Foil: 9 Panel: 1 Column: 1 Line: 92

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
E. Karyl Reinauer

My honoree is my father, Everett C. Reinauer. From B-17's to C-130's, love of aviation and country was and is still his passion. He began his long aviation career at an aviation school in Elmira, NY, during the late 1930's where he learned to fly a plane before he could drive the family car. Unable to pass the Army Air Corps pilot physical during WWII, he became a mechanic and flight engineer on B-17's and performed those duties throughout the war. After leaving the Army, he was employed at Bell Aircraft in Niagara Falls, NY, where he worked on the X-1 and X-2 projects. My father later went back to his military roots by joining the 914th Airlift Group at Niagara Falls Air Force Base. As an Air Reserve Technician he first became a mechanic/flight engineer on C-l 19's and finished his career on C130's. Finally, I will always carry the memory of the first time I brought my dad to the Air and Space Museum. After we walked through he door, he looked up in awe and quietly said to me, "I built that plane". As he pointed to the X-1,1 knew at that moment he was truly a part of aviation history.