January 2002

Greetings—and Happy New Year!
Well, the year 2001 is finally behind us. What a year it was. For our Chapter things could not have gone better; but for our country, war came to the very heart of it when terrorists flew two commercial jetliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. This is something so horrible that only the most evil of all mankind could think up such a scheme. But we came back. In a short time we've attacked the very heart of evil and destroyed their infrastructure. In the process, very possibly we've prevented many more attacks such as the one on September 11, 2001. We are not finished yet with our efforts to destroy those who try to bring fear to our innocent civilians, and I hope that we will not rest until the world is free of terrorism, so that we can go back to leading "normal" lives.

Some people never learn...
Here is a thought for you which I received from my friend, Dr. William R. Reynolds, Comdr., US Navy (Ret):

In October 2001, Mullah Mohammed Omar said, "The situation where we are now, there are two things: either death or victory. To those who are fighting and bombarding us, they should understand the Afghan man is a fighter willing to die for jihad."

Back in June 1944, a smarter American man by the name of General George S. Patton, said, "I want you to remember that no b------ ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb b------ die for his country..."

As you can see, evil has been around for a long time but truth and justice always win out.

Missing Member
On a sad note, I have to tell you that Willis Short, one of our founding Chapter members died a few days before Christmas, on December 20, after prolonged illness, the same illness that kept him away from meetings all this past year. Willis had always attended our meetings at Gainesville and had an unending enthusiasm for aviation. He was a veteran of World War II, having served in the Army Air Corps, and was a participant in the North Africa Campaign. He joined Experimental Aircraft Association in 1955, and had been a member of Chapter 101 in Rockford, Illinois. As such, he was acquainted with many of the "grassroots" members of the Association and loved to tell stories about the early days of EAA. It was a pleasure knowing Willis, and his love for all things that fly was inspiring.

There was a memorial service for Willis on Saturday, December 29. His widow asked for donations to EAA's Young Eagles Project in lieu of flowers. Please talk to Gene Pascoe, our treasurer, if you still wish to make a donation in Willis' memory. I'm sure Margaret would still appreciate cards, telephone calls, and little visits, too. Her mailing address is:

Margaret Short
625 County Road 8330
West Plains, MO 65775

Thinking about Willy, and others, who fought in World War II, I guess we should, by now, realize that madmen will never be totally eradicated from rising to power and that we'll always have to be on guard, even against complacency.

We Need God
Our hearts go out to Marge, Willy's widow who is now alone, and to Marilyn. Life is often very tragic and it seems especially merciless when such things happen during the Christmas season, when we really want to celebrate a rebirth in Christ, and hope for a better life with God. Perhaps the only thing that can be said is that we all realize more than ever our need for God and the hope that Christ brings.

Christmas Dinner
We had a wonderful Christmas party thanks to the efforts of Ron White and his extended family. The hangar was beautifully decorated and the food was delicious. Everybody was just awed when they walked in. I myself gained several pounds—and now have a choice of losing the weight or leaving several instruments out of our airplane which I had planned to install! At the end of the dinner, Tom White presented service certificates and pins to the 2001 officers. Bill Ghan made a surprise presentation of his beautiful original painting of a Stearman against the background of a snowy winter night to Ron White for his support of the Chapter, and the Chapter made Ron a gift of a Wright Flyer model.

It all looks and smells so good!		Ron White holds his Christmas gift, a beautiful painting of the Stearman by Bill Ghan, in front of the airplane it depicts.

Biography: Ron White
Since we have such great meetings at Ron's hangar, I thought, it is about time that we all get to know Ron White a little better, so I asked him if we could do his "bio." Here is his story:

