April 2000

Fred Kalhoefer will present the program for the April meeting. Fred will describe how you can conduct a stress analysis on your homebuilt, and will provide a video for our entertainment.

Zac was one of the first Young Eagles flown by Chapter #1218 last year.

Congratulations to Zac!

These pensive-looking YEs were from the ninth grade Science class. They were the only three to wake up on a Saturday morning and get a ride to the airport by their parents.

At our first Fly-In Breakfast, we had over twenty aircraft arrive. Again we will walk across the street from the airport to PaPa Bob's for three of the major airport food groups - grease, fat, and cholesterol.

Be sure to set aside May 6th for the fly-in.

"During my first-grade year, my family resided at Plainview, Kansas. My father worked at boeing on B-29s. We lived on the departure end of one runway. Many nights we would be awakened in our upstairs bedrooms by a '29 having trouble gaining altitude. The noise and propwash would shake the entire building. On nice, sunny days, I would sit outside and watch the planes flying about, some with engines shut down. Often Dad would come home and say, "We lost a plane and crew today."

"We lived surrounded by sights and sounds of the aircraft industry. Rivet guns, machine gun testing, engines revving, and the Kansas wind were constant sounds.

"Mom tried as best she could to help my young hands build models. Our most successful was the Bobcat made of a masonite-type material one had to carve and sand into wing and fuselage shapes. The wheels were semi-circles glued under the engine cowlings.

"However, the big boys of the neighborhood built delightful stick balsa and tissue planes with plastic wind screens and printed instrument panels. I very much admired those.

"After the stint at Wichita we moved back home to Aurora, Missouri. As the war was winding down and peace returned, Warbirds could be seen flying overhead. I hit the deck a few times when a plane with German or Japanese markings would fly over, usually escorted by an American fighter. I saw the buzz-type flying robot bombs, of the German variety, go by on railroad cars along with many other varieties of aircraft we were interested in as a country.

"My first flight was in a Champ at a small grass strip east of Aurora; the second in a Bonanza at the Wichita airport during a short stay there during the sixth grade. I carried the photo of this plane with me for many years.

"I built hundreds of models, including the stick type I so admired earlier in Kansas. I flew control line models until high school when going around in circles made me so dizzy I quit.

"One time I put wings on my bicycle and rode it down a steep hill. One wing lifted before the other. Having no roll control, the opposite wing tip hit the ground and I ground looped.

"After I started driving I visited surrounding airports, taking rides and looking at planes. I could have purchased a flying Cub for $350. I had the money, but being underage, I needed Mom’s permission, which was not forthcoming.

"I had a favorite uncle who owned a Luscombe. He worked at Wichita and flew it home to Hobart, Missouri, once a month. Often I would ride my bicycle the sixteen miles to his place in order to get a Luscombe ride to Monett, Missouri for av-gas, returning by bicycle to Aurora. Later, while I was in college, he retired and built a strip on his place. I helped him build a hangar for the Luscombe.

"During my freshman year at SMSU an airport developed at Aurora again. I was eighteen and began taking lessons there. I would go without breakfast all week to save funds to fly 15 to 30 minutes of dual on the weekend. That was fall of ‘55 and resulted in my Private ticket in the early sixties.

"I moved to Mansfield in ‘59 to teach at Norwood. I met Andy Anderson, who became my mentor in aircraft construction. That year, at Norwood, we built a hovercraft that won national awards for the students. I developed plans for Norwood students to rebuild a Commonwealth aircraft at school. The school was worried about approval of the State Education Department. Being contacted, the state said that aircraft construction did not merit a place in the high school curriculum.

"I moved to Cabool where we built two aircraft. A Corbin Baby Ace and a Class Design Cabin biplane. The state then had me giving programs on aircraft construction in schools at state teachers’ meetings. We attracted national attention and the attention of EAA.

"I was invited to teach teachers how to build aircraft in schools by the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where we built five - later by SMSU where we built three. Also I became a night-supply instructor of SMSU’s two basic flight classes for 10 years.

"At Mansfield we built many Schoolflight aircraft, rounding out a lifetime total of 20 planes. We also built pedal planes by Hoppenworth and an electronic computer-controlled flight simulator. All aircraft were built without school funds by using patron sponsors to finance the project, which the sponsor would own.

"EAA named me to its Homebuilders Hall of Fame in 1997. Currently I am retired and loving it, doing what I want. We recently moved Fred Kalhoefer’s small biplane to my shop for rebuilding. It has been, for myself, an interesting life."

Thanks, Bill, for sharing your aviation history with us.

If, perchance, you found that you would have benefitted from more deductions, give some serious consideration to adding The Vision of Eagles to your contributions for the year 2000. Check it out on the EAA home page.

It is true that each of us have those organizations that receive our support year after year. While this is not a plea to have you “switch” your support from your favorite aviation activity, The Vision of Eagles is certainly worthy of your consideration.

New Member: Bill Collins

Welcome, Bill. We look forward to having you get acquainted with our membership, and we with you.

Bill joined us at the meeting in West Plains last month.

May 6: Fly-In Breakfast, Gainesville Airport, 9:00 AM.

June, July and August: summer break.

September begins our monthly meeting schedule. Plan on a Young Eagle Rally that month!