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Gordon Baxter (December 25, 1923 – June 11, 2005), nicknamed Bax, was a well-known Texas radio personality, an author of books and a columnist for newspapers and magazines. He was a lifelong resident of Southeast Texas, having grown up in Port Arthur where he was born. He lived near Beaumont during most of his professional years and was probably best known locally as a radio heartland humorist in the Jean Shepherd tradition. He was also known nationally to several generations of pilots who read his columns on the joys of flying in the aviation magazine, ''Flying''. Baxter was entranced by aviation from childhood. At the age of ten, he paid “a 1933 fortune” of five dollars for his first airplane ride in a Curtiss Condor and was hooked on flying. Despite a slow start in the cockpit and as a writer, by the end of his writing career he’d spent more than 25 years with ''Flying'', written 13 books and contributed to a Microsoft CD-ROM title, ''World of Flight''. During World War II, Baxter joined the Army Air Corps, hoping to be a pilot. Baxter himself noted that his ruination as a military pilot was predicted in high school by a math teacher who told Gordon that he spent too much time dreaming and drawing airplanes and not enough time studying. In the Army Air Corps, he trained in a Stearman. He entered the Merchant Marine as an officer, but after his ship was sunk in the South Pacific, he became a turret gunner in B-17s. Once there, he became a sharpshooter in every turret position. It was only after World War II that he succeeded in soloing in a Luscombe, eventually becoming an active pilot in the late 1950s. ==Radio== After the war he initially worked as a Mississippi River boatman, then became a familiar voice on Port Arthur and Beaumont radio stations. His afternoon show of the 1950s attracted many young listeners as Baxter unleashed wild humor between novelty and satire recordings, sometimes leaving the studio for shows on location. As his radio fame increased, he often was invited to emcee at shows and events throughout East Texas. Bill Lambright recalled Baxter's radio antics: :I had the thrill of listening to Barefoot Bathless Baxter (as we called him in the 40s, 50s, 60s) on the radio in Port Arthur, Texas, where we both were born. Bax was 20+ years my senior, but his childlike joys of flight and homespun humor spoke to me as a kid as well as all in his radio audience listening to KPAC, the voice of Port Arthur College. If I need a good laugh today or touch of home, I read Bax! :Before Bax was an aviator though he was a sailor in the US Merchant Marine. He could identify ships by the patterns of their smokestacks as they sailed down the Intercoastal Canal, which he could see from KPAC's control room. I traveled the world in my mind as he described his adventures on the high seas. When I was in the Navy, I'd spend at least several hours of my furlough time watching Baxter perform on the radio. He would spin records with his bare feet. His commercials were as entertaining as the music and other antics he would pull. Believe me, he had to mature a lot to master the techniques of flying a plane or maybe he flew his Mooney barefoot. I don't know. I followed him on the radio as he learned to fly his first airplane. I wish those programs had been recorded. They would be priceless, but those were the days before audio tape. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gordon Baxter」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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