Biography

My Father's Biography

Albert Kusak, my grandmother and my father Stephen A. Kusak was born August 24, 1919 in Rochester, New York (USA). He was the son of two Polish immigrants. They lived through “The Great Depression”.

The Kusaks 1920s

I need to find out the name of the show. At age 12 he was a radio actor. I am looking for the name of the play. This is a signed photo of the characters in the play. My father is in the middle.

Newspaper Clip 1940, Albany University Honor's Society In 1941 he graduated from the New York State College for Teachers (University at Albany) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Science and Mathematics.

Rochester NY Airport and Newspaper clip (from photo album). During 1942, he was a flight instructor and a chief pilot for Holderman Air Service in his home town. Flying to Miami from snow covered Rochester gave Steve a desire to see the world.

Celebrating his 1000 hour as flight instructor. Barney Baxter comic seems to be his flight manual. Like many people at that time, the memories of the First World War encouraged him to find a way to control his own destiny. Flying was a better way to die than the trenches of WW1 (I have found this to be true for other pilots who volunteered with CNAC).

When he saw an announcement on a bulletin board requesting pilots to join Pan American Airways (PAA) in their Africa Orient Division he did not hesitate too long.

Pan American Airways Letter accepting Steve into the Africa Orient Division In March 1943, he signed in, and was soon invited to join a PAA affiliate in China called the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). By doing so, he would become a Flight Captain much sooner than normal. Besides, the pay offered was astronomical for those days.

Picture Of the Old Gates into Kunming. Today they are reconstructed. He came to Kunming and joined CNAC in December 1943. He flew the Hump during the war. In CNAC he became friends with many of the former pilots of the original Flying Tigers, or the American Volunteer Group (AVG). After the AVG was disbanded shortly after Pearl Harbor, most of the ‘Tigers’ had refused to join the military, and several became CNAC pilots.

In front of the Chung 1944 Like the original Flying Tigers, CNAC pilots were volunteers flying for adventure, money and often a deep love for China.

Captain Steve Kusak kept flying for CNAC until it was dissolved in December 1949. In 1950 he joined Civil Air Transport (CAT). CAT was an airline started by Claire Lee Chennault, the man behind the AVG.

Dien Bien Phu 1954. US planes, French markings. I guess that makes him an Air Pirate. In 1954, Steve Kusak and other CAT pilots participated in the battle of Dien Bien Phu, flying under French flag. In this battle he witnessed the crash of his friend Earthquake McGoon, and deeply influenced his life (I have made a personal documentary about this). In 1957 he joined Swissair. He quit flying in 1959.

In 1955 he married Marta Lambea in Spain. His daughter Maria Elena was born in Taipei in 1956. Steve and Marta decided to move to Europe, and in 1958 his son Alberto Antonio was born in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1959 he started to develop investments in the island of Mallorca, Spain, where I Stephen Diego was born in 1960. Richard Rodrigo was born in 1963.

Son Vida before it was converted into a hotel. He was an influential figure in Mallorca. He promoted golf and helped develop tourism. In 1959 he bought a castle in Spain. With the help of some old Flying Tigers, he turned it into the Son Vida Hotel and Son Vida Golf Club. These were sold long ago, and have nothing to do with them.

In Mallorca, his well respected nature and integrity made him a part of such honorable institutions as the UNICEF.

The United States Government finally recognized the efforts of the pilots flying for CNAC and CAT. In 2001 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Steve A. Kusak died on April 24, 2004.

Steve Kusak, Pilot in China

My "China National Aviation Corporation" personal page

My Father's Biography