Lloyd Osborne, naval aviator, dead at 92
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Family and friends raised the flags and the flagpole yesterday at Kailua Beach in memory of Capt. Lloyd Osborne, USNR, a decorated naval aviator, longtime Hawai'i business executive, and champion masters swimmer who died Thursday after a brief illness at the age of 92.
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Osborne, who was the first manager of Ala Moana Center, erected the 30-foot flagpole himself at his Kailua home on July 4, 1969, to honor both his nation and his state, and to salute other states and countries he had visited.
In 1984, at age 75, Osborne set two national swimming records.
The flagpole became a Windward landmark, for which the "Flagpoles" surf break off Kailua beach was named. "The flagpole was down for repairs at the time he died," Osborne's wife of 63 years, Joan Dowsett Osborne, said yesterday.
"We decided to raise it again for him today. And we're also going to fire the cannon," a brass weapon of about a one-inch caliber, loaded with blank charges to mark anniversaries, birthdays and other family occasions, she said.
"He lived Camelot," daughter-in-law Sue Osborne said yesterday, "and we're celebrating that life."
A private service will be held next month, after which his ashes will be scattered in Kailua Bay.
Born in Newtonville, Mass., on March 14, 1909, Osborne graduated from Phillips-Exeter Academy and Yale University, where he was captain of the swimming team.
He led an all-star U.S. swimming team on a Pacific and Japan tour in 1931, but passed up 1932 Olympic tryouts in order to enlist as a Naval Aviator after earning his mechanical engineering degree.
After earning his wings in 1933 at Pensacola, Fla., Osborne was in the first squadron to land and take off from the world's first aircraft carrier, the U.S. Langley, a converted Navy oiler.
Following a stint in the engineering design department at Martin Aircraft, Osborne joined Pan American Airways as a pilot, flying throughout the Caribbean and South America; one of his passengers was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, en route to an international conference.
Transferred by Pan Am to the Pacific, Osborne flew Pan Am Clippers from Alameda, Calif., to Honolulu, a 15-hour flight at the time, and then on to Hong Kong.
He returned to Navy duty in 1941, and was junior officer of the deck at Naval Air Station Pearl Harbor at the time of the Japanese attack on Dec. 7 that year.
His wartime duty included command of an air control unit during amphibious operations at Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima, for which he earned two combat Bronze Star medals. He later served on the staff of Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet.
After the war, Osborne organized and ran Hawaiian Air Transport Service Ltd., for four years, then took successive positions as manager of Kona Light and Power, personnel manager of Hawaiian Dredging's Midway Island project, and executive assistant at Hawaiian Land Company, before signing on with Ala Moana Center in 1959 for a year.
He and his wife turned a fascination with beach glass into a company called the Glass Shack, which manufactured lamps and other decorative objects for 15 years until their retirement.
He was on the board of 'Iolani School for 25 years; he was president of the Engineering Association of Hawaii and of Kaapuni Community Association. With onetime swimming rival Buster Crabbe he helped promote Master's Swim activities in Hawai'i.
It was as a senior swimmer that Osborne received the most attention, inspiring his wife to join competitions in which they set numerous records. In 1984, at the age of 75, Osborne set two national records, the 200 meter butterfly in 4:51:77 and the 200-meter individual medley in 4:01:34.
He did it, he told a reporter in 1985, because he wanted to stay healthy enough to make one particular financial transaction: "I'd like to write a check dated Jan. 2, 2000."
Osborne is survived by his wife; daughter, Ellen; and sons Gerrit, Peter and Ian; nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
