Lady Luck certainly took a shine to Rear Adm. Edward "Whitey" Feightner.

The decorated war hero and fighter pilot faced combat countless times during World War II, yet always managed to get home safely.

"You have to be lucky," Feightner said, seated on a sofa near his nephew, Jim McBride. "I was so fortunate."

Feightner knew he would be a pilot at a very young age. He was smart as a whip as a youngster — he was the valedictorian and class president when he graduated from high school in 1937 — and he had an exceptionally sharp sense of curiosity and even sharper eyesight. He went to Findlay College in Ohio on a full-ride scholarship from the Ohio Oil Company and he earned his master’s degree in chemistry and mathematics.

But deep down, a pilot's life was the only life for him.

"The first flight that I took in an airplane, I knew then what I was going to do," he said.

While attending college, Feightner was taken under wing by Army Reserve Captain Mike Murphy, the well-known aerobatic pilot, who introduced him to flying.

"Mike Murphy was at the Ohio Oil Company and came in to visit (the boss’) office when you were in there, didn’t he, and he said, ‘Hey kid, you want to go flying?’" McBride said to his uncle.

“That’s right," Feightner said with a smile of remembrance. "That’s exactly right."

Feightner was given many flying opportunities through Ohio Oil and the Civilian Pilot Training Program.

“We didn’t get paid for it, but we could fly every day,” he said. "I’d go to school in the morning and fly passengers all afternoon."

By the time he entered the service to be a fighter pilot, Feightner had logged more flight hours than many of his trainers. He enlisted in the Navy in April 1941 and when America entered the war, he was ready for action.

Feightner was responsible for several aerial victories. He was assessed with nine destroyed aircrafts and four probable. He fought in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the Battle of Rennell Island, the Raid on Peleliu, the Raid on Truk and the Aerial Battle of Taiwan-Okinawa.

He earned many medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross with three gold stars, the American Defense Service Medal and the World War II Victory Medal, among many others.

He continued to fly for the Navy after the war and in 1952 was commissioned to the Blue Angels, the Navy's flight demonstration squadron. He was the lead solo pilot, flying in spectacular air shows throughout the nation. He flew the unique F7U Cutlass fighter jet.

He commanded ships, flew and tested at least 100 different aircraft and had a lucrative career as an officer until he retired from the Navy after 33 years in 1974. He now lives in Coeur d'Alene.

"Joining the Navy was probably the best thing I ever did," Feightner said.

The Navy is where he got the nickname "Whitey."

"Uncle Ed didn’t suntan, he just sunburned, so his first skipper, Butch O'Hare, started calling him 'Whitey' and it stuck for 70, 80 years," McBride said. "Everybody calls him Whitey."

And the flying ace is still logging hours in the sky.

“He just flew the other day. For his 95th birthday they took him up in an L39," McBride said. "Then for his 97th birthday we went to The Coeur d’Alene Resort for lunch and then we went out and flew that float plane that’s down there. I told the pilot a little bit about who it was and we got out about 1,000 feet and he said, ‘You want to fly?’ So he flew all around the lake. It was his 97th birthday and he was still flying."

Feightner helped raise his nephew, who was a pilot in the Vietnam War, and McBride said Feightner's great-nephew, Jack, has carried on the legacy by becoming a Marine pilot and proudly wearing his great-uncle's WWII wings. Jack flies a Huey Helicopter at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

The excitement of Feightner's life was captured in the 2014 book, "Whitey: The Story of Rear Admiral E. L. Feightner" by Peter B. Mersky. The cover shows a young, confident pilot in the cockpit of his F6 Hellcat, ready to soar into the wind.

"Luck is the only reason I'm still here," he said.

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Did you get your pilot’s license when you were pretty young?

“Actually, I didn’t have a civilian pilot’s license until after the war. We didn’t have to have a license then. You didn’t have to have a license unless you flew for hire. If you flew for hire, then you had to have a license.”

Did you like planes when you were little?

“I never saw an airplane until I was 14 years old. My dad had a friend who actually built his own airplane. I talked to him a lot. When it came along time that I was going to get drafted, I said, ‘Give me an airplane.’ I already knew how to fly.”

You became a Blue Angel after the war, right?

Jim: “He became an ace in the war and he got out of there. He was supposed to start the Blue Angels but instead he got picked up for admiral’s aide, and they said, ‘You can do that later.’”

What do you get out of flying? What does it do for you?

“The same thing it does for you to get in a nice automobile and drive someplace. (laughs) It’s just great. I’m like Jim, neither one of us had to work to fly, it’s something that came natural to both of us.”

Jim: “The only difference is people were shooting at him more than they did at me.”

Feightner: “It’s like riding a bicycle. It’s one of those things — some people have it and some people don’t. Let’s put it this way, if you have to think about it, don’t do it.”

Do you think your flying experiences in the war translated over to your Blue Angel experience? And what was being a Blue Angel like?

“Oh yeah, oh absolutely. It was fun.”

Looking back at your time in the war, do you have a proudest moment or something that will stay with you?

“It was scary, scary. Scary moments. Five times I went out in a four-plane unit and I’m the only one that came home, so you can about figure what happened when we were out there.”

Were you ever shot or wounded?

“I still got scars, but they weren’t serious. And I wasn’t doing anything anybody else wasn’t. There’d be four of us diving, and twice I’d be the only guy that pulled out. We had good airplanes. I came back a number of times when there were 100 bullet holes in my airplanes. I’ve shot down a number of airplanes and that was it, maybe 50 bullets went out. It makes a difference.”

It probably makes you appreciate life a little more, huh?

“Oh it does.”

What are some thoughts you have thinking about everything you’ve been through?

“You don’t do all the things I’ve done and live through it by what you do. You have to be lucky.”

Do you have any advice or words of wisdom for the generations coming up regarding everything that you’ve learned and seen?

“Pick the job that you like to do and forget the rest, no matter what they pay. Do something that you like to do and do it well. I never questioned it, once I got into that airplane, that was it.”

Do you ever miss flying?

"Oh absolutely. Every day."