My interest in aviation was sparked at age 6 when I received a plastic model airplane kit for Christmas. It was a Vertical Takeoff aircraft and was the first of many models I would build. When Sputnik was launched into space by the USSR my eyes were opened to the frontier of Space and created my need to see and read everything that was air and space related. I compiled quite an extensive scrapbook of what are now historic events in aircraft development and space exploration.

Over the years I transitioned through building static models to designing, building and flying control-line .049 engine driven planes and solid fuel powered model rockets. I still have that scrapbook and several of those flying models including a Sopwith Camel biplane and an Honest John scale model rocket.

As I grew older I became a wide-eyed witness to man's exploration in this field of endeavor; eager for news of the latest X-15 tests, avidly following the missions of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts and even staying home from school on my birthday, May 5, 1961, to watch the live TV broadcast of Alan Sheppard's Mercury flight that made him the first American in space. I was mesmerized watching the live telecast of Apollo 11 as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first human footprints on the surface of the Moon on July 20, 1969. Then, to see Alan Sheppard take a golf shot on the Moon was a real thrill.

Since, I have seen many historic sites and craft, up-close and personal, including the Houston Manned Spacecraft Center, an ICBM Missile complex, President Kennedy's Air Force One, the SST, SR-71 Blackbird, Super Guppy, B-52, F-16, and I had front-row seats at the University of Arizona to view the live closed circuit broadcast of the Phoenix rover touch down on Mars. I never tire of visiting the Air and Space Museum and reading its magazine to keep abreast of the very important work the Smithsonian staff and volunteers are doing to preserve our aviation and space exploration achievements for posterity.