John Glenn’s extraordinary life was defined by flying — whether in a propeller-powered Corsair, a ground-hugging F-9 Panther jet or the single-seat Mercury spacecraft that he named Friendship 7.
To know what John Glenn prized most in his life after his beloved wife, Annie, you needed only to check the U.S. Senate office he occupied for many years on Capitol Hill before he retired from politics. Yes, there were family photos and the obligatory political photo of Glenn with then-President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. But that was eclipsed by models of the Mercury spacecraft in which he orbited the Earth in 1962 and the swift F-8U jet in which he set a coast-to-coast speed record and the F-86 jet fighter he flew during the Korean War. In particular, he loved to show visitors a large wall plaque that charted the three orbits of his 1962 flight, including his pass over Perth, Australia, where the city of light, as it is known, had every light in the city switched on that night.
You see, John Glenn, who died Thursday at age 95, was a pilot who happened to serve in the U.S. Senate. Never mind that no other Ohio politician ever won four U.S. Senate races, or that he made a fortune investing in hotels; Glenn’s extraordinary life was defined by flying — whether in a propeller-powered Corsair, a ground-hugging F-9 Panther jet or the single-seat Mercury spacecraft that he named Friendship
Article source: http://www.indeonline.com/news/20161208/john-glenn---space-pioneer-longtime-senator---dies-at-95
