Feb 25th, 2025 - February Meeting to see Tom's Glastar on skis

Tom Lawhorn hosted our February meeting at his hangar to show us his ski installation on his Glastar and treated us to chili. Tom is planning his first flight this Spring after he gets some transition training. All 20 of us greatly appreciated the craftmanship of both aircraft and chilli!

Jan 28th, 2025 - January Meeting

We had a great meeting last night with about 20 attendees to see Greg Miller's nearly completed Glasair III.

Jan 11th, 2025 - January Breakfast

First breakfast meeting of 2025. It was a good one.

Jan 9th, 2025 - DOT proposal affecting Merrill Field

We encourage our members to send comments to DOT about how two of their proposed routes would negatively affect Merrill Field and the gravel strip in particular. You can comment via the "Contact Us" or "Comments" links near the upper right. DOT proposal

Dec 7th, 2024 - Airmen's Scholarship Fund donation

On Saturday, December 7th, Ed White, Chapter Treasurer, presented the Alaska Airmen’s Association a check for $1600 to be put towards the Airmen’s 2025 scholarship fund. The Alaska Airmen’s Association will match this donation for a total scholarship of $3200 dollars! This will go a long ways to helping future aviators fulfill their dreams. Thanks to all who helped make this happen.

Nov 26th, 2024 - November Chapter meeting at the Alaska Aviation Museum

We had a great November Chapter meeting at the Alaska Aviation Museum.

Chuck Hosack graciously hosted the event and gave an interesting presentation on the museum's Norseman and Fairchild restoration projects.

Nov 9th, 2024 - Saturday Breakfast

The chapter had a great breakfast at Kava’s. Lot’s of good airplane talk, and a few tall tales! We’d love to see you next month if you missed this one.

Oct 24th, 2024 - Academy Charter School

On October 24th in a response to an earlier request from someone in the group to go visit the Academy. After much back and forth coordination between the teacher, Mark and myself, we finally were able to make it happen. The kids were kinda overwhelmed and full of great questions. A number of them expressed interest in becoming pilots. They were quite knowledgeable in the basic flight principles as well as aircraft components. I did have to take some extra time to explain why my airplane was so different. A few of them had actually heard of the Rutan brothers already. We talked about the EAA and about the Young Eagles program. I left their Teacher with a DVD for them to watch called "Living in the age of airplanes" narrated by Harrison Ford. Anyway it was a great day. We arrived in a pretty tight two-ship formation and were met with nothing but wide eyes and smiles. Always glad to represent our Chapter in a positive light. Ciao, Bob Lee

Oct 22nd, 2024 - October Meeting

25 of us enjoyed "Carrier Night," featuring Allen Thornhill and Dave McKay.

Allen served in the Navy from 1960-1964. He was a fireman (and later, boiler tech) in the Boiler Division on the aircraft carrier, USS Antietam II (CV-36), a Naval Aviation Training carrier based at the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Pensacola. Allen highlighted several experiences aboard the Antietam:

• Spring 1961: Strato-Lab manned test flights, followed by the Prather/Ross flight on 4 May, setting world-wide record of absolute altitude for a manned flight of 113,740 ft (21.5 miles) via balloon.
• Fall 1961: Providing humanitarian aid (medical supplies & personnel) to the Texas coast in the wake of hurricane Carla and to British Honduras after hurricane Hattie.
• Oct 16-28, 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis/Blockade, when the US stopped the deployment of Soviet nuclear-armed medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles--capable of destroying US cities and military bases in most of the continental US.
• 1963: became a star heavy weight boxer, affording him the leave he needed to marry his wife, Judy.

Allen also explained the process of generating steam via the ship's 8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers to drive the 4 Westinghouse turbine and reduction gear powerplants, typical of Essex-class carriers. These could power the 27K-ton-displacement ship at 34 knots for aircraft launch and recovery.

Later in life (1983), Allen and wife, Judy, founded and operated CWM Industries, providing welding & metal fabrication all over Alaska and noted for their specialty in repairing large cranes. They sold the business this year, after 41 years of excellent service.

Dave served in the Navy from 1961-1974, first as an enlisted man; he was a Douglas A4 plane captain on the aircraft carrier, USS Ticonderoga (CV-14), during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (Aug 2, 1964). Upon reaching 21 years of age, he transitioned to a commissioned officer, trained, and became a Douglas A4 Skyhawk pilot. Assigned to the 7th Fleet, VA-55 ("Warhorses"), he returned to the South China Sea aboard the USS Constellation (CVA-64) flying the A4D-2N and, later, the A4E. He elaborated on numerous experiences flying combat missions in the very capable Skyhawk, and one gut-wrenching return to the Constellation in a shot-up, crippled A4. Dave shared insights about how the Vietnam war might have turned out quite differently in the days following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

Dave is a 36,000-hour pilot, having flown a multitude of aircraft types. He was with Northwestern Arctic Air Inc for over a decade, becoming President.

In addition to being being in close proximity in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Dave and Allen talked about other history-making events when their paths crossed (unknowingly to either of them at the time), including work during the initial months of the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup (1989) and more recent work in Turnagain Arm.

Members Wally & Sarah Parks brought Leo Holler (& son) to the evening's meeting. It was a bonus for Leo to share his A4 combat experiences as well, as a land-based pilot in Vietnam.

Thus, we had a fascinating and marvelous evening, celebrating our veterans. And Allen, Dave, Leo, Chuck, and others ... thank you for keeping us safe and free on your watch!

Oct 12th, 2024 - October Breakfast

Today we had Bob E, Vickie, Cliff, Ed, Chris, Tim, Chuck, Trice & Scott. And I forgot to take a pic ... rats! --Scott