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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. William S. Demray

Mr. Clark Putman’s innovative aircraft maintenance, combining meticulous quality assurance with ingenious mechanical repair techniques, has contributed significantly to improving the safety, longevity, and dependability of the general aviation fleet.
Mr. Clark O. Putman, or “Put” as he is known in aviation circles, was born October 26, 1929. He has worked in aeronautics since 1946 and is considered by many to be the quintessential aircraft mechanic – thorough, unpretentious, stern but kind, instructive, and inventive. Mr. Putman is a dogged fact-finder, logistic planner, and mechanical innovator.
Mr. Putman’s interest in aeronautics began at Detroit City Airport, shuttling passenger meals between the Baker Eberly restaurant and the major air carriers such as TWA, Eastern, American, and Chicago & Southern. Mr. Putman enrolled in aeromechanics school and, in addition to his high school studies, began taking flying lessons at Lane Tiger Flying Service. In 1947, Mr. Putman worked as an aircraft mechanics’ assistant at the Warren Airport in Warren, Michigan, completed high school, and focused on aircraft mechanics’ school full time. By the spring of 1950, Mr. Putman had completed airframe and engine (A&E) license requirements.
Mr. Putman served in the U.S. Army, initially stationed at the Columbia, South Carolina artillery range. While serving in Korea, Mr. Putman gained notoriety in aviation maintenance by volunteering to help struggling mechanics change engines and cylinders in L-19 Bird Dogs and stepping in to help overworked Army helicopter mechanics as well. His commanding officer unofficially pulled him off artillery duty and “re-assigned” him to use his mechanical expertise to benefit the Army’s aviation fleet.
After completing military duty, Mr. Putman returned to Detroit City Airport in 1953 and worked for Michigan Aviation, and then Barr Aviation, the southeastern Michigan Piper Aircraft Distributor. There, beginning with the Tripacer, Mr. Putman began assembling an encyclopedic knowledge of the Piper product. In 1956, Mr. Putman began teaching aeromechanics in night school. By 1958 when Piper released the Comanche, Mr. Putman had already distinguished himself as a Piper mechanical expert.
In 1959, Barr Aviation closed and Mr. Putman walked into Berz Flying Service in Birmingham, Michigan (now Oakland Troy Executive Airport) looking for work. He has been with Berz ever since, which is now located in Utica, Michigan. Mr. Putman still works 12-hour days as the master of the Piper product, improving it as it ages, not simply repairing it.
His reputation and expertise has attracted pilots from as far away as Arizona, Florida, Washington, D.C. and across the Midwest who bring their aircraft “home” to Mr. Putman for inspections and maintenance. The reliability of the aircraft maintained by Mr. Putman is directly due to his uncanny ability to foresee possible mechanical problems and remedy them before they occur, often even before the problems are published in the Airworthiness Directives.
Always staying abreast of new aircraft and technology as they were produced, Mr. Putman regularly attends factory service programs on Piper aircraft, Lycoming and Pratt & Whitney engines. He is constantly devising better ways of performing intricate maintenance procedures often sharing the knowledge and techniques with other mechanics. Aircraft, engine, and parts manufacturers consult him after they hear about the development of his innovative approaches to maintaining or repairing specific products.
His mechanical expertise led John Brown to recruit Mr. Putman to serve as flight engineer to several transoceanic record-setting flights in John Brown’s former Piper Aztec N2FX. From May 24, 1984 to June 17, 1984, they circumnavigated the globe. In 1984, they flew to the North Pole and in 1986 flew to Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, Australia, Easter Island, then on to Chile. Mr. Putman also flew in the Wright Flyer replica at Dayton in 1997.
The FAA awarded Mr. Clark O. Putman an Aviation Mechanic Citation for “improving maintenance practices,” in 1974. Mr. Putman was also awarded the FAA Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award for 50 years of service to aviation, in 1996.
Mr. Putman is a leader in his church community. He is a father of three children and grandfather to eight grandchildren.
Mr. Putman’s dedication to mechanical perfection is personified by his motto “if it’s not right, it’s wrong.” As one pilot said, “Mr. Putman doesn’t just maintain my airplane; he makes me understand what makes it tick.”
The quintessential aircraft mechanic, Mr. Putman is virtually a complete aircraft maintenance department dedicated to the safety of the general aviation fleet and the people it serves.