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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Louis J. Savage

Even as a child, daddy was fascinated with flight. He grew up in the 1920’s when there was much excitement about attempts made and records broken by people like Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Lt. Richard Byrd, and Jimmy Doolittle, to name only a few. Grandma could hardly make him take off his leather helmet to bathe, sleep and go to church. As a young man, he watched the planes at the local airfield along with his friends. After he retired, he enjoyed hot air balloon ascents.
During his 77 years he flew in just about everything from propeller aircrafts to supersonic jets. In the course of his business life, was a regular o the “red-eye express” and crossed both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans more than he cared to think about. He loved to tell about flying in one of the early corporate jets, and the whole town showing up at the airfield to watch the tiny bird take off. His company wanted him to go to Qatar, but he did not relish the thought until they tempted him with a flight on the Concorde. He and mommy even celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary by taking a glider ride.
In the business world he dealt with, among many other areas, the space industry. Catalytic won several bids for projects at Cape Canaveral/Kenney and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He loved cuff links and tie tacks, and several were gifts from people he met while working on the space projects.
When I was a teen, we were glued to the television to see space shots and landings. I wanted to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon at my boyfriend’s house. That was fine with daddy, as long as I watched history in the making. I did.
While I can’t recognize a plane’s profile the way my father could, I enjoy flying – especially low over the azure waters of the Caribbean, or over a big city lit up for Christmas. My first flight was at age nine months, and my most recent was last month. I suppose that his love of flight rubbed off on me!
I am proud that there is a Victor C. Quackenbush Memorial Fund and a listing on the National Aviation Space Exploration Wall of Honor.
Submitted by Victor’s daughter, Laura Quackenbush Savage