Foil: 28 Panel: 2 Column: 2 Line: 17

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Sponsor

Honored by:
Mr. Danny K. Alexander

Sol Alexander worked at JFK (John F. Kennedy) Airport in New York back when it was still known as Idlewild Airport.
Having dedicated his working career for Lockheed Aircraft Service International (LASI) at Hangar 7, he saw the flights of the Lockheed Super G Constellations on through to the modern Boeing 747's and the Concorde.
I can still remember a story he told of the first landing of a 747 in New York as they all gathered to watch the approach and thought there was something seriously wrong with the landing gear as it was crooked.
Sol was an aviation enthusiast and although he never flew he was instrumental in giving his son Howard the desire to learn to fly and the love of aviation that he continues with today.
Sol passed away in April 1986 but will always be remembered as part of the aviation antics that went on at Hangar 7 in New York on behalf of Lockheed.
William "Bill" Alexander grew up in Hettinger, ND on an airport managed by his father. He was a flag boy and mixed chemicals for his father's crop dusting operations. He learned aircraft mechanics by assisting his father and other mechanics at the airport. He soloed in 1951 at age 16. He graduated from high school and entered the USAF. After a tour in the USAF he returned to the airport and worked for his father. In 1958, Bill attended the Spartan School of Aviation to get his mechanic's engine rating. He had already obtained the airframe rating by experience. In 1962, following the death of his father, Bill and his brother managed the airport in Hettinger. Bill ran an aircraft repair facility and began his career as a crop duster. In 1965, Bill went to work at Black Hills Aviation located in Spearfish, SD. He worked for Arnold Kolb and with a well known aviation pioneer, Clyde Ice. Bill was a mechanic and crop duster while at the Spearfish Airport. In 1966, Bill went to Finley, TN where he worked as a crop duster for Mid Continent Air Services. He crop dusted in a Stearman, Grumman AgCat, and KingCat. He held commercial licenses in the USA, Mexico, and Canada as he worked as an agricultural pilot in all three nations. He sprayed for weeds, insects, planted cotton, and fertilized cotton. As the Chief Pilot for Mid Continent, he also used a mild version of Agent Orange to defoliate forests under contract to Georgia Pacific. About 1973, Mid Continent ceased the crop dusting and defoliation so Bill went to work for the Dyersburg, TN airport as a mechanic. In 1975, Bill went to work for his brother at a small FBO in Glendale, AZ.. Bill worked there until 1982 when he returned to Dyersburg where he worked as a mechanic until October 2003.
Bill's career in aviation spans over 50 years. He was published in several issues of EAA Magazine. Those articles emphasized methods of fabricating special tools to simplify work on both aircraft engines and airframes.