Happy New Year to
Everyone!
Here we are in another new
year. It seems like 2002 went awfully fast. Do you think
we can set in 15° of flaps and slow 2003 down a little?
With the early onset of winter weather in December, not
much flying is going on. We've had a little of everything
— fog, overcast, snow and ice, thunderstorms (and
tornadoes), rain, wind, and cold. When the snow
disappeared, it was because of surprising warm-ups. Jerry
Luna flew to the Christmas dinner, and Black Bart has
been seen on a couple of occasions. Mike and Sharon
slipped a flight to Mena, AR, in after Christmas to visit
their son and family. Henny got some year-end picture
taking accomplished on the 31st. And Don Anderson made it
from Mansfield to Mountain Grove to fuel up just in time
to see Lloyd take our little bird up for its maiden
flight after overhaul. I haven't heard of many others,
though.
I hope all the members enjoyed the terrific Christmas
dinner with the bluegrass and gospel music. It was really
fun. Fred and I hadn't seen the Kelly family in quite a
long time, and we were excited to see how the kids are
growing up so beautifully. Don and Jan haven't aged a
bit, though. We certainly had a lot of good food. I've
come to the conclusion that fixing up feasts is a labor
of love for Ron White. And his whole family seems to
delight in being his support staff. Phyllis always comes
up with pretty decorations. Thank you all for your
hospitality to the Chapter.
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| The Kelly Family Ssings |
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Ron is almost ready to serve
dinner |
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| Bill presents awards |
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Our "golden
eagles" |
Bill Ghan presented beautiful plaques engraved with his
"Young Eagles' Wings" poem to all the members
who've been helping in any capacity with the Young Eagles
program. We hope everyone will continue to participate.
We discussed airport projects for the coming year, and
decided that finishing the airport lounge at Mountain
Grove is a possibility.
The
Next Meeting
The January meeting will be at Ron White's hangar in
Willow Springs on Saturday the 11th at 9:00 A.M. Join us
early for the hangar breakfast if you can. Even though
it's January, maybe we'll have a good flying day.
Wright
Flyer News
In case you haven't heard,
on December 18, Ed Fillmer came to Bill Ghan's workshop
to start taping footage on the Wright Flyer. It's for a
story he hopes to sell to the National Geographic Channel
for the Centennial of Flight next (oops!) this year. He
wanted to be sure to get some pictures now before the
process of covering the frame with fabric begins. He
plans to visit periodically to show the progress toward
completion. Ed Fillmer originated the Ozarks Life
segments that appear on KY3-TV in Springfield. He is now
based in Denver and working as a freelance videographer.
He keeps in touch with his former colleagues in
Springfield, and learned of the project from Jerry
Jacobs.
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| Ed
Fillmer begins taping the story of the Wright
Flyer |
Young
Eagles
Word has just arrived that Mike Vaughn received a letter
from HQ that he flew the most Young Eagles of any pilot
in the nation during the month of September. I guess that
whirlwind of a day in Mountain View, followed by the ones
at Gainesville, really added up to something for the
Chapter. Jerry Luna comes in a close second — and
probably first for number of flights. Good going, guys!
The rest of us stand in awe.
"The
405th"
Most of you have been exposed to Jim Tausworthe's writing
by reading a couple of his short stories about
"Booley" in this newsletter. In the same way
that you could "see" and "hear" the
action in your mind as you read those stories, you will
be right in the action in the more serious story of The
405th. Jim has always resisted publishing his stories for
a wide audience, but he was recently convinced to publish
a limited number of this story "for family and
friends" to enjoy, and he has donated 20 copies to
the Chapter to be sold for $15 each, the money to be used
in our activities. He not only writes stories, but also
paints aviation-related pictures, many of which are on
the walls of Jim and Millie's "aviation room"
(the living room) in their house. The 405th isn't Jim's
only full-length novel; there are several others, one of
which I've also read — and loved every minute of it.
It is, as yet, unpublished, so that's all I can say about
it!
Member
Bio: Dave Altis
Dave graciously responded to
a belated request to provide a personal sketch of his
flying history for the newsletter. Here is his story:
Dave
Altis
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"For
as long as I can remember, I've been intrigued by
flying machines of any size or form. At a very
young age I made it clear to my parents that my
interests were in things of a mechanical or
electrical nature. I couldn't have cared less
what the other kids were doing; I had my own
agenda, usually taking something apart to learn
how it worked. When I was asked what I wanted to
be when I grew up, my answer was "an
astronaut." This always triggered a series
of laughter and jokes which kind of led me to
believe it was an unrealistic goal. I know now
that it could actually have been an attainable
goal. I was only five years old when Neil
Armstrong first set foot on the moon in July of
1969. Everyone was huddled around the TV, and I
was as interested in what was going on as they
were.
