Missouri Wing Newsletter

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Missouri Wing of the Commemorative Air Force Monthly Newsletter

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COMMEMORATIVE AIR FORCE
The

C MPASS
M ISSOURI W ING JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2013

P.O. Box 637 • St.Charles, MO 63302 • St. Charles County Smartt Airport 636-250-4515 • Fax 636-250-4515 • www.cafmo.org

MISSOURI WING

E XECUTIVE S TAFF
WING LEADER Col. Patrick Kesler 28 Confederate Way St. Charles, MO 63303 636-928-5687 636-250-4515 Wing [email protected] ADJUTANT Col.Bob Moore 6 Hidden Meadow Court St. Charles, MO 63303 636-928-5546 home 314-486-1205 cell [email protected] EXECUTIVE OFFICER Col. Bob Lawrence 111 W. Essex Ave. Kirkwood, MO 63122 314-494-7539 cell 314-894-3200 x103 work FINANCE Col. Steve Gossett 4 Limerick Lane O'Fallon, MO 63366 636-474-9763 314-306-5021 OPERATIONS OFFICER Col.Craig O'Mara 1085 Graywolf Court Fairview Heights, IL 62208 618-632-6113 home 618-558-7211 cell [email protected] MAINTENANCE OFFICER Col. Pat Fenwick 6 Heather Drive St. Peters, MO 63376 636-441-2856 SAFETY OFFICER Col. Chris Herrmann 309 Clearwater Drive Belleville, IL 62220 618-233-4782 PIO OFFICER Col. Cecilia Holechek 314-920-5118 [email protected]

WINTER MAINTENANCE
Wing mechanics doing fuel tank calibration checks.

1

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U PCOMING E VENTS
NOTE: NC = Not Confirmed

3

View The Compass in color at cafmo.org

Feb 9 General Meeting 1:30pm Mar 9 B-25 Ground School 9:00am Mar 9 General Meeting 1:30pm Apr 6 Hot Springs, AR Aerospace Day B-25, TBM, PX LHFEs Apr 13 General Meeting 1:30pm Apr 17-20 71st Doolittle Raider Reunion Eglin AFB, FL B-25 LHFEs (NC) May 11 General Meeting 1:30pm May 24-26 Columbia, MO Salute To Veterans B-25, TBM Jun 8-9 Cameron, MO Airshow B-25, LHFEs, PX (NC) Jun 8 General Meeting 1:30pm Jun 22-23 Davenport, IA Quad Cities Airshow B-25, TBM, PX Jun 28-29 Cape Girardeau, MO B-25, TBM, L-3, LHFEs, PX (NC) Jul 13 General Meeting 1:30pm Aug 10 General Meeting 1:30pm 5 Aug 24 Sullivan, MO B-25, L-3 LHFEs, PX (NC) Sep 14 General Meeting 1:30pm Sep 20-21 Camdenton, MO Lake Airshow B-25, L-3, LHFEs, PX Sep 21 HANGAR DANCE! Sep 28 Jefferson City, MO Open House B-25, L-3, LHFEs, PX (NC) Oct 12 General Meeting 1:30pm Oct 19 Mt. Vernon, IL Little Egypt Fly-In B-25, TBM, L-3, LHFEs, PX (NC) Oct 26 Smartt Field Open House & Pumpkin Drop (NC) Nov 9 General Meeting 1:30pm

appy Day! H 's ne lenti Va

Saturday - February 9 - General Meeting - 1:30 pm

WING LEADER'S REPORT
A belated, but sincere Happy New Year to everyone! I trust you all are staying warm and dry and looking forward to another exciting year filled with air shows, events, meetings and gettogethers at the Missouri Wing. It will be difficult to match the number of activities and aircraft events in which we participated last year – but we are surely going to try! A lot of our members have been very active over the past two months prepping for 2013 getting a good jump on being ready for both the flying season and local Wing activities. The Holidays and cold weather have not slowed this well-oiled machine one iota and it looks like a very exciting year in the making! The mechanics are tireless and are well ahead of last year’s timeline in regards to the aircraft annual inspections and required maintenance. They will soon have SHOW ME up on the jacks doing brake maintenance and gear swings. The TBM is coming along great and Dutch is having fun with his merry band of “swabbies” (Naval-oriented term). Of course these mechanicaltype guys take “breaks” every now and then and have been known to discuss non-mechanical items occasionally. My ears have been privileged to monitor some of these discussions and the wide scope of items explored is amazing. Everything from how to spice up a bowl of chili to what cross-stitch technique is easiest on the fingers. Yep, there is a wealth of knowledge inside those hangar doors and it is available for free. I also know that they are very good at recipes and keeping the troops fed. Everything from homemade stew and chili to brats and sloppy joes can be seen, smelled and consumed on Thursdays. The camaraderie is really blossoming and it is rare to see such a closely knit, friendly group of volunteers. They work hard, enjoy the times, and are a joy to watch… We are planning on aircraft maintenance flights and pilot recurrency checks by the end of March this year, so it won’t be long before we hear those big radials roaring. Once again, Col. Matt Conrad has been very busy coordinating for the upcoming airshow season. It looks like another full schedule this year. Like last year, we are trying to have as many “local area” events as possible in order to generate awareness and increase our visibility. The 71st Doolittle Raider Reunion is scheduled for the third week of April and we plan on having SHOW ME participate again this year. It will be held at Eglin AFB near Ft. Walton Beach, FL where the Raiders did their initial short field takeoff training. Our first scheduled aircraft event so far is Hot Springs, AR during the first weekend in April. Matt is also working on shows and events in Cameron, Camdenton, Jefferson City, Columbia, Cape Girardeau, and Sullivan, Missouri as well as Mount Vernon, IL and Davenport, IA. Most of these events have not been confirmed, but that is normal so early in the season. For this reason, it will be a while before the sign-up list is available and we will be very careful listing any air show or event on the COMPASS or website calendars until we are pretty much guaranteed it will occur. A Busch Stadium fly-by or two and other yearly airshows are possibilities and we are looking forward to a Spirit of St. Louis Airport show during the 2014 flying season (with the Blue Angels). The January 5th Christmas Dinner (Come on now - it was rescheduled from December 8th and, besides, it was the 11th day of Christmas) was a complete success thanks to Lou Tacchi’s planning. Approximately 60 members and loved ones attended. I was privileged to distribute both CAF Headquarters and Wing Leader’s awards. We are already looking into doing another dinner in December or next January. The January date actually appeared to be more open to attendance because of the Holiday Season

constraints and that is why we might have the Christmas dinner after, rather than before, December 25th. IMPORTANT: You should have received your 2013 Missouri Wing dues envelope by now. Be sure to mail those back or bring them to the Wing so $teve Gossett and Bob Lawrence can update your name with a “Current” on the roster. Thank you for your continued support of our unique organization. Come on out to the Hangars and shake off that cabin fever. There is always something in which you can get involved. You never know - you might even learn a new recipe or cross-stitch technique… And remember, you can help Keep ‘Em Flying and have a great, rewarding time in your life while doing so. It’s always great to make new memories – especially when they are associated with the memories of that Great Generation. Respectfully submitted, Col. Pat Kesler, Wing Leader

