty station,
Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma, Lasen
instructed students in the Northrup T-38
Talon. He spent 1,000 hours piloting the
T-38, the first to do so. After leaving Vance he flew all over the world and was often
AFB, Lasen became a pilot instructor at
the Instrument Pilot Instructor School
at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.
There Lasen worked on the evaluation
of instrumentation and pilot techniques to
land in near zero-zero visibility conditions
in the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter.
Lasen was transitioned to Republic’s
F-105 Thunderchief, a supersonic Mach
2 capable fighter bomber and flew 128
combat missions out of Takhli Royal
Thai Air Force Base in Southeast Asia.
Lasen described the aircraft as “the
largest single-engine fighter built and
the prettiest too.” Lasen was awarded two
Distinguished Flying Crosses, eight Air
Medals and two Commendation Medals
for his service in SEA. He rotated duty
to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan
in 1970 where he was a control officer,
controlling the launch of nuclear aircraft
on stand-by alert. Lasen retired from the
Air Force after 20 years of service.
78 | SUNRAYS JULY 2017
Paul’s historic wedding was featured
in this issue of Life Magazine.
After a few years of retirement, during
which he purchased and restored his first
Beechcraft airplane, Lasen went to work
as a flight instructor for Beechcraft in
Wichita, Kansas. Looking for a change
after a few years, Lasen took a job as chief Fate intervened. On their way back to
pilot for a private corporation in Memphis.
This was one of his favorite jobs because
able to take Barbara with him. He retired
again at age 68 but continued flying his
own plane – a second Beechcraft Bonanza.
Between 2001 and 2005, Lasen and
PHOTO BY BURT ANES
Barbara flew around the country, looking
for a place to retire. On one trip, they
considered Sun City in Arizona. When the
salesman learned they weren’t interested
in moving there, he suggested they look at
Sun City in Georgetown, Texas. They had
never heard of Georgetown but decided
to scout the place on a subsequent trip.
Memphis, Georgetown popped up on
the plane’s GPS, so they landed and
checked out what was to be their future
home. The Lasens eventually bought a
home on Falcon Cove, fitting since the
falcon is the Air Force Academy’s mascot!
Their son Michael, daughter Lynda and
two grandchildren followed them to
Georgetown.
Lasen lost his beloved Barbara in 2011.
She rests at the Air Force Academy
Cemetery where he will eventually join
her. Though he sold his Beechcraft in
December 2016, he still pilots it from
time to time and spends his free time
playing golf, enjoying the company of other
pilots in the Sun City Aviation Club and
spending time with his family and friends.
Lasen is a member of the United Flying
Octogenerians (UFOs) whose membership
totals 1500, and he is the oldest graduate
of the USAFA class of ’59 still actively
flying.
Through the efforts of many tasked with
planning the 2017 USAFA graduation
ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG