Jack M. Rusch, A `Natural' Pilot Who Flew In Both War And Peace

Rarely does someone know from his earliest childhood precisely what he wants to do in life - and then actually succeed in the biggest way.

"I want to be an aviator and take passengers up," Jack M. Rusch wrote on a second-grade school paper, preserved in a scrapbook lovingly assembled by his mother.

Mr. Rusch, retired Pan American World Airways captain, not only took thousands of passengers up, he pioneered several air routes for the airline, flew combat aircraft off a battleship and ferried troops into the heart of two wars.

"He was just a natural, a very accomplished pilot," his son Christopher said. "He was one of those types who wound up doing something he was really suited for."

Mr. Rusch died April 9 after a lengthy illness. He was 77.

Born in Ellensburg, Mr. Rusch was a graduate of Roosevelt High School and majored in civil engineering at the University of Washington before entering the Naval Aviation Cadet program in 1936. After earning his wings, he flew small seaplanes off catapults from the stern of the USS Arizona, scouting for targets and directing the fire of ships' big cannons.

After discharge from the Navy in 1940, he joined Pan Am as a co-pilot on the famed Boeing China Clippers, the huge, four-engine seaplanes with elegant, white-table-cloth service and bunk beds for passengers to the Orient and other destinations worldwide.

During the war, he transported troops and supplies on Pan Am planes to the Burma Road and other destinations. Usually the flight destination was a secret until the last possible minute: A man would stand at the end of the runway, just before the plane started its takeoff roll, and pass the travel orders on the end of a long stick to the cockpit window.

Mr. Rusch also transported troops and supplies during the Vietnam War and once recalled seeing the red tracers blazing toward his airplane as he flew into Saigon.

A pioneer of several routes, Mr. Rusch flew the first Seattle-London flights over the North Pole in about 1960 and the first Boeing 747 flight into Hong Kong in April 1970.

Although he flew all over the world, Mr. Rusch's favorite city always remained Seattle.

"Seattle was his great love," said Christopher Rusch. "He was an absolute Seattleite. He told me many times this is the best place in the world."

After Mr. Rusch retired from Pan Am in 1975, he went into business for himself - first as owner of a battery factory supplying fishing boats, then as a home builder and remodeler. His family also fondly called him a "teleprocurement specialist" because of his delight in ordering all sort of gadgets by phone from television commercials.

Mr. Rusch is survived by his wife Barrie, of Bellevue; three sons, Christopher and Michael, both of Portland, and Randy Blackman of Templeton, Calif.; four daughters, Mimi Shachat of Irwin, Pa.; Sonia Blackman of Pomona, Calif.; Valerie Pacheca of Honolulu, and Dana Aspinwall of Bellevue; a sister Betty Ellis of Bellevue; and 13 grandchildren.

A small family memorial service was held Saturday. Donations in Mr. Rusch's memory may be made to Overlake Hospital, Bellevue.