As you may have guessed by his name, Major Jet was an aviator. A fictional
space aviator.

With his first appearance in 1954–on the front of a box of General Mills
Sugar Jets cereal–he became a memorable, smiling character icon.

Perhaps he was aided in this accomplishment by the neato premiums he
offered, like the Magic Paint Set Booklets and Sugar Jets Filmo Vision and a
Rocket Glider with Launcher. It certainly wasn’t his personality that got him
over. After all, he mainly appeared on the corners of premiums and the covers of
boxes. And he looked more like Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon than an original
character entity.

But a TV ad campaign, starring Roger Pace as Major Jet, seemed to slowly
change that. As he urged kids to “Jet Up and Go with Sugar Jets,” sales seemed
to gradually rise. Even so, Major Jet was only used until 1955, after which his
spokesman duties were usurped by a trio of animated characters–the General
Mills Jets (Mr. Moonbird, an exotic bird; Johnny Jet, a kid with a rocket-pack
and Goggul the Alien).