Greetings
to You All!
First, let me give you some
important news, just in case word hasn't reached you yet:
there won't be a Memorial Day celebration on June 1 at
Taus River Ranch this year. Jim and Millie Tausworthe's
place was struck by a tornado during the night of May
8-9. (More about that later.)
Mansfield
Fly-in & Young Eagles Rally
Our next scheduled meeting
will be on June 8 at Mansfield Municipal Airport (03B).
Coffee and donuts ("continental breakfast")
will be served and a barbecue lunch will be available
around noon. We will have our usual business meeting and,
best of all, we hope to give many kids in the Mansfield
area an opportunity to experience the freedom of flight.
In case you haven't been to Mansfield, the runways are 7
and 25, it's asphalt paved, 3000 feet long and 50 feet
wide. Supposedly, the job of filling cracks and sealing
the surface will be complete by June 8! So come enjoy a
spring day at Mansfield. If you'll be driving in, take
Highway 60 to the Mansfield/Ava exit. Go north a few feet
and turn left on F Highway. Go three miles on F (it makes
a right turn after about two miles) and turn right on the
dirt road at the airport sign. Hold right and follow
Airport Road about half a mile to the entrance. We are
hoping for a good turnout and there's a flyer attached to
our newsletter for you to hang up in a public place or
airport lounge, so the word will get around. So I hope to
see you there — and be ready to give some kids a
ride.
Forgot
to Mention
Now to the news. First, I would like to apologize for
forgetting to report about our speaker at the April
meeting. Jerry Luna gave a narrative account of his
wintertime trip to Arizona in his Cessna 150 in the
humorous way in which only Jerry can tell a story. Jerry
has guts. He must have had some second thoughts about the
trip though, because he took Ron "the Tiger"
Wade, who is the minister at Gainesville Christian
Church, with him as navigator and as
"insurance" for body and soul! Once there, Ron
came back to Missouri by Greyhound bus. Evidently he felt
comfortable with Jerry's flying, because he later braved
going back to Arizona by bus to make the return trip to
Gainesville with Jerry. While in Arizona, Jerry worked on
his house — and also gave rides to ten Young Eagles
in the area. Jerry leads all the pilots in our Chapter on
the number of Young Eagles flown. Recently Jerry also
talked to city management in Ava, Missouri, about the
condition of their airport, apparently with some success.
They are now in the process of moving some of their
maintenance supplies and equipment from the runway
vicinity. Thanks Jerry, for the interesting report of
your journey and the good work in Ava.
Another member, Bob Brantley, spoke with the city clerk
in Ava and got a positive response. We, too, have spoken
with the presiding commissioner of Douglas County about
our concern for the airport. Since then, though, weather
destroyed one of the hangars and damaged the airplanes
inside. It would be nice to see Ava's Bill Martin
Memorial Airport restored and improved. However, if we
EAAers keep showing interest in the airport, maybe we can
save it. We've even heard rumors that someone is
interested in opening an FBO there. In the meantime, when
the crosswinds are a too much of a nuisance at Mansfield,
we practice at Ava.
It's
Been a Busy Month…
On May 5 our Chapter hosted a breakfast for the Missouri
Pilots Association state convention. This was a great
success. Good food, a beautiful Missouri Sunday morning,
a gathering of over 130 aviation enthusiasts and a very
elegant and smooth demonstration of aerial ballet
performed by Clint Allen made this the perfect meeting
that we all hoped it would be. A special "thank
you" goes to the White family members, both Tom's
and Ron's families, for their hospitality — as well
as Clint for his aerobatic performance.
Our regular meeting, which took place on May 11, was
plagued by almost zero visibility. No one could fly to
the air show in Poplar Bluff as planned, but some from
the Willow Springs and West Plains areas drove there.
They later reported that they enjoyed a nice air show,
where once again Clint performed his aerobatic routine.
Those of us who stayed behind enjoyed the always good and
plentiful breakfast and had a good hangar session.
Weather
Wiles
And now the bad news. The end of April and beginning of
May turned out to be not so kind to two of our member
families. Both were preparing for aviation events and
both of their places were struck by tornadoes. Bill and
Mary Marx were the hosts for MPA's Ozarks-style
"Road Kill Dinner" on May 3. The tornado
touched down on Sunday morning, April 28, causing damage
to the guest house, broke windows in the stone house,
overturned the boat house on boats and skidoos, and
downed many trees as shown in the accompanying picture.
The hangar was untouched, so they determined to proceed
with the dinner, which was a great success.
 |
 |
| Tornado damage at Stoney
Point Farm |
"Killer Bee" stung
by tornado |
Jim
and Millie Tausworthe and Charlie Ward weren't quite so
fortunate. Although their house only suffered trim damage
from falling trees, they experienced extensive damage to
other buildings and the property in them. The well house
and pressure tank were ripped up and the power lines were
downed. The hangar roof was lifted off and carried away,
and three of the ultralights stored in it were severely
damaged or destroyed. Charlie Ward's portable hangar,
located on Jim's ranch, was lifted and turned ninety
degrees, then dropped down on the beautiful little Fisher
"Avenger," which was totally destroyed. At one
point during the storms, the water over their grass strip
was eighteen feet deep. It will take quite some time for
it to dry out and firm up.