Ron White

"My interest in flying was sparked by an incident that occurred, by chance, in 1969. As I was driving my children to school one morning, I happened to notice an object that appeared, from a distance, to be a new hangar at the airport. Being curious, I investigated and found the object to be a Ford Trimotor belonging to a Mr. Glenn of Ottawa, Kansas, and flown in by Mr. Joe Miller. Shortly after my arrival at the airport, Joe taxied the plane to the end of the sod runway which had very recently been extended. As he was attempting to turn it around to prepare for takeoff, it became stuck in the mud created by the fresh dirtwork. The pressure applied while trying to turn it caused the brake cable to snap. Fortunately, I happened to have some aircraft cable that would work and Howard Burchard, the airport manager at the time, who was also there observing, had a nicopress to put it on with. The brakes were repaired and Joe was on his way shortly thereafter. "This experience really got me interested in airplanes and when I first decided to take flying lessons, I bought Howard Burchard's Cessna 120. To this very day, taildraggers are what I consider 'real airplanes' and the only planes I truly enjoy flying. "My first flight instructor had an unusual training technique that nearly discouraged me from flying. Luckily, as soon as I soloed on August 9, 1974, I switched instructors and began training with George Myers, who trained me well, especially in emergency landings. I got my license on May 8, 1975, and since that time I have had some unscheduled landings but was able to keep my head and land safely, thanks to George's training. "In 1976, I purchased a Cessna 195 in Florida and brought it home on a trailer. My son, Mike, his friend Tony Moore, a former employee and I worked on it for a year to get it flying. By March of 1977 we were very close to having it ready to fly and working so hard to finish that I completely forgot our wedding anniversary. However, my wife never said anything to me about it, or about anything else for that matter, for several days thereafter. "Phil Keister came to Willow Springs to test fly the 195 and I very much wanted to be on board for the first flight but he wouldn't allow it. I did, however, get to go on the second flight. I soloed in it on May 7, 1977, and it was the most exciting day of my life. "Another memorable flight was in July 1995. My family gave me a gift of an hour and a half of left seat time in a DC-3. All the kids and grandkids were permitted to accompany me on this flight. This is a memory I will cherish forever.   Ron is justifiably proud of the restoration of this Cessna 195, which took a year to complete. "I was born right here in Willow Springs on February 17, 1938, and have lived here ever since. I have been in business in Willow for almost forty years, beginning in 1963 with a feed mill and turkey feeding operation. I sold that and, in 1968, I got the Ford dealership and sold Fords for seventeen years, but I never really liked the car business. I began thinking about building a roll-forming machine to produce steel building panels and, as soon as I completed the machine in 1983, I began selling building panels and other building materials. By 1985, I decided to give up the car dealership and concentrate on the new business full time. We now have four panel lines which have many different uses, including office buildings, aircraft hangars, barns, and even homes. We also sell pre-engineered building packages which include all the components necessary for an all-steel building. "In 1979, I was honored by the Willow Springs Chamber of Commerce by being chosen as 'Man of the Year,' and again in 1997 as 'Citizen of the Year.' "I find it very rewarding to work with so many fine people in the EAA Chapter. I am very impressed by the amount of talent represented by this group. I'm happy to provide meals for the EAA meetings and I am very pleased that they all express their appreciation of my efforts toward this cause."

Completely forgetting that the Saturday breakfasts weren't being held during the holiday period, I called Ron on Friday evening to ask if we could come do the interview after the Saturday morning breakfast. He said to come anyway. He would fix us some biscuits and gravy and we would talk. I also didn't realize that Ron had to heat the hangar for just us. He didn't complain, though, and we sat and ate and listened to music from the fifties, as Ron told us his story. We discovered that he just loves the people in the Chapter and wants to do whatever is necessary to keep us growing and working together. Speaking for myself, and I am sure I can include the rest of the membership also, I think you are one great guy and we all thank you for what you are doing for us, Ron. —Editor

Buzz Thunderbee by Squawk

Buzz is Always Thinking Safety

January is for Hangar Talk
We will have our next regular meeting on Saturday, January 12, at 9 o'clock a.m. at the Whites' hangar in Willow Springs. We aren't planning a presentation this month. It'll just be a pleasant time to visit. All the officers-directors of the Chapter are asked to stay after the regular meeting for a directors' conference, sort of a planning session. I should also remind you that it is time to pay your dues for the year 2002. They are $10.00 for a single member and $15.00 for a couple. We also have some very nice Chapter patches and our treasurer is making you an offer that you can't refuse. He will sell you one patch for $5.00, two patches for $9.00 and three patches for $12.00. These patches feature our Chapter logo which was designed by our resident artist, Bill Ghan, and are of the finest quality that I have seen in a long time.

Sport Aviation Association
To my surprise, I recently received a magazine in the mail that was addressed to me as the Chapter Newsletter Editor and is titled very simply, "To Fly." It is published by the Sport Aviation Association, which was founded by none other than Paul H. Poberezny himself. Paul is very concerned that we keep alive the old craft of building airplanes from scratch in this day when kitbuilding may cause us to forego learning some of the basic skills involved. This appears to be the formation of a group with a very narrow focus, supportive of true experimentation for those who desire to find better ways to do things. Kitbuilding has filled a needed spot in general aviation, coming alive during a period when the light-aircraft manufacturing industry was quite sick, but we also want to keep the homebuilding of real "experimental" aircraft alive. You certainly can't beat the price of membership, which is free. You are only asked to make a donation if you can. I will have the magazine, which is published quarterly, with me and you can be the judge. You can also visit SAA's website at www.sportaviation.org or you can e-mail Paul himself at DiamondALP@aol.com, or you can write to Sport Aviation Association, P.O. Box 2343 Oshkosh, WI 54903-2343. I think this is a good idea and I have joined.

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