"My first close encounter with a flying
machine was in kindergarten when a classmate
brought a little rubberband-powered plane to
school and demonstrated it during recess. I was
so fascinated by it, but he would hardly let me
look at it, and touching it was out of the
question. Perhaps he was worried I would take it
apart. I went home from school that day
determined to build one of my own, and very
confident that I could. By bedtime that evening,
I had learned two important things: Lincoln Logs
were way too heavy for rubberband-powered
airplanes, and large nails split Lincoln Logs.
Fortunately, I've gotten better at engineering
and fabrication since kindergarten. (Twenty years
later I had another "close encounter"
with a certain radio controlled, or uncontrolled,
plane; but that's another story.)
"Probably a couple of years went by before I
saw another rubberband-powered airplane, but this
time it was mine. My folks never had a lot of
money, although they always provided me and my
brother with everything we needed: food,
clothing, knots on our heads, etc. As best I
remember, my little plane cost about fifty cents,
but to me it was priceless.
"As I grew up on my parents' small farm, a
few miles northwest of Mountain Grove, they would
often speak of my father's third cousin, who was
a pilot. Dad often said he would ride in an
airplane any time, as long as he could keep one
foot on the ground. He was joking of course, but
he also would say, in a more serious note, that
if he flew with anybody, it would be with his
cousin Don Nevels. For a long time, Don was an
obscure character in my mind, who I wouldn't have
known if he had come knocking on our door, but my
father had a lot of confidence in him and
tremendous respect for his accomplishments. He
also became my hero and I would often wish I knew
him personally. Finally one day, my wish came
true. We all loaded up in the car, my dad and
mom, my brother and I, and drove what seemed like
a long way to me. We arrived at Don's farm north
of Huggins and I was anxiously awaiting my first
airplane ride. My dad went up first with Don, and
then Carol took my mother up. Then it was my
turn. I remember being amazed by the way things
looked from the air. At one point during the
flight, Don asked me if I'd like to try the
controls, and I quickly refused the offer. I
thought if I did, the plane might go wildly out
of control, and that would scare me! I thought
later how silly that was, and regretted not
giving it a try.
"While in high school, I took a vocational
course in electronics. I had been working for a
few years in Lebanon, Missouri, doing component
level troubleshooting and repair on consumer
electronics when I got my first "good
job." In August of 1988, I went to work for
Continental Telephone Company in Mountain View,
Missouri. It was a major step up in pay, but a
major step down in technical skills used on the
job. The latter was a disappointing surprise.
While working at Mountain View, I took an
introductory flight lesson with Lionel Smith in
November 1990. A short time later, I transferred
back to Mountain Grove and began my ground
school. I had just passed my written exam with
flying colors, no pun intended, and was talking
with Lloyd Darter about starting lessons when
trouble struck. I wish I could blame the dark
period of my life solely on circumstances, but
the truth is, I'm the blame for most of my
problems. I lost the "good job" and a
divorce shortly followed. I went to work for a
local amusement company, working on video games
and electronic pinball machines. Back to the high
tech stuff! It was a small company and a drastic
cut in pay topped with child support left no
money for flying.
"In August of 1994, my father gave me some
money for helping him harvest some timber off his
farm. A wiser person might have put the money in
a safe investment for future hard times, but I
happened to know of an ultralight I could buy
cheap. My whole life I had dreamed of flying, and
finally my opportunity was only a phone call
away. On August 22, 1994, I purchased a MaxAir
Hummer with a 20 HP single cylinder two stroke
engine. What followed is not something I could
recommend, and some people think I was terribly
foolish. With my money spent and no room in my
budget for lessons, I proceeded to teach myself
to fly. On Saturday, August 29, 1994, one week
after I purchased the Hummer, I was making hops
at treetop height over the grass strip at
Johnston's Nest, just a mile or so down the road
from where I'd grown up. It was the most fun I'd
ever had, and I soon decided if I could fly at
treetop height down the runway and land safely,
then why not fly on up and out? That Saturday, I
did just that. I flew over and circled the
airport, back over and circled my folks' place,
over the Charlie and Vivian Nevels place, then
back to Johnston's Nest for my first real
landing. Don's father Charlie had also become a
private pilot, and before he passed away, would
often offer encouragement for me to do the same.
Charlie and Vivian attended the church I grew up
in. Why he took an interest in me, I don't know,
but he became a very special person to me. As I
flew over his earthly home, I felt the tears
welling up as I wondered if maybe he was somehow
looking down at me from his home in heaven. Back
on the ground at Johnston's Nest, I had to be the
happiest man in the country.
"In the first two months I owned the Hummer,
I logged twenty-four hours of flight time, and
thoroughly enjoyed it. A windstorm came one day
and tore it loose from its tiedowns in the
open-ended hangar, or wind tunnel, I had rented
at Johnston's Nest. It flopped around inside the
hangar and was unflyable for a while. When I
married my wife Sherri, we needed money more than
an airplane, so I sold the Hummer to a friend,
Jody Whitehill. When Jody completed the repairs
on the Hummer, he told me to fly it as much as I
wanted, so I gratefully accepted his kind offer.