XO REPORT
Over the last few years I have watched what I call the off season phenomenon… The last show of the year ends and the planes are corralled into the hangars. Members from every ‘department’ take a deep breath and ready themselves for the paper pushing season. The hangar see’s less member traffic but becomes more noisy as the aircraft go under the wrench for their annuals. Mechanics start taking this off and replacing that all in a frantic pace to get ready for the following April when the activities once again begin. Other departments work on their yearend HQ reports, closing books, filling out form after form, trying to build up marketing opportunities and ways to make a few more dollars… Then after a somewhat quite December things start to spring back to life. The annual Missouri Wing membership renewals go out and each member happily fills out that $50.00 check’s. A few members get ready to head to Midland, TX for the annual HQ meetings. The PX has its repairs going all while vendors start calling and wanting to know what we are going to order and sell this in the upcoming year. The website has to be updated with a new calendar for all the Airshows, LHFE and special events that are lining up. The phenomenon is that in late October you are almost done with the season and think now we can relax a bit. Realty is that the wing only goes quite for a few weeks around the holidays and then back at it. Then February and March hit and its rush,rush,rush to get everything done and ready… and then here we go again… Time to share the Aircrafts, the history and make a few dollars so we can do it in 2014,2020 and on… In short come out to the Wing, we need you. By the way at the time of printing this, we have 54% of the members’ dues already in. Thank You. Col. Bob Lawrence Pat Kesler Paid Members as of Jan. 17
Earl Burkhardt Robert Carmack Frank Doerr John Ellis John Coffey Bill Coffey Paul Gardner Jim Hatcher Ben Hilderbrand Len Kratzer David Lee Bob Lewis Hubert Looney Mike McEntee Mark Pruitt Glenn Racine Bob Rutledge Chris Santschi Pete Sherwin Kristine Sherwin Larry Thompson Dave Ceglinski Rich Ceglinski Dutch Meyerpeter Jim Lammert Ed Michelsen Shane Roden Mike Marino Mark Statler Dan Schmied Gordon Glodo Steve Gossett Don Huster Joe Miano Joe Wurtz Buddy Welsh Wanda Weaver Bill Wehmeier Ron Wright j Barb Orton Jack Hardin James Bobo Robert Sander

And the New Year Has Begun…

THANK YOU!! FOR A SAFE AIR SHOW YEAR
I don’t believe that when people do good things they are often thanked for their efforts. This is especially true in the realm of safety. We are harped upon to be safe doing this and that, reminded constantly be vigilant and exercise good risk management. But that is where safety usually stops. Some might think that since you didn’t get hurt, that should be thanks in and of itself. Other might say the fact that you didn’t get blamed for breaking something ought to cover it as well. I am not of that mind. Credit should be given where credit is due. So, let me say thank you to each and every member who made 2012 a very safe year for the Missouri Wing. I have heard of no serious or even minor injuries. I have heard of no accidents causing damage to the aircraft or our equipment. So again, thank YOU very much for the individual efforts you put forth. Our safety record is a direct reflection of the time you take to conduct our maintenance and flight operations properly. It is a result of every one taking time to ensure our wingmen know what they are doing and the safe way to do it. This is your success!! With that said, I wish each and every one of you a very SAFE 2013!! Col. Chris Herrmann

WWII GRUMMAN PILOT INTERVIEW

Today I am talking to Mr. James L. Buckley, Jr., who is a resident at the Cedars Rertirement Center in Chesterfield, Missouri. During WWII, Mr. Buckley was a Naval Aviator in the South Pacific. He flew the TBM Grumman Avenger. Jim tell us about your Naval career... "I enrolled in the Navy V-5 program in 1943 and was comissioned an Ensign in October, 1944. I was sent to the University of Georgia for preflight, then on to Pensacola, Florida, where I received my wings. Then I went to advanced training in the TBM Grumman Avenger in Opa-Locka, Florida. I requested overseas duty and was assigned to the CASU (Carrier Aircraft Service Unit) on Guam, where I checked out Mothball Aircraft for 10 hours flying time to certify them for combat. We flew Douglas SBD Dive Bombers, Curtiss SB2C Helldivers, Grumman TBM Torpedo Bombers, Grumman F6F Hellcat and F4F Wildcat Fighters. After the war, I attended the University of Oklahoma and served in a Naval Reserve Unit. Upon graduation, I ws employed by the Exxon Corporation where I worked for 17 years, mostly in their division in Venezuela. Then I went to work for the Kellwood Corporation in St. Louis. My eldest son is a graduate of the Air Force Academy and was a B-52 pilot." The following Saturday Lt. Buckley, his care-giver, Valerie and myself, drove to Smartt Field and toured the facility, the museum, the B-25 Hangar, and looked at the Grumman Avenger, which he had not seen for 50 years. Jim talked about flying with all the guys and was presented with a Grumman Avenger cap and just had a wonderful time. Bob Lewis

