A picture of Cmdr. Dean “Diz” Laird now hangs on a banner at the intersection of 4th and Orange in Coronado.
The 94-year-old Navy veteran who is the only known U.S. flying ace to shoot down planes from both Germany and Japan during World War II will be honored this weekend along Coronado’s “Avenue of Heroes” as part of Veterans Day.
Laird enlisted in the Navy 12 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor with one goal: become a fighter pilot.
Although it’s been 70 years since the war ended Cmdr. Laird still remembers intricate details about his service.
"I gave him a long burst and all of a sudden he just exploded and disappeared and just broke into so many little pieces," Laird said of his first dogfight with a German plane along the Norwegian coast in 1943.
He flew 175 missions and performed more than 500 carrier landings during the war but says only once was he truly scared during combat.
"I heard this tremendous explosion right behind me and at the same time my rudder pedals fell away from me and I thought 'oh heck,’” Laird told NBC7. "I cranked open the canopy and figured I was going to bail out. But I found out I still had elevator control, didn't have rudder control… so I figured I can fly without a rudder, it just won’t go where I exactly want it to go."
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Amazingly, he safely landed the plane on an aircraft carrier.
Laird later became the first pilot to land a jet powered aircraft aboard the USS Midway. Over his 30-year career he served in three wars and qualified in 99 different types of aircraft.
“I loved flying off a carrier and I feel that might be my greatest accomplishment cause I did in a lot of different airplanes and a lot of different ships.”
The Avenue of Heroes runs along Third and Fourth Streets from Orange to North Island. The pictures are switched out on Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day.
Laird has lived with his family in Coronado in 1958, but recently moved to Northern California to be closer to his daughter.
