Before anyone knew it, Steve McQueen was living with his girlfriend in a hangar at the Santa Paula Airport. During the day, he learned to pilot a World War II-era biplane. In the evening, the tough-guy superstar would crack open cold beers with grease monkeys, fledgling pilots and aging flyboys who still had a few loop-de-loops left in them.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-then30-2008nov30,0,4644865.story
Steve McQueen flew a glider in a beautiful sequence in the opening of The Thomas Crown Affair.