Past President for Estrella Warbirds Museum
George was born April 7, 1946 at the General Hospital San Luis Obispo. His mother was a business woman and his father was a Seaside oil distributor in the late 40's after completing his tour of duty with the Army. In the 50's-80's, his father was Vice President of Rayne Water Conditioning which also had ties with the Dave Nancarrow restaurants and enterprises.
George graduated from Lompoc High School 1964 and attended Wright Junior College in Chicago, Illinois and Alan Hancock Junior College in Lompoc.
George Taylor
He started working part time at local Ford dealer 1963 as an apprentice mechanic, my pay scale was 85 cents an hour. Then, on Christmas eve 1965 he received his Army draft notice, so the next day he did the most logical thing and joined the Navy.
George served in the US Navy from 1966-1970, was trained as a jet engine mechanic, but spent most of his time in the Navy as Plane Captain for A-1 Skyraders, T-28 Trojans and the then new A-7 Corsair II aircraft. He noted, "I have witnessed or been part of almost any dumb or stupid thing that can happen to the A-7 aircraft." He also served as Aircrew aboard VA-122's EC-1A. The EC-1A was a flying classroom that trained the new A-7 pilots to operate their ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) gear. He got a lot of right seat time, not bad duty for an E-4, E-5 jet engine mechanic. While attached to VA-122, he was privileged to deploy on several ships for carrier qualifications since 122 was and still is a fleet replacement squadron. He was lucky to spend time aboard several ships, the USS Ranger, USS Forestall, USS Constellation and the USS Enterprise in addition to his time deployed aboard the Saratoga.
George received orders in 1969 to report to VA-113 as they had just transitioned them from their A-4 Skyhawks into the new A7-B aircraft. He was appointed line Petty Officer for VA-113 since he had never worked in his rate as Jet Engine mechanic. He worked the flight deck as Senior Line PO for VA-113 during a Mediterranean cruise aboard the USS Saratoga CVA60 in 1969.
After leaving the Navy, George has been a Union 76 Service station dealer for over years, at which time he sold the business and retired.
His home is in Lompoc with strong ties to the Paso Robles area taking care of the family ranch near Lake Nacimiento which his father purchased in the late 60s. His wife Andrea (Andi) and George have been married since 1972 and have two daughters whom reside in the Lompoc area and are both married. Andi and George have one grandson
George served on the board of directors for many years before becoming Vice President, then President of the Board from 2006-2008.
George took his final flight on November 4th, 2014. We are honored to have known and worked with George Taylor.
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