David C. Tallichet Jr.

TALLICHET, David C. Jr., founder of Specialty Restaurants Corp., passed away October 31, 2007. He was born December 20, 1922, in Dallas, Texas, to David Compton Tallichet Sr. and Margaret Tallichet. After completing high school, he studied at the University of the South, University of Texas and Southern Methodist University. With America' s entry into the Second World War, David signed up for military service. Pursuing his love for aviation, David joined the U.S. Army Air Force and was accepted for flight school, where he successfully completed advanced flight training and was assigned to training on the four-engine Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. He was then assigned to a crew and they flew a B-17 from the United States to Britain. Once in Britain, he and his crew became part of the 350th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, based at Thorpe Abbot. From this location, David and his crew flew 23 combat missions before the collapse of Germany and V-E Day. David was offered a position during 1948 with the Hilton Hotels Corp., which he accepted. During 1955, David took the position of general manager of the Lafayette Hotel, which was located in Long Beach, Calif., and owned by Conrad Hilton. This led to a further career move that saw David and two partners obtain a lease with the Port of Long Beach and the opening of The Reef Restaurant during 1958. The opening of The Reef Restaurant was a pivotal point for David' s Specialty Restaurants Corp., which would go on to encompass more than 100 successful restaurants located across the nation. He is generally credited with being one of the industry' s true theme-restaurant pioneers, with such ventures as the Rusty Pelican, Pieces of Eight, Shanghai Red' s, Ports O' Call, Proud Bird, Castaway, 94th Aero Squadron, Crawdaddy' s and Baby Does Matchless Mine. In the late 1960s, David decided to begin collecting and restoring World War II aircraft to flying condition. He soon developed the world' s largest collection of privately-owned flying World War II aircraft. David was often called upon to provide historic aircraft for films. He was able to fly his B-17 across the Atlantic to Britain to take part in 1990s "Memphis Belle." This past July, David took his Flying Fortress to an airshow in Michigan where he was honored as the last World War II combat pilot still flying one of these very rare aircraft. David Tallichet is survived and loved by his wife, Carol Margaret Tallichet of Orange, Calif.; daughter Catherine Ann of Jackson Hole, Wyo.; sons, William Robert (wife, Jasmin, and children, Ashley and Catherine) of San Pedro, Calif., John David (wife, Karen, and children, Bryan and Lauren) of Newport Beach, Calif., and James Lee of Jackson Hole, Wyo.