Like many of us, a 5-cent balsa glider was my first airplane. After
paper planes, Comet kits, and Cox .049 free flight, at age 12 I bought
an O&R .23 glo engine and built a Piper Vagabond, my first control
line plane. An O&R .29 and many kits and plans-built models
followed, all covered with silkspan and coat after coat of dope. (I
still have the O&R. 23 and .29 and two Cox .049 engines from
1948-1949.)
We moved to a farm when I was 14, and work, girls
and cars overshadowed airplanes. Fast forward through Univ. of Colo.,
Army, gold mining, Tech Writing Dir., M.S. and M/NLP degrees, HR Dir. of
two health groups, and 26 years with Intermountain Health Care. I
retired in 2001 as an Asst. Administrator.
Over the years I was
involved in a number of outdoor activities, including sky diving, white
water kayaking, professional river running, advanced scuba diving
(search & rescue certified), and motorcycling (300,000+ miles on BMW
bikes). I was a mountaineering instructor for 10 years and a charter
member of the Salt Lake Alpine Rescue Group.
I am a private
pilot and owned a Cessna l72, two C-150s and a C-182. My last plane was
a Van's RV-4, an all-metal sports aerobatic home-built beauty. Other
planes I have flown include a Bonanza, Citabria 7ECA, Stearman, Mooney
M-20, Van's RV-6, Zenith 701 and Fisher Dakota Hawk. I also have about
40 hours aerobatic training in a Super Decathalon, Mudro Cap-10, and a
Great Lakes Biplane. Last Spring I got to take the stick on an AT-6.
(Oh, and two hours in an F-16 3-axis simulator at Hill AFB!.)
Glaucoma
in my right eye took me out of full-scale flying a few years ago. I
moped around awhile, but soon drifted back into building and flying
model airplanes --- after only a 60-year break. I found a few changes
had taken place. Radio control was just a dream in 1949. I flew and
crashed and rebuilt until I got the basics down. I'm still learning and
crashing, but having lot of fun.
My favorite planes right now
are an electric powered 1/4-scale RV-4, and a clipped-wing Taylorcraft,
80-in. wingspan, powered by a Zenoah ZP26 gas engine. Current projects
include a plans-built 6-ft. wingspan powered glider and rebuilding my
Rhapsody Biplane. Christmas will bring me a DLE-35 engine, and later
something in a very large box to put it on.
While we all love
our warbirds, I hope we will also continue to embrace the great variety
of scale civilian planes -- especially those classics from the 1930s
through the 1950s.
Many thanks to my wife Eva for her enduring
support, and to all of you in the Squadron, especially Walt, for your
assistance and help. I feel fortunate to be a part of our group.