SHOW-ME NAME TAGS

FOR SALE I have worked with a company to develop a Show-Me cloth name tag. The company provided these samples which I scanned into a picture. The name tag is on an OD Green background with an orange border, wings and information. At their own expense, the company developed the CAF Colonel wings especially for us; pictured on Angella’s name tag. They already have on file most US Military Specialist badges such as the command pilot wings depicted on mine. The tag comes Velcro-backed for easy attachment to flight suits and flight jackets. The tag can have one or two information lines. The cost for the name tags is: 1 tag with 2 logos (wings/girl) and two lines of info - $15 2 identical tags with 2 logos (wings/girl) and two lines of info - $20. I’ll be posting order forms at the Wing or you can e-mail me your order at [email protected]. Col. Chris Herrmann

TBM annual in progress. Below is a summary of the effort required in WWII. It focuses on the American side of things, but the British, Germans and Japanese expended comparable energy and experienced similar costs. Just one example for the Luftwaffe; about 1/3 of the Bf109s built were lost in non-combat crashes. After Midway, the Japanese experience level declined markedly, with the loss of so many higher-time naval pilots. Most Americans who were not adults during WWII have no understanding of the magnitude of it. This listing of some of the aircraft facts gives a bit of insight to it. 276,000 aircraft manufactured in the US . 43,000 planes lost overseas, including 23,000 in combat. 14,000 lost in the continental U.S. The US civilian population maintained a dedicated effort for four years, many working long hours seven days per week and often also volunteering for other work. WWII was the largest human effort in history. Statistics from Flight Journal magazine. THE PRICE OF VICTORY (cost of an aircraft in WWII dollars) B-17 $204,370 P-40 $44,892 B-24 $215,516 P-47 $85,578 B-25 $142,194 P-51 $51,572 B-26 $192,426 C-47 $88,574 B-29 $605,360 PT-17 $15,052 P-38 $97,147 AT-6 $22,952

WWII AIRCRAFT FACTS

B-25 annual in progress.

END

OF THE
th

YEAR AWARDS - 2012

The Jan 5 Wing Christmas dinner was a huge success. After the dinner, we had a short meeting and concluded the evening by presenting awards to many of our members. Here is a list of those awards. CAF National Awards: Pat Fenwick - Distinguished Maintenance Award Bob Moore - Distinguished Service Award Buddy Welsh - Individual Maintenance Award Dan Schmied - Individual Maintenance Award Bob & Bev Cushman - Silver Magnolia Blossom Award Matt Conrad - Silver Magnolia Blossom Award Bob Lawrence - Silver Magnolia Blossom Award

Matt Conrad and Bob Lawrence CAF-Missouri Wing Awards: Pat Fenwick and Pat Kesler

Dan Schmied and Pat Fenwick Dan Bauer and Pat Kesler Dan Bauer – the “Quiet & Caring Colonel” Award - for performing the greatest amount of aircraft maintenance while emitting the fewest words and supplying the troops with neverending, low calorie desserts and goodies.

Bev & Bob Cushmanwith Pat Kesler

Pat Kesler presenting Bob Larwence his award.

Hubert Looney and Pat Kesler Hubert Looney – the “Colonel Available” Award - for always being there to help anyone that needs assistance.

Steve Gossett and Pat Kesler $teve Gossett – the “Office Security” Award - for guarding the office area while spending the greatest number of hours doing Official Wing “Stuff”.

John Coffey and Pat Kesler John & Connie Coffey – the “The Wind Talkers” Award for their ability to assemble the jumbled/misspelled words, articles, and pictures from all of the media-illiterate Wing Staff and Members into the decrypted, decipherable, highly-intelligent, informative and professional publication known as the COMPASS.

