"There were only five people to ever surpass 3,000 hours of flight time in an F-8 Crusader. My dad was not only the fifth, but he was the last and also the highest. As a naval aviator, you can think of the movie 'Top Gun' and certain nicknames, like 'Maverick,' 'Goose,' 'Ice.' He had many names going through naval aviation. He was known as 'Hawk.' After this achievement, he was given the nickname 'Mr. Crusader.'" -- Michael Flagg, son

Profile:

The weekend before they died, they went to his 40th college reunion.

Among the stories told by returning members of the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1961 was the one about how Bud Flagg cured his classmates of raiding his CARE packages. He switched a batch of Dee Embree's good cookies with his own batch loaded with laxatives -- and nobody messed with him again.

Wilson "Bud" Flagg served on active duty from 1961 to 1967, including three tours as a fighter pilot in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. After that, he had dual careers as an American Airlines captain and an officer in the Naval Reserve, retiring from the Navy in 1995 as a rear admiral and from the airline in 1998.

In the early '90s, the Flaggs -- who were high school sweethearts and married when he graduated from the academy -- moved to a Millwood cattle farm in Clarke County, Va. When Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, they were on board, heading to a family gathering in California.

Both Flaggs were 63 and, according to his classmate Chuck Morris, "extraordinarily affable."

Darlene "Dee" Flagg was a 1960 graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara and taught school in Annapolis till Bud graduated.

Bud Flagg attended flight school in Pensacola, Fla., and became a Navy pilot in 1962. After leaving active duty, he continued flying the F-8 Crusader and logged more than 3,200 flight hours.

His decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal and the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V.

His career was blemished by the 1991 Tailhook Association scandal. In 1993, he was one of three top officials who received letters of censure for knowing about but failing to stop extensive incidents of sexual harassment at the association's Las Vegas convention.

His academy roommate, retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Leo Willetts, said Flagg knew his duty as a senior officer and accepted the punishment as best he could.

The Flaggs lived in Mississippi, California and Connecticut before settling on the cattle farm. They also had a home in Las Vegas. Dee Flagg was active in Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Winchester, Va., and the Greenway Garden Club in Clarke County. Both were members of the Blue Ridge Hunt.

They leave two sons -- Mark, of Florida, and Michael, of Clarke County -- and four grandchildren.

-- Adam Bernstein

Source: The Washington Post, AP and washingtonpost.com

The profiles in this feature were written in the months following Sept. 11, 2001.