Foil: 9 Panel: 2 Column: 2 Line: 54

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Ms. Veronica T. Arata

I would like to nominate my father as a member of the Air and Space Museum?’'s Wall of Honor. His passion for aviation dates back to his early childhood. it was at Bader Field in Atlantic City where he flew at age 11 with Clarence Chamberland in a dilapidated Curtis Condor for the humble price of 50 cents in 1936. His enthusiasm for planes and pilots never wavered as he grew up.

He spent WWII as a navigator in a B-29 flying bombing raids over Japan with a crew affectionately known as ?“"Homer'?’s Roamers?”." After the war was over, he returned to a more sedate life, but continued to read avidly about the pioneers of aviation. He began a new hobby of constructing remote control planes. As a child I was witness to some beautiful flights as well as some spectacular crashes! As he aged, his fondness for flight continued to expand and he embarked on a new pastime of creating scratch built planes. He has spent countless hours pouring over blueprints and building and rebuilding many beautiful planes, and continues to do so today. His interest in aviation is unfailing, even after all these years. Many afternoons he gets a cup of coffee, a good book and heads to the local airport.

On the occasion of his 81st birthday, I feel that this is a well-deserved honor for a man who served heroically in the service of his country and whose dedication to the pioneers, the pilots and the planes has never faltered. Dad, you thought I wasn'?’t paying attention but I was?…!