JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - When the twin engines powered down on tail number 86-0181 on Thursday afternoon, you could feel a deep and sinking hum pass through your chest.
And then there was silence...as a 45-year career in the Florida Air National Guard drew even closer to its end for Maj. Gen. Emmett R. Titshaw Jr.
Titshaw - who will retire as the adjutant general of Florida in March - rode in an F-15 Eagle fighter jet for the last time on Jan. 29 at the 125th Fighter Wing in Jacksonville. The 45-minute flight in the back seat of the Florida Air National Guard's tactical jet ended more than four decades in the air for Titshaw, who has been flying military and commercial aircraft since the early '70s.
Although he didn't pilot this particular flight, Titshaw accompanied the 125th's Maj. Kevin Wenger into the hazy-blue skies above Northeast Florida and southern Georgia. A second F-15 "two-seater" carried Rep. Richard Nugent for a distinguished visitor flight, as the jets performed a series of high-speed aerial maneuvers.
"It is a bittersweet day as nearly 45 years in the Florida National Guard come to an end," the general said. "It all started for me out here in May 1970 at this base - the 125th Fighter Wing. I went off to pilot training about a year later, and so (today) I go out and step to the jet and take that final flight."
The twin-engine tactical fighter jet was a far cry from the single-engine Cessna T-41 that Titshaw flew on his first flights as a young Air National Guard officer in pilot training.
"I was scared to death," Titshaw candidly related about his first flight. "I had never flown in an airplane before when I went to pilot training. I had about seven or eight lessons with an instructor and then he stepped out...He said "You are on your own.' It was a feeling of apprehension. But once you get that first solo under your belt you know you can do it."
On this last F-15 flight Titshaw was taken through maneuvers he knew well: loops; low-level, high-speed passes; and acrobatics at six and seven "Gs" over the Okefenokee Swamp.
"We did one 8.1 G turn," Titshaw said with a smile after the flight ended and he climbed down from the cockpit. "It felt good."
Gretchen Titshaw, the adjutant general's wife stood out on the flight line at the Jacksonville International Airport to watch her husband on this last flight. She said she missed his final flight as a command pilot 17 years ago, so she was grateful to share in the closing of this chapter in his military life.
"It is definitely nostalgic, but a privilege to be out here," she said as F-15 engines growled and whined overhead.
With her husband netting more than 4,500 hours in the F-15, F-16, C-131, F-106 and F-102 during his extensive career, Mrs. Titshaw said she was always happy when the flights ended safely.
"It is always a little nerve-wracking, and it is a real treat to see "wheels on the ground' (after each flight)," she said.
Titshaw enlisted in the Florida Air National Guard in May 1970 and received a direct commission the same year. In 1972, he completed Undergraduate Pilot Training at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., receiving the Distinguished Graduate Award. After earning his wings, he was assigned as a Squadron fighter pilot with the 159th Fighter Interceptor Squadron in Jacksonville.
After successive assignments with the 125th Fighter Interceptor Group - later designated the 125th Fighter Wing - and other high-profile commands, he was selected to follow Maj. Gen. Douglas Burnett as the Adjutant General of Florida in 2010.
Now that he has removed his fighter pilot helmet for the last time and stepped safely from the cockpit, Titshaw admitted that although flying was a wonderful part of his career he really cherished the "people" aspect of the jet-fighter program - the squadron mates, the maintainers, and the support staff.
Flying, he said, "doesn't compare to the camaraderie that you have with your brothers and sisters in arms."