Colonel Joseph Rogers, a flying legend who piloted aircraft in three wars and still maintains the world record for flying the fastest single-engine jet, died Saturday at his Healdsburg, Calif., ranch of congestive heart failure. He was 81.

A quiet, dignified man, Rogers’s long career paralleled aviation history throughout the 20th century.

After growing up on a farm in Chillicothe, Ohio, he joined the Army Air Corps after high school at 17. He became a flight instructor during World War II. By 1950, he was featured as one of Time magazine’s men of the year.

Rogers was a top fighter pilot during both the Korean and Vietnam wars, completing 270 missions.

Rogers is remembered for setting the world record in speed for single-engine jet planes. In 1959, Rogers flew an F-106 at 1,525 mph, a record that still holds.

His other flying achievements – including winning the Air Force’s Top Gun award in 1963 – earned Rogers a place along the mile-long Aerospace Walk of Honor near Edwards Air Force Base.

In 1970, Rogers returned to the combat zone as vice commander of a fighter wing in Vietnam.

He left the Air Force after serving for 29 years and worked for another 14 years selling aircraft in Asia for Northrop Aerospace Company.

When he retired completely in 1989, Rogers moved to Healdsburg with his wife, Charis Tate Rogers. The couple raised water buffalo, and Rogers worked hard to bring a F-106 Delta Dart, the plane he flew to record speed, to the Pacific Coast Air Museum.