Robert "Bob" Tedesco (b. August 16, 1942) has been a flight enthusiast ever since he was a child. When he was only 5 years old he built a balsa wood model airplane carved out of balsa blocks. It wasn't the prettiest plane, but he loved it. During the next few years, he graduated to building hand launched models with rubber bands linked to the propellers, and by the age of 13 he was building and painting U-controlled models and flying them in school yards. Right around his 18th birthday, he joined the United States Air Force and was flown to Sheppard AFB for basic training and then was sent to Pease AFB in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. There he applied for Officer's training so that he could become a fighter pilot but was not accepted because he had a functional heart defect. He then signed up for engineering and general studies classes at the University of New Hampshire at Durham, NH with the idea of becoming an aero-space engineer upon finishing his four year tour.
During this time he married his wife Bobbie and they had two children and a foster child, Bobbie's brother, who had been orphaned very early. Bob became a crew chief on a B47 bomber and attained the rank of Airman First Class. In 1964, Bob left the service and moved back to Pittsburgh and to work for Crucible Steel Company and provide for his growing family. Then Bob and Bobbie went on to have four more children while Bob attended the University of Pittsburgh. He graduated with honors in 1969 with a degree in Aero-Space Engineering. Upon graduating from Pitt, Bob obtained a job in Everett, Washington with Boeing Aircraft as a liaison and problem solving engineer. During this time, he obtained a private pilot's license and a commercial rating with the help of the GI Bill. Upon hearing of impending mass layoffs at Boeing he obtained a job back in Pittsburgh with Westinghouse Research. In the early 1970s, Bob left the employ of Westinghouse Research to join the Contraves-Goertz Company. While there he designed a long-range telescope which kept track of satellites.
Bob continued to build up his proficiency in flying small aircraft. He joined the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) and now makes an almost yearly trip to AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He has flown as a passenger, in many different aircraft including a 747 test flight, a Ford Tri-Motor, a bell helicopter, and many experimental planes, along with piloting Cessna, piper and Zenith aircraft. Yet piloting planes wasn't nearly enough. Bob wanted to go back to where he started: building planes. He started to build a Volksplane until he decided to make a bigger plane with two seats, a Zenith 701 which is now under construction in the family garage in Pittsburgh. Bob now belongs to the Chapter 857 of the EAA based in Butler, PA and participates in fly-in/breakfasts several times a year. In 2014, Bob participated in the building and chronicling of the "One Week Wonder," a Zenith 750 at the AirVenture in Oshkosh. He also has put out a monthly bulletin about each day's progress for the Chapter 867 Newsletter. Throughout the years, Bob introduced all 10 of his children to flight in one form or another. Now there are 36 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren, many of whom have been introduced to actual flights through the Young Eagles Program and have built models of their own. Bob Tedesco has created a legacy of flight enthusiasm that has been passed down three generations already and will continue into the generations to come.