Dean "Diz" Laird is a legend, the only known U.S. Navy ace to shoot down both German and Japanese planes during World War II. Despite close calls — once, his shot-up plane skidded across an aircraft carrier's flight deck — Diz possessed a fighter pilot's essential attribute: Supreme self-confidence.
"It never entered my mind that I would ever get shot down," he said. "I thought I was too good."
Now a Coronado resident, this Northern California native was a bit player in global drama. He saw the transformation of the Navy and its tactics, a transformation that also changed the service's key West Coast port.
