January 11, 2005

2000 Officers

NEW - We have a new URL for the web site!  Although the old one will still work, this one will be easier to type in and remember: http://eaa72.tripod.com

Just a reminder to renew your annual membership dues of $15.00 and please see Bill Von Dane for a member information sheet.  Bill Also has some EAA National membership renewal forms that will net the chapter 72 treasury $20 per member who renews their membership with one of these forms before February 29th...

NEXT MEETING

President's Corner
By Don MacNiven

Welcome to the Year 2000! I trust that all of you made it into the new year without any lethal attacks by the Y2K bug and that you found out that the laws of physics have not been repealed. As long as the ones that govern how airplanes fly are still intact, I'll be happy.

Last month's dinner meeting was a great event. I'd like to thank all of the organizers for putting it together. It was appropriate that we took the time to recognize the on going efforts of two of our founding members, Bruce McCombs and Pete Gonzalez. Their decades of involvement have kept our Chapter strong since the early 1960s. Both gentlemen are actively involved in aviation on a daily basis, and they don't show any signs of slowing down. We were also able to recognize those members whose project aircraft took flight for the first time ( or once again ) last year. It's nice to see them reap the rewards for those many hours of work. These members serve as an example to all of us that you CAN see your aircraft project through to completion.

We owe a debt of gratitude and want to once again thank last year's officers for the work they did on our behalf. We have a Chapter that is active and filled with enthusiasm and this year’s officers hope to keep that momentum going. We have a team working for you that will do what it takes to make things happen. We welcome your input and hope you will feel free to contact us with your ideas and that you will join in to make this year a great one.

Build them well, and fly safely! Don MacNiven

Member Profile - Bruce McCombs
Interview with Sandy Martin in early December, written by Richard Martin

Only the newest members do not know Bruce, but, as most of you do know, he was awarded a special plaque at the annual Banquet last month for being a founding member of this club and a very active participant in aviation hereabouts for the past 50 years. In the Pete Gonzalez story a few months ago, I wrote about studying the chapter history and how that story is really one about Bruce, Pete, Hurstle Stidham, Larry Dale and others. I would like to write about them for the next few issues.

Well, Bruce can take satisfaction in what this EAA club has become, he had a lot to do with it. At the first meeting in 1962 he was elected one of 3 chapter officers and in 1963 took over as chapter president when the 1st fellow had to leave town. He has served in many capacities since then and was chapter president again when Burrall replaced him in1998. At the Banquet I was talking to Pete Gonzalez about his award (Member of the Year) and the history of sport aviation here and he said, " I was just a follower, going where Bruce and others led the way". Now remember Pete is a modest fellow, but certainly Bruce had a lot to do with our airport, Meadowlake, building the first hangers, building the first airplanes, teaching others how to build airplanes, and working on many of them himself.

NEBRASKA

Bruce's first memories of airplanes were as a boy in Lincoln, Nebraska, where his father worked as a pattern maker on a plane called the 'Aerosport', which was put out of business by the depression. At the age of seven, he began building models, the first one a 1932 Bristol fighter. When he was 15 the family moved to the Springs permanently. He joined the Navy in WWII and became a paint and body man at Conover motor after the war. He got his pilot's license in '47 and the next year or so began a flying club on the side. They were flying some beat up Aeronica Chief's and Champs till about '57 when they sold the planes off. Along the way many airplanes have been acquired, restored, flown and sold. After the flying club, he got a T-Craft BC12-D, then a Cessna 120 from Ben Kelly and by 1965 a Cessna 170.

McCANDLES RANCH

It was about this time that Everett Conover approached him about starting an airport here on his wife's (Helen McCandles Conover) family ranch. Along with a builder, Bill Godwin and realtor, Bill Erickson, they put together a deal to put up the first hangers here at Meadowlake in 1965. With the help of others like Hurstle they dragged a runway and moved their planes here on New Year’s day 1966. Times were different then and there were no kit airplanes. Plans were very rudimentary; using raw materials and scrounging parts and supplies wherever. Bruce built and flew the first homebuilt in El Paso county, an EAA biplane here at Meadowlake, Hurstle was second in a Spezio tuholer, which Bruce welded, then Pete was third with his T-18.

AIRPLANES AND THE OLDEST STUDENT PILOT

Bruce’s passion has always been the airplanes, in ‘74 he built a cassutt which he calls a “dragon”. He rebuilt a Lark Commander, a wrecked Cessna 170, he and Evan, his son, acquired a Cessna 140 which they sold to buy a Mooney that they rebuilt and still have. It has been Bruce’s traveling airplane. With it he has been to Alaska and Canada and various parts of the USA. In 1989 he traded a Luscombe in pieces for the L-2 that he completely restored. In ‘92 it won Best Warbird at the Rocky Mountain Fly-in. Bruce calls himself the “world’s oldest student pilot” by which I think he means he is not technically a “student” but that he is still learning about aviation, after all he got his commercial ticket in ‘52. The list of planes is endless, between him and Evan I could double the size of this story, he built 6 homebuilts and restored about another 10.

At the present, Bruce and Evan are restoring a famous race plane, the “Firecracker” which Tony LeVier ran in the 1939 Thompson Trophy race, coming in 2nd to Roscoe Turner. It has 500 H.P. while Roscoe had 1200 and LeVier only lost because he backed off for fear of destroying his engine.

This is what is it all really about….the airplanes, but along the way Bruce started our Chapter, built our airport and a heck of a lot of airplanes. So the next time you taxi out to take off on One Five, tip your hat to Bruce and the guys and what they accomplished for us. It was a lot of hard work.

