Dale grew up Amish, but his parents left the Amish when I was 8 years old. Almost all of his relatives are still Old Order Amish, and for many years he still maintained the same lifestyle: subsistent farmers, no electricity, no indoor plumbing. They finally got electricity when he was 15. Dale's high school counselor told him he couldn’t be an Air Force pilot because no one from his school had ever done that. After years of dreaming, he finally completed initial pilot training through AFROTC at Purdue. He then completed USAF pilot training on Aug 4, 1966. At age 15, Dale was still driving a horse and buggy; eight years later, he was flying the T-38 at over Mach 1. During a 40-year flying career, he was fortunate to fly 6 different USAF airplanes and more than 30 civilian airplanes. The last 18 years, he was Chief Pilot & Director of Aviation for a Fortune 200 company in Chicago.
