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The Prez Sez
Hi Everyone,
It sure feels like spring is in the
air, the temperature is up and along with it comes the wind. I hope it
all blows over before our open house so we don't have a repeat of last
year. Speaking of the open house, the planning stage has begun so if you
have any ideas to improve on last year please either attend the monthly
meeting or contact Eric Fisher and pass it on. We want to improve and
grow the event every year, it's our best chance to get our presence
known in the community and attract members.
Latest news on striping the runway is
......SOON. De ja vu all over again. On the runway subject I was
looking through the web site and noticed we have no photos of the
asphalt laying. I know people had cameras out there recording the event
so how about getting some shots over to the webmaster?
That’s all for now except for this
pretty cool WW2 story that some of you may have heard of before.
See you at the field
Mick
From
the Portland Area Sailplane Society, Gresham, Oregon
Aviation History: Charlie Brown’s Story
Charlie Brown was a B-17 Flying Fortress
pilot with the 379th Bomber Group at Kimbolton, England. His B-17 was
called ‘Ye Old Pub’ and was in a terrible state, having been hit by flak
and fighters. The compass was damaged and they were flying deeper over
enemy territory instead of heading home to Kimbolton.
After flying over an enemy airfield, a
pilot named Franz Steigler was ordered to take off and shoot down the
B-17. When he got near the B-17, he could not believe his eyes. In his
words, he had never seen an airplane in such a bad state. The tail and
rear section were severely damaged and the tail gunner wounded. The top
gunner was all over the top of the fuselage. The nose was smashed and
there were holes everywhere. Despite having ammunition, Franz flew to
the side of the B-17 and looked at Charlie Brown, the pilot. Brown was
scared and struggling to control his damaged and blood-stained airplane.
Aware that they had no idea where they
were going, Franz waved at Charlie to turn 180°. Franz escorted and
guided the stricken airplane to and slightly over the North Sea towards
England. He then saluted Charlie Brown and turned away, back to Europe.
When Franz landed he told the control operator that the airplane had
been shot down over the sea, and never told the truth to anyone. Charlie
Brown and the remains of his crew told all at their briefing, but were
ordered never to talk about it.
More than 40 years later, Charlie Brown
wanted to find the Luftwaffe pilot who saved the crew. After years of
research, Franz was found. He has never talked about the incident, not
even at post war reunions.
They met in the United States at a 379th
Bomber Group reunion, together with 25 people who are alive now—all
because Franz never fired his guns that day. Research shows that Charlie
Brown lived in Seattle and Franz Steigler had moved to Vancouver,
British Columbia, after the war. When they finally met, they discovered
they had lived less than 200 miles apart for the past 50 years.
Q
FEBRUARY MINUTES
MMRCCINC MINUTES FEB 7, 2008
Meeting Opened at 7:00 PM
Officers: Pres: M. Fox, V. Pres: R.
BOYER, Treas: T. Fenn III, Sec. T. Campbell, Safety Officer: Bill
Hermes,
Members: Don Adams, Will Herman, Bill
Hermes, Jerry Fenstermacher, Rich Hotchkiss, Bart Bergman, Eric Fisher,
Steve Mason, Bill Lewis, Rich Bouilly, Tommy Romanowski, Sherry Fox, Tom
Fenn, Bill McCoy, Mike Phillips, Susan Mitsushita, John Putnak, Jeff ??
Guests: Ed Emmons,
Treasurer’s report: $1,476.65 in check
account. $2,502.36 in savings account.
Motion to accept: Will Hermann, Second:
Bill Hermes, Approval: unanimous
Safety: Bill Hermes re-stated that NO
ONE should be flying over the Pit Area or behind the Flight Line. A
discussion ensued about approaching people who fly in an un-safe
manner. Also, everyone should not taxi into the pits, but shut down
the engine first.
Flight Training: Bill McCoy, Mike
Phillips and Rich Bouilly are in flight training.
Old Business: The Gate – maintenance on
the gate has been performed so that it can be closed. Everyone should
be closing the gate, if they are the last one to leave the field.
Father’s Day Fun Fly – The $20 insurance
fee has been mailed to AMA.
Open House – Proposed date is May 31,
2008. The Barnstormers have agreed to participate. There is a need for
4 club members to fly trainers on the buddy-box system. The City of
Sierra Vista needs to be informed. Tom Campbell will e-mail donation
requests to various model aviation businesses. Tom Fenn will solicit
donations from the hobby stores in Tucson.
Oil around the Port-O-Pot – This is a
growing problem. Request that all club members keep watch to see who is
dumping oil around the Port-O-Pot. This is an environmental Hazmat
problem which needs to be stopped.
New Business: Mick will ask the City if
they will install a flagpole. Then the club could purchase a flag.
Also, Mick will talk to the City about
runway stripping; centerline, Xs at ends of runway and an engine shut
off line across the taxiways.
Starting Benches – Steve Mason stated
that there is a need to replace one starting bench and construct 2 to 3
more benches. Don Adams is pricing out materials and will report at the
March meeting. A vote for purchase of materials will take place at the
March meeting.
Meeting Adjourned at 7:45. Motion to
adjourn by Bill Hermes, Second by Sherry Fox
MEETING
The next meeting of the MMRCC is
scheduled for March 6 2008 at 7:00 P.M. The meeting will be held at the
Northrop Grumman facility. Personnel are required to sign-in and sign
out for security purposes.
See you at the
meeting……………….Will
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