Thanks, Sue, for all your work!

My first plane ride was a commercial flight from Walla Walla, Washington, to Portland, Oregon. My second was in a 1961 Cessna 172 when it was still young.

I joined the U.S. Navy in the summer of 1969. I hang-glided and 'chuted in the San Diego area, and got my fill of riding as a passenger on airplanes all over the world. I retired from the U.S. Navy Submarine Service in 1989 on Guam.

I have been at the North Pole, 0 degrees, 0 degrees; 0 degrees, 180 degrees; and through both the Panama and Suez canals. My birthday in 1974 was taken away when crossing the International Date Line. I have even ridden a catapult off the USS Enterprise!

I learned to fly in Ava, Missouri, receiving my private pilot certificate on 4 December 1991. I bought a 1961 Cessna 172B in Nov. ‘91 to finish. I sold my airplane in April 1997.

I helped manage the Ava airport until April ‘98. I am not current. I am studying hard to select an aircraft to build.

Thanks, Robert, for the "bio" listing your travels and aviation interests. We know you will choose a good project and do it well.

"When I was four years old I thought all airplanes were the size of toys, and when I was five years old I discovered that these "toys" could drop bombs from the sky that could destroy houses and make large holes in the ground. When I was six years old my sister and I found ourselves alone one Sunday afternoon as an air raid took place. The only shelter we could find was on somebody's front porch under a picnic table. From there, we watched with fear and amazement as the German Air Force tried to take on several flights of B24s and their P51 escorts. Up and down they flew, engines whining and onboard machine guns firing. Tracers were flying through the air, sometimes finding a target, but mostly disappearing in the sky. A bomber with a huge smoke trail behind him dropped a bomb that found a target not far from where we were, and suddenly the air around us exploded and there was a strong air blast and a lot of dust. My sister and I survived our adventure unscathed, but I learned two truths on that day which have governed my life since then. One was that I would rather have been in the air with those pilots dancing in the sky than sitting under that table; the other was that I saw Adolf was a loser. The few fighters that Germany could send up were soon routed and the bombers flew off only to come back on other days until the war was over.

When I was nineteen, an American Air Force major offered to sponsor me to come to the United States and become a fighter pilot. I took him up on his offer, and half a year later I found myself  marching as a recruit on Lackland Air Force Base. My dream of becoming an AF pilot never came true but when the GI bill was offered again, I used it to get all the tickets I could get except an instructor rating and an ATP. I flew quite a bit then, but it was very difficult to provide for a wife and two small boys on the money that I could make doing that kind of work. So back to college I went and got a degree in animal science, then came to Missouri and started milking cows - a far cry from being a research technician in the defense industry (which I had been since my discharge from the Air Force) and being a commercial pilot. My love for flying has not left me, though, and I now own three airplanes. The only thing wrong about it is that none of them is flying. My New Year's resolution is, however, to at least have my biplane flying by this summer."

Thanks for sharing your love for aviation with us, as well as your history. Now, summer is on the way, so--get started!

10. There are no mosquitoes.

09. You’re so busy worrying about your car starting, you don’t have time to worry about anything else.

08. All the sissies leave for Florida.

07. If you carelessly leave meat in your car, it will freeze and stay fresh.

06. It’s not as bad as a Manitoba winter.

05. There’s the thrill of skiing downhill or unexpectantly being totally out of control as your car slides down an icy road.

04. Bundled up as they are, kids can fall down three flights of stairs and not get hurt.

03. There’s ice fishing in a minus-50-degree wind chill knowing that someone somewhere is flabbergasted at how hearty we are.

02. Anything is better than a humid Minnesota summer.

01. Knowing that the rest of the country is looking at us in total amazement, saying, “Why in the world do they stay there”?

I’ve wondered that myself!