Jim and Millie needed help and their long time friend
Charlie was there for them. Bill and Margaret Ghan also
came to help. Kent Clotfelter, who already had a lot of
experience with trees on houses since he is a Hurricane
Andrew survivor, expertly removed the biggest tree that
came to rest on the roof of the residence; and Doc
Openshaw, John Zook, Sue and I helped by doing assorted
cleanup work such as removing, and getting under cover,
stuff from the hangar and cutting up and removing trees
that had toppled all around the residence. Pictures can
only give you a small idea of the devastation that beset
the Tausworthes at a time when they had settled down in
their retirement and were looking forward to hosting a
beautiful day at their place for all of us to enjoy.
Before you get superstitious about airplanes and EAA
membership, though, just remember that nobody got hurt.
After she finally got to take a shower, Millie came out
wearing a T-shirt that said, "His eye is on the
sparrow," which is true. The common denominator
wasn't airplanes or EAA — it was water and the ways
of the weather. Jim pointed out that this wasn't his
first experience with extreme weather. When they had
damage from a hurricane in Texas, EAAers were there to
help.
Biography:
Charlie Ward
This month's bio comes to us from Charlie Ward. My plan
had been to "introduce" him to you through his
bio as the cook at the June 1 holiday gathering at Taus
River Ranch. He thought he we would be off the hook after
the storm! No way — but now I have to introduce him
as the "poor guy that had his cute little Avenger
crushed by the tornado." Speaking for all the
members, we all feel sorry for the losses that Charlie,
Jim and Millie, and Bill and Mary Marx have suffered.
Charlie
Ward
|
"My
life began sixty-nine years ago at Cabool,
Missouri. Two years later, we moved to Yukon,
Missouri. There I grew up and went to school and
church, until I was out in the world on my own.
While there, my Dad helped to build Fort Leonard
Wood. My Uncle Bill came to live with us while
Dad was away. One day Uncle Bill handed me a
wooden airplane that he had whittled out. From
that little airplane, I got the flying bug. I
could imagine sitting in that plane and flying
everywhere.
"My first attempt at building and flying a
plane was when I was eleven or twelve years of
age. I built a plane out of slabs from the
sawmill on the back side of our place. I took two
slabs from the pile, tied them together with
baling wire and tied it onto the end of a grape
vine that was growing in a tall red oak tree,
facing a huge sawdust pile. I pulled that dude up
in the tree behind the one the vine was growing
in, got astraddle of it and let go. As soon as
that happened, I knew I was in trouble. The wing
wasn't going to go past the trunk of that tree. I
was right, it didn't!! I woke up sometime later
at the foot of the sawdust pile, hurting all
over.
"My next experience was when I was fifteen
years old, when one of my cousin's friends took
me for a ride in a real plane. That did it, I had
to fly then. That man taught me to handle that
plane until I could take off and land it without
his help.
"In the 1950s, a good friend had an Aeronca
Champ that he let me fly almost every afternoon
after work, with him along, of course. Then, by
1958, I was taking lessons from an instructor.
Money and time took me out of flying for some
time. Then, by 1962 or so, I got back in, and
soloed in a 150 Cessna. Since then I have flown
several different kinds of planes but never owned
one of my own until 1999, when I bought a Fisher
product (the Avenger, an ultralight) that was
destroyed in a tornado just last month. But that
doesn't mean I'm done. My Lord willing, I will be
back flying one day. It has been a fun time so
far. Maybe I can add something more to it."
 |
 |
Charlie in his
Fisher "Avenger," which is
framed in wood and covered with fabric |
After the tornado |
|
We,
too, hope Charlie will only be grounded
temporarily. He told us the engine and instrument
panel from his airplane are good condition and
can be used in another aircraft.
"Lindbergh Flies
Again"
Earlier this month Eric Lindbergh, grandson of
aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh repeated his
famous ancestor's flight by flying a single
engine aircraft nonstop from New York to Paris.
You might say that nowadays that is not such a
big deal but I will tell you that there are
several factors that made this a very remarkable
flight. For one, Eric flew a modified Lancair
4XP, an aircraft that has its roots in the
experimental aircraft movement, and still carries
the "experimental" label. Second, Eric
made the flight in record time by crossing the
Atlantic in a little over 17 hours. Third, even
though Eric is only 31 years of age, he suffers
from rheumatoid arthritis and a flight of such
extremely long duration must have been very
painful for him. The History Channel documented
the flight, which I saw and I hope you did too.
Throughout the flight Eric never lost his winning
smile or let on that he was hurting. So too Mary
and Bill, Jim and Millie, and Charlie never lost
their smiles. There are no "whiners" in
Chapter 1218!
Buzz'll Be(e) Back
I haven't heard from Buzz. He probably vamoosed
during all the rain and is waiting for his wings
to dry. If you hear him, point him toward home,
please. He won't want to miss the meeting at
Mansfield on June 8. See you there, Fred
Kalhoefer. |
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