By: Clark B McCurdy

My Uncle Russell Norton Boardman owned the Granville Racer GeeBee #7-11 (Model R-2) for a period up until his death in the aircraft while participating in the Bendix Cross Country Race in 1933. The crash occurred while Russell was on takeoff from an airport near Indianapolis, I believe, in strong gusty crosswinds. Evidently he snatched the plane off the ground in a strong gust decay situation and flew up into a slow flight and stall situation. The aircraft immediately snap rolled into the ground. He died two days after the crash from head injuries and impacts to the chest.

Two years earlier in 1931 he and His copilot/mechanic Johnny Polando flew a Belanca to Istanbul from New York City setting a world long distance record for the time of over 5000 miles. President Hover gave them both the Distinguished Flying Cross upon their return to the US with the airplane. Johnny’s widow Dorthy lives here in Portsmouth, NH near me and we attend the military pilot fraternity “Daedalions” Chapter meetings each month together. She has published her book on the flight entitled “Wings Over Istanbul”, Published by Peter E Randall, Publisher, Portsmouth, NH. On the cover is the photograph of Russell in the left seat and Johnny in the right seat.

I never met my uncle Rusell as I was born some two and a half years later after his death. But he and his brother, my uncle Earl Boardman, were the ones whom I have followed as guides in my own aviation career.

Jimmy Doolittle was hired to fly the plane for my uncle Russell in the Thompson Trophy races in Indianapolis as he had been injured in an earlier crash. These were regular occurrences in the era of aviation. One always need to be on the lookout for your next unexpected landing field.

I was just an airman, another enlisted worker bee stationed at Strategic Air Command’s 43rd Bombardment Wing (Medium). That and the 7th Bombardment Wing (Heavy) shared Carswell AFB at Fort Worth, Texas, whose airplane was the (even then) venerable old B-52. Ours was the crash-plagued mighty go-faster called the B-58 Hustler, the four-engine delta wing whose top speed was classified, although the government would only admit to Mach 2. In truth, it would fly much faster, but the real top-end figure never really got out. A telling feature was the fact that its only gun, a really fast-firing Gatling model, was at the rear and could put up a wall of lead faster than a fly can get itself airborne. Still, when I encountered someone from the 7^th Bomb Wing, they’d kid around about how they intended to paint the B-58s yellow and use them as entrance stands for the B-52s. Those 7^th Bomb Wing guys were such clever punsters.

Things were fairly quiet during those years, for the most part. Viet Nam had yet to really heat up, thus the radical hippie protesters hadn’t slithered onto the scene. But late one Monday afternoon, while we “intellectual” airmen were watching the Three Stooges on TV in the dayroom, President Kennedy appeared, interrupting the show. This of course caused a lot of booing and hissing, and attempts to change the channel to something else.

But there was nothing else; Kennedy was on every channel then offered over the North Texas airways. Realizing that this must be something important, we listened to our commander-in-chief as he explained the crisis of major proportions that we faced at that moment. We were all moving when he signed off, and as soon as he did so, every telephone in the barracks started ringing. I let someone else answer them, because it didn’t take a genius to figure that the callers were the section chiefs calling to tell us to get to our assigned duty stations. I changed to my fatigues and double-timed it to the flight line.

One thing that usually happened during an Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI, a.k.a. “alert”) was that there would always be technical problems and SNAFUs that kept the aircraft from making it to scramble status on time. Some would, but the performance was generally terrible, and it must have frustrated Wing HQ quite a bit.

But not this time; this was for real. What was really amazing was that each and every Hustler on the line went up and was certified ready to fly on time. And fly they did, with real nukes and their fail-safe orders on board; no play-acting this time. Our information was that the USA was at DefCon2, and that the next step up was all-out war. Subsequent reports have since confirmed that the October Missile Crisis was the absolute closest the USA got to all-out nuclear war during the Cold War.

The world knows what happened next, of course. Kruschev blinked and Kennedy prevailed. There are some bloggers on the Internet today claiming that Kennedy made plenty of mistakes, and of course hindsight is 20/20. Joint Chiefs member General Curtis LeMay, among others, was convinced that the president had not come close to handling the situation correctly and was pushing hard for an invasion. It was later discovered that there were several tactical nukes on the island, and LeMay’s desired invasion would’ve resulted in catastrophic losses. As far as I was concerned, President Kennedy kept us out of war and got the missiles out of Cuba, and life went on.

Thomas Ropp
Arizona Business Gazette
Jan. 12, 2006 12:00 AM

If practical, proud aircraft owners would keep their planes in their home so they could admire them 24/7.

Graeme Warring offers the next best solution.

Warring is chief executive officer of Pacific Aircraft, a 20-year-old Scottsdale Airpark company that specializes in creating handcrafted model replicas of beloved aircraft, boats and ships.
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“Our customer base is really quite diverse,” Warring said.

Private pilots to fractional owners of corporate jets have requested models, according to Warring. They are also a hit with those who served or are serving in the armed forces.

“And not just pilots request models,” Warring said. “A mechanic will have the same sense of pride of achievement in keeping an aircraft aloft. There is a fraternity of people who are passionate for aviation, especially in the military.”

Pacific Aircraft maintains an inventory of nearly 10,000 replicas at its warehouse just off the northeastern end of Scottsdale Airport’s runway.

Models range from the Wright Flyer to space shuttles.

“Our catalog is really the history of Aviation 101,” Warring said.

The company fills custom orders with detailing right down to the N-number on the tails.

Musician, moonwalker

Warring said he is working on a model for singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who flies a Cessna Caravan dubbed “Margaritaville.”

A Cessna 414 is being made for 76-year-old former astronaut Jim Lovell, who made two trips to the moon.

Twelve years ago, Pacific Aircraft branched out into the maritime model market and now produces everything from warships to ski boats.

A model of the USS Arizona will soon be presented to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., but the move is bipartisan. Warring said he hopes models of the USS Arizona will help the efforts of McCain and Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano raise nearly $3 million needed to refurbish the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

From a block of wood

The models, which typically are 15-17 inches long, begin as a solid block of kiln-dried mahogany.

They are hand-carved, painted and sealed.

All of the models are made by master woodcarvers at Pacific Aircraft’s production facility in the Philippines. It takes carvers nearly 60 hours to create one model.

Prices begin at $129 for a Cessna 172. A model of the USS Ronald Reagan CVN-76 aircraft carrier can cost $1,299.

“It’s the perfect upscale gift for yourself or someone you know,” Warring said. “These are not toys. They are collectibles and will be passed on from one generation to the next.”

It takes about eight weeks to receive a custom model.

Via source.

By: Dean

At approximately noon on June 11th, Dean arrived over Napa Airport. After circling the terminal area, he was cleared to land on 18L.

He then taxied to the ramp and was greeted by family members, numerous friends and the news media. Upon deplaning, he was given an orchid lei by Pat Crisman.

He was treated to a shower and a drink of sparkling wine from a magnum donated by Domaine Chandon.

Afterwards, he was interviewed by the local newspapers and area television media about the highlights of his trip.

After visiting with relatives and friends at the airport terminal, Dean was treated to a hangar BBQ of hot dogs and hamburgers hosted by the Napa Airports Pilots’ Association.

Asked by reporters if he was ever nervous, Dean said he was not and he wouldn’t hesitate to make such a trip again … “if somebody else paid for it.” What’s next? “A nice dinner tonight,” he said. “And to be able to brush my teeth with tap water.”