Mark Tillman

Retiring Air Force One Pilot Praises Bush As 'Definitely a Great Man'

By Ken Shepherd | January 20, 2009 - 16:10

Here's a story you may not have heard as the media have all but ignored outgoing President Bush during the Obama transition.

The Air Force pilot who flew President Bush on 9/11 and ferried the commander-in-chief on secret flights to visit troops in Iraq hails the outgoing president as "definitely a great man" for whom "it's been an honor to fly."

As CBS Radio's Mark Knoller noted in a January 17 story, Air Force Colonel Mark Tillman, commander of the Presidential Airlift Group, is retiring from military service after flying President Bush back home to Texas.: