By George Petersen

LES PAUL, THE AVIATOR??? Here’s another astounding story about a side of master guitarist/inventor Les Paul that’s never been referenced anywhere and here it is for the first time. Interestingly, the link to this whole episode starts years ago in my studio. Stay with me for a bit and enjoy this amazing revelation about a side of Les few people know about…

In 1988, I was recording Greetings from Ariel, the debut album with my band, ARIEL. It was a fun rock excursion and featured a number of well-known guitar players doing guest solo spots. We had already recorded tunes with Ronnie Montrose, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Brad Gillis, Bill Spooner, Danny Kalb and Craig Anderton-all monster players in their own right, but I wanted to record something with Les Paul as well.

I called Les, asking if he’d be interested in doing a session. I told him we could do it any way he wanted. We could do it at his house, or at a studio in New York, or I’d fly him out to California and we could do something in L.A. during Winter NAMM, or we could do something in my place near San Francisco. He said no, because he was retired from that and if he consented to do my project then he’d have to do a lot of explaining to Lionel Hampton’s manager, who evidently had been calling fairly frequently, trying to get Les to do a project with Lionel.
Les started asking about my studio. Thinking that this meant he was perhaps warming up to the idea of doing something for his old pal George Petersen, I gave him a detailed description of the gear, which included an Akai ADAM digital 12-track, a highly modified 56-input Soundcraft 600 analog desk and a homemade digital 4-track mastering system made from interlocked Nakamichi DMP recording processors-essentially hotrodded Sony PCM-F1 units.


My studio, circa 1988
Next, Les asked where the studio was and I said it was in Alameda, California. Then the bombshell hit. “ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA!” Les shouts. “Years ago I swore I’d never return to that &%#$&#$ Alameda, California!” The immediacy (and vigor) of his response made me think of the Three Stooges’ “Niagara Falls” routine, where Curly goes berserk whenever he hears the phrase “Niagara Falls.” Something was going on here, and I wanted more information.
I asked Les for some extra details and he told me the most amazing story. At some point during his Army stint during World War II, he was flying in a two-seater Army Air Corps plane over the San Francisco Bay Area.
During the flight, the plane developed a massive hydraulic leak, started losing control and spraying fluid all over the cockpit. Les said he was soon soaked with the fluid and evidently “some other fluids” (thankfully he didn’t elaborate about the “other” fluids) as the plane suddenly starts losing altitude.

NAS Alameda, circa mid-1940′s
Fortunately, down below, the two spotted the Alameda Naval Air Station with its long, clear runways reaching out into San Francisco Bay. Somehow the pilot manages to make it to the runway, but the plane hits hard, bounces up and on second impact, the wings snap off.
This leaves the two occupants wheeling down the runway in the fuselage, with little control while trying to stop before the plane ends up in the bay. Just before the breakwater, they finally manage to stop the plane, but getting out, Les and the pilot face the mile-plus walk back to the control tower.
Off in the distance, the pair noticed a jeep heading towards them. Salvation at last! And after surviving a harrowing landing, at least they won’t have to walk back. The jeep pulls up with a sailor/driver and a furious officer, who screams “You have no right to land an Army plane on a U.S. Naval facility!”
Les never did tell me what happened next, but he concluded by saying, “That’s why I’ll never return to Alameda, California.”
And after that experience, I’m not sure I’d blame him for feeling that way.
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George Petersen is an independent journalist/author/producer. Visit him on Facebook or at www.audioinfosource.com.

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