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Island Icon Leonard Kaine: The Real Top Gun Shares the Greatest Reward in Life By ZORAIDA PAYNE, Public Historian & Coronado Historical Association Volunteer Photos courtesy of Gary Payne.
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istory tells us that the most accomplished among us are also the most humble. This past July, I had the chance to interview a very kind man, Captain Leonard Kaine. After opening the door of his home in Coronado, Captain Kaine, with his lovely wife of sixty-four years, Anne, shared with me a fountain of wise life lessons and courageous experiences. In his own casual words, "fun stuff." Len Kaine was a coal miner's son and shared how, in 1954, two days after he finished high school in Dickson City, Pennsylvania, he was on his way to the Navy. When saying his goodbyes, his mom gifted this young 18-year-old with a maxim that cemented his life, “Lenny, remember this: wherever you go, whoever you meet, whatever you do, Be Kind.” Remembering this foundational principle with an intense and tender gaze, Len meditatively stated: “Those two words are in my heart, my mind, and my soul.” After taking the Navy entrance exams, where he scored exceptionally well, he was offered to take the tests to qualify for Navy Flight Training. Again, he did above average and was soon transferred to pursue a series of adventures in Navy flight training at NAS Pensacola (also known as the Cradle 86
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of Naval Aviation). Len excelled in his courses, graduated as a teenage Ensign, and diligently continued up the ladder. As a Fighter Pilot, Kaine was flying the first airplanes for the Navy that flew more than 1,000 miles an hour, the F8 Crusaders. While working as a Navy Fighter Tactics instructor, Captain Kaine set a Navy record. He flew six different types of aircraft in Air Combat Maneuvering in two days. A record that still stands nationwide and worldwide! Seriously and proudly recalling that record, Kaine shared the words that crossed his mind at that time: “Ok, I am number 1; I fly the fastest airplane. The F8 Crusader is a marvelous airplane.” Continuing his myriad of accomplishments, he was selected to instruct French pilots, not only for his stellar knowledge but also for his French conversational skills. So, it was not surprising that when the Chief of Naval Operations in France said he wanted Len Kaine to come to France to instruct French pilots, the American commanders already had other special plans for Kaine. He was selected to be the navigator for the world's largest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and two other adjoining nuclear-powered ships that circumnavigated the globe, unreplenished. During that trip, Kaine narrated the Navy's Fire-Power demonstrations to the leaders of 32 countries
in French, Spanish, and English. During his 103 combat missions over 132 days in combat in the Vietnam War in 1966, Kaine was part of VF-92, which used what he called his "3-D" Fighter Tactics and in doing so, became the first Navy Fighter Squadron not to lose a single airplane in combat. His squadron implemented the technique, which consisted of a tight formation of fighter jets flying in weave patterns, making it difficult for attackers to target a single aircraft. Recalling and gesturing the movements of the fighter planes, Kaine expressed seriously and calmly, “This touches your heartstrings again... knowing you saved lives.” After serving the nation as a fighter pilot, he continued as an airline captain at Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) and US Airways from 1972 to 1996. Although he flew over Vietnam, the scariest moment in his life was when he found out that the PSA flight he was scheduled to be commanding had a mid-air collision near downtown San Diego. On September 25, 1978, a small airplane flew into the PSA aircraft; 144 people were killed on the air and ground. Giving his spot to another pilot with a conflict in his schedule saved his life. Thoughtfully, Kaine attested, “That touches the heartstrings when I think what If I had said no, I want to fly that flight… the good Lord was looking after me.”
