There is a tradition among Air Force pilots that the final time a pilot flies with a particular squadron (an Air Force unit consisting of at least 4 pilots) , it is referred to as a "fini" or "champagne" flight, after which they are honored by fellow fliers by being hosed down with water and doused with champagne.Most of the Air Force pilots whose flying careers ended when they were shot down during the Vietnam War, and then cruelly imprisoned until the end of the war, never had that opportunity. For more than 30 years, the men and women of the 560th Flying Training Squadron at Randolph Air Force Base outside of San Antonio, Texas have made it possible for nearly 200 former US Air Force pilots and Vietnam POWs to be recertified for flight and given the honor and excitement of their long overdue fini flight.
My father, Lieutenant Colonel Jay C. Hess (retired), who was shot down over North Vietnam in 1973 and spent 2,029 days as a Prisoner of War, was awarded the honor of a fini flight in a T-38 jet on Thursday, March 25th, 2010. There are very few 80 year old men who get to pilot and "pull G's" in an Air Force jet.
The following URL links are to videos and websites about this event:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/
http://www.foxsanantonio.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/vid_1621.shtml
http://www.randolph.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5901
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