Anthony Hall. He was also chairman of Cannon & Castle Military Society and a member of the Torch Honor Society. He then attended reserve officer’s training, where he was commissioned as a ROTC second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. However, he did not go on to cadet training because he had fallen in love—and cadets were not allowed to get married. Career Aviation In 1935, Combs worked as a ticket agent for Pan American Airways but quit after two years because he wanted to fly. Then, he ran a small flying service in Armonk, New York. Next, he worked in investment banking with Bosworth, Chanute, Loughridge & Co. in Denver. Wanting to return to airplanes, he was enlisted as a second lieutenant pilot officer in the Colorado National Guard 120th Observation Squadron, logging enough flying time to earn an instructor's rating. Now able to teach, he was hired by the Ray Wilson Flight School in Denver as an instructor. In 1938, he co-founded Mountain States Aviation in Denver, a flying school and airplane sales company. In 1939, he started Combs Aircraft Corp. to design and build an experimental aircraft known as the Combscraft; however, the airplane could not pass a spin test and the project was abandoned. During World War II, Mountain States Aviation trained more than 9,000 pilots on bombers, fighter planes, freight planes, and gliders with 45 planes, 45 flight instructors, and 160 employees. In 1944, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces and flew C-54 transport planes across the North Atlantic, Africa, and India. After a year, he was honorably discharged to return to his company. Combs was the state director of Civil Defense for Air from 1951 to 1954. He was also associated with Lockheed Aircraft's Skunk Works, working on the U-2, the F-104, and the SR-71 Blackbird projects. In 1958, Combs Aircraft operated from Stapleton Airport and grew into of the largest network of aircraft sales and service centers in the United States, and the leading Beechcraft distributor in the United States. In 1962, he sold Mountain State Aviation. By 1964, he was the largest Beechcraft distributor in the world. Combs developed and implemented business practices that are now industry standards. President John F. Kennedy appointed Combs to Project Beacon which was tasked with modernizing air traffic control systems in the United States. Combs developed a plan to separate air traffic