Feature Builder - Bud Wasserott
Interview and story by Richard Martin

I was introduced to Bud at the Banquet last month by Burrall, who thought I should look over Bud's project for a story, and what a story that is. I really don't know where to begin, the project itself is fantastic, the way Bud does it is very unusual, and then there is Bud himself. I believe Bud will think I'm going overboard with this analogy but after the interview I was thinking about how unusual this man is, how quiet and soft spoken he is, he calls himself a very "private person", how he listens to advice but considers his own council important, the discipline and speed in working on his projects, the details he puts in his projects and finally his physical stature, tallish and lean. I couldn't help but think of Charles Lindberg, that's right the Lone Eagle....now bear with me, if Bud had been there in 1927 and wanted to fly solo over the Atlantic, I believe he would have. I think I need to call his wife Lloyd and see if I'm all wet, but in the meantime here's a story about him and his current project a Lancair ES.

AIR FORCE

Bud was a military pilot for 22 years. He joined the Air Force in 1953 as an enlisted man then got into flight training, becoming a fighter pilot and retiring a Lt. Col. He flew the F-80, F-84 and A-37. He extended his tour in Vietnam to stay in combat with the A-37 used in close air support-ground attack, coming home only after the brass decided he should be teaching other pilots combat instead of flying it, remember what I said about having the discipline to get things done.

LANCAIR 360

Bud's first project is a Lancair 360, a beautifully done project completed in 2 1/2 years, sitting in the hanger next door to the ES. He has about 275 hours on it in 4 years and it cruises at 190 knots. With the wind right, it's 20 gallons and a couple hours to Dallas -Fort Worth. Bud says it's a 'blast' to fly. What I found really unusual, this is the first airplane Bud's ever owned, not one store bought. He built it without any support groups, did not know the EAA existed or the Lancair boys had web sites and newsletters. This was his first project and he's confident it would have been done in 2 years flat except the factory mandated a change to the horizontal stabilizer, requiring the old one to come off and the new one replace it. The first time he heard about the EAA was when the airplane came to the airport and Fred Carter and Hurstle Stidham helped him put it in the hanger. All this and not one whit of previous airplane building experience. Never been to Oshkosh, not even a Lancair fly-in. Very unusual.

LANCAIR ES

This is a fantastic design, the fuselage comes out of the same mold as the 4P, but it has fixed gear, remember KISS, keep it simple stupid! It cruises at the same speed as the 2 place, 190 knots, but have you seen the room inside that cockpit? Wow, it's impressive. Bud thought about building other projects, but settled on the ES for several reasons, he was familiar with Lancair, believes this is the state of the art, i.e. epoxy pre preg, aerodynamically sound, efficient; and another important reason, it won't burn. That's why he chose the '360', if you put a blow torch to it, then remove it, the fire goes out, something he was concerned with in the military. Besides all that, this is one great looking airplane.

Bud started this project in Aug 98, the wings and fuselage are built, the interior components are being put in the fuselage now. He was working on the autopilot installation the day I dropped in. Bud has lots of goodies he's installing in the cockpit and panel, this one's going to be a real beauty too. Being the experienced builder Bud is, I did not get a completion date from him. To him that it's done right is much more important then when, no deadlines or such, but I'll bet it will be done by......remember that discipline and speed? I was really impressed by this airplane project, but I was more impressed by the man building it.

New Members

Dave and Martha Hirshman

Dave came into our community from Memphis just in time to make the banquet at Bennett's in December. Martha and the 2 kids came in Christmas week, a heck of a time to move with the little ones. He has written a couple of aviation books and is a writer for the Gazette newspaper. His resume includes crop dusting and airshow aerobatic performer. He has a beautiful RV-4 here at Meadowlake, ½ of which is for sale. See below

Barry and Allison Gibbons

They come here from California. There is still a bit of moving to do, so Barry may miss the Jan meeting. He has a nice Velocity XL project well on it’s way here at the airport. I gandered at the wings and fuselage New Year’s Eve when he gave me his dues. The hanger is right next to Duke and Howard’s with the door facing west. so, if you see them around, be sure to drop by. We’ll be sure to introduce him at the Feb meeting

December Meeting: December 14, 1999
By Sandy Martin

Annual Banquet—Bennett’s Steak and Bar-B-Que
Photos by Bill Von Dane

Everyone had a great time at the Annual Banquet last month. With members and wives, there were 60 + in attendance. Thanks to Jean Jenkins for selecting Bennett's. The food and service were very good.

Burrall Sanders passed the gavel to the new Chapter President, Don MacNiven. Special awards were given to Bruce McCombs, Founding Member, and Pete Gonzalez, Member of the Year. Burrall received a Special Recognition plaque for the dedication and energy that he has given to the office of chapter president for the past two years.

Thanks to Dick Rowley, who, with his usual flair, provided fun entertainment, a “bird serenade”, during his slide presentation highlighting Bruce.

Bruce McCombs, founding member	Don MacNiven presents a Special Recognition award to Burrall Sanders		Pete Gonzalez, Member of the Year
We had a great turnout!	Don MacNiven, Chapter President		Hank Bartlett - past Young Eagles Coordinator
Chuck Grow, Vice President	Frenchy Fernand, past Vice President		Jean Jenkins, past Newsletter Editor
Loyd Remus, Young Eagles Coordinator		Burrall Sanders, past President

Lil’ O Cookout

We plan on having a cookout Saturday January 22nd from 9:00am to 1:00pm at Duke and Howard’s Canteen; coffee and donuts; burgers. Turn west past the tan hanger at 8304 Cessna Dr. Turn the corner past the orange hanger.

For Sale - RV-4

1/2 ownership in 1995 RV-4
100TT and SMOH, 150HP, FP, Full panel, Leather Interior, Meadowlake, $25K
Contact Dave Hirschman, 636-0274