At age 12, Lacy piloted his first aircraft at Cannonball Airport, built on his grandmother's farm about three miles outside the city limits of Wichita, where he worked in exchange for flying time.

[6] In 1954, Lacy took military leave from United Airlines to join the California Air National Guard at Van Nuys Airport, where he flew the F-86 Sabre jet and became the officer in charge of instrument training.

[8] In 1964, Lacy flew the first Learjet into Van Nuys Airport in proximity to Hollywood’s burgeoning entertainment industry, shaping a new era in corporate air transportation and mobility.

The same year, Lacy resigned from the California Air National Guard to focus on the new business venture and become one of the first pilots to earn a Learjet type rating.

[16] In October 1964, Lacy flew a Lear Model 23 from Wichita to Los Angeles to become the first corporate jet based at Van Nuys Airport.

The Learjet’s popularity in the entertainment industry began with American singer, actor and Rat Pack leader Frank Sinatra who was an early aircraft buyer.

[17] 1965, Lacy and longtime friend and former California Air National Guard pilot Jack Conroy flew the Learjet on a record-setting transcontinental round-trip flight from Los Angeles to New York and back.

[18] The same year, actor, comedian and pilot Danny Kaye was appointed vice president of public relations for the distributorship, renamed Pacific Lear Jet.

[19] In 1968, Lacy founded his own on-demand charter company, where he developed a clientele of Hollywood celebrities and prominent business people, a legacy that continues today.

They finished in sixth place out of twenty at an average speed of 325 miles per hour, marking the first and only time a four-engine airliner ever competed in a pylon event.

Earlier that day, he flew Sinatra and Dean Martin from Burbank to Palm Springs before flying out near Edwards Air Force Base to film a formation flight of five aircraft, including one of the two XB-70 Valkyries.

The flight, intended as a promotional shoot for General Electric, ended in disaster when an F-104 collided with the XB-70, resulting in the loss of both aircraft and deaths of F-104 pilot Joe Walker and XB-70 co-pilot Major Carl Cross.

With U.S. astronaut and Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong on board as guest of honor, along with other aviation notables and celebrities, this record-breaking flight raised $530,000 for children’s charities worldwide.

[33] In 1995, Lacy was one of the first aircraft owners to equip his Gulfstream jets with Blended Winglet™ technology developed by Aviation Partners Inc., founded by Joe Clark and Dennis Washington.

That June, in a Gulfstream IISP inscribed with the words “Wings of Change” across its side, Lacy and Clark set world speed records during a flight from Los Angeles to Paris.