The Hummer was somewhat underpowered. I took off
from the airport one summer day, and had only
flown about ten minutes when it seemed like I was
having difficulty maintaining altitude. I
immediately headed back to the airport, and by
the time I got down, it was barely flying. I
learned how quickly density altitude can change!
The Hummer has since left the Ozarks to continue
life elsewhere.
"I've worked as plant engineer in a metal
stamping factory in Mountain Grove for four and
one half years now. It's proven to be the most
fulfilling job I've ever had, but it also
occupies a great deal of my time, so it's been
hard to find time to work on my latest project,
the Airbug. Ben Hurtt and I co-own the Airbug and
we are making drastic changes to the fuselage and
cockpit. The picture is what it looked like
before we started; it will never look quite the
same again. It's powered by a Volkswagen engine,
and unlike the Hummer, it has an abundance of
power.
"Ben has been my closest friend for many
years now, and I owe a lot of my flying
experience to that friendship. My flying life has
been hindered by many obstacles along the way,
and I've not been very good at overcoming
obstacles, but through it all, God has richly
blessed me in many more ways than I could ever
deserve."
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| After first solo |
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The Airbug project |
I've read Don
Nevels' book, "Wings, Dreams and
Memories," and Dave's story validates
everything we know to be so good about this
family.
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Member Bio: Ray Fine
As is the case with several of our members, Ray Fine is a
member of Missouri Pilots Association as well as Chapter
1218. Much longer with MPA than EAA, in fact. But we have
seen him at our meetings for a long time, and our newer
members deserve to make his acquaintance through his bio,
which appeared in the December MPA newsletter. So we are
including Ray's bio here this month.
Ray
Fine
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Raymond L. Fine was
born May 28, 1934, and is now 68 years old. He is
single. He has five children, four boys and one
girl, ages 38 through 44. His daughter, Rose,
passed away in January 1998. Ray also has six
grandchildren, four boys and two girls, ages 4
through 19.
Rays says, "The first airplane I saw was
a Lockheed P-38 Lightning in about 1944, doing
maneuvers over our house in Pomona, Missouri. I
got on a tree stump and waved so he could see me.
He made a dive from altitude straight at where I
stood. I just knew he saw me. I now know
differently.
"I graduated from West Plains High School in
1952 and joined the Air Force. I remembered that
P-38.
"The Air Force trained me as a general jet
mechanic. It was my chosen field. The Air Force's
need always come first so I trained and worked in
many different jobs, but all were related to
aircraft and aviation. During my career the jobs
included aircraft maintenance, classroom
instructor, crew chief, dock chief, flight chief,
flight engineer, instructor flight engineer,
simulator instructor, flight engineer examiner
and NCOIC combat crew flight engineer training.
"My job for the last ten years was fight
engineer on the C-130 aircraft. I really enjoyed
that job. It took me to all parts of the world in
friendly and hostile enviornments and involved
many operations that the C-130 does. I logged
over 7000 flying hous in the C-130 including over
700 combat flying hours in Vietnam.
"I received my private pilot's license in
1969 and commercial in 1971 and have over 1400
hours of pilot time.
"Besides the best-looking Cessna 140 in
'these here parts' (it is orange, not red), I
have owned two other aircraft, a Cessna 175 and
another Cessna 140.
"While stationed at Little Rock AFB, when I
had some free time while raising my five children
by myself, I made a few extra bucks dropping
sport parachutiests from my Cessna 175. That was
great!
"About 1972, I established Ray's Roost on my
boyhood farm. It is on the KC sectional about 4.5
miles SSE of West Plains airport.
"I retired from the USAF in 1973 and moved
to the farm that I left in 1952. While continuing
to raise my children, I drove a school bus for
over twenty years and operated the West Plains
airport on weekends. When you are young, you want
to get away; when you are old you want to come
back.
"In addition to MPA, I am an avid square
dancer, volunteer cameraman for OCTV (Channel 12)
in West Plains and am politically active. I have
been a member of the South Central MPA chapter
since 1989, holding jobs of membership chairman,
treasurer, secretary, Wings chairman, and
executive committee member at large — plus
air traffic controller at our air shows. The
South Central MPA chapter is the most active,
vibrant chapter in the MPA, thanks to a great
group of people who never quit and really do
things. Keep up the good work.
"One Nation Under God" no pause, Ray
Fine"
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| Orange &
white Cessna 140 |
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Ray takes pictures |
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The square dance
club |
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New Year's Resolution Suggestion
If you've always intended to
read the whole Bible, I'd like to invite you to use my
Bible Reading Schedule which is on my personal website.
You can go directly to the right page with one of these
URL's:
Protestant: http://members.getgoin.net/~dairylady/bible.htm
Catholic: http://members.getgoin.net/~dairylady/cathbible.htm
Buzz
Thunderbee by Squawk
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Buzz is used to having to deal with problems, but
sometimes they're more'n a sweet honeybee can put
up with. Fire that firefly! |
Reminder
Ladies, please bring your recipe submissions to the
meeting. Until then, blessings to all for the new year,
and see you at the meeting.
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