Dutch Meyerpeter and Pat Kesler Dutch Meyerpeter – the “Colonel Avenger” Award for ramrodding the upgraded maintenance on our Blue Beauty.

Tim Mohr Tim Mohr – the “Colonel Fix It and Make It Better” Award - for being the Master of all things associated with heat, oil, concrete, fire suppression and safety. Craig O’Mara – the “Colonel Perry Mason” Award for the judicious and professional handling of a Missouri Wing Flight Evaluation Board.

Lou Tacchi and Pat Kesler Lou Tacchi – the “Colonel Coordinator” Award - for his unique ability to coordinate all B-25 maintenance tasks from top to bottom.

TBM winter maintenance

L-3 GETS NEW TAIL WHEEL

MAINTENANCE

ON

SHOW ME

Hubert Looney & Bob Cushman preparing for taxiing testing. Pat Fenwick and Buddy Welch working the wing jack. Fenwick coordinating the lifting of the aircraft for the gear swings.

Hubert Looney taxiing testing tail wheel. (Say that 4 times fast.)

Lou Tacchi and Dan Bauer working the wing jack.

Hubert Looney taxiing L-3.

New tail wheel big success.

Jim Lammert and Dan Schmied on nose jack.

COL. ANDERSON "PETE" CASEY GONE WEST

MEDAL OF HONOR WWI AVIATION
Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker is probably one of the most recognized Medal of Honor recipients next to Audie Murphy. He was the “Ace of Aces” of the nations WWI aviators with 26 confirmed victories (22 aircraft and 4 baloons). Cap.t Rickenbacker was a member of the 94th Aero Squadron, the famous “Hat in the Ring” squadron named because of their insignia. He was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Herbert Hoover on 6 Nov 1930 for actions on 25 Sept 1918. His citation reads: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy near Billy, France, September 25, 1918. While on a voluntary patrol over the lines, Lieutenant Rickenbacker attacked 7 enemy planes (5 type Fokker, protecting 2 type Halberstadt). Disregarding the odds against him, he dived on them and shot down 1 of the Fokkers out of control. He then attacked 1 of the Halberstadts and sent it down also.” Col Tim Mohr

Recently the Wing lost one of our most avid supporters, Col. “Pete” Casey. Towards the end of 2010 I spent some time interviewing Pete for a series of 3 articles published in The Compass in 2011 that described some of his exploits during WWII in the Philippines. Pete was quite generous with his time and was happy to show me his personal memorabilia (newspaper articles, discharge papers, personal letters, etc.) that supported his stories. His memory was quite keen and his ability to “go back” to those difficult days with a gleam in his eyes was quite astounding. His story of being ambushed one night while on patrol sticks out. Pete and his squad were ambushed and faced very strong machinegun fire at close range. Pete and his squad returned fire and retreated to the shelter of a couple of burned out vehicles. Just as fast as the ambush started it was over. Upon returning to the scene the next day and seeing all the jungle that was mowed down by the gunfire, Pete was amazed that he and his squad had survived. “Rick, our Guardian Angels were with us that night” Pete said “There is no way we should have survived that ambush.” I last saw Pete at the Wing late last year. He was tinkering with a chainsaw engine in the B-25 Hangar like he loved to do. I always made it a point to talk with Pete. He always greeted me with a “Hey Buddy” and a smile on his face. Pete was an accomplished aviator spending many hours flying in and out of local airports in his younger years. When I told him I was working on my tail wheel endorsement last year, Pete said he hoped that we would fly together one day so he could show me how to “stick” those power-on landings. Pete was a member of “The Greatest Generation” during WWII. He was proud of his country and proud of his service to his country. He was a diminutive man with a keen mind and a huge heart. He hardly missed a Wing Meeting and was proud to lead the meeting attendees with “The Pledge of Allegiance” when asked. Col. Chris Herrmann, one of the pallbearers at Pete’s funeral, said Pete’s internment ceremony at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery was one of the most beautiful he had ever witnessed. Snow falling on hallowed ground a long way from the steamy jungles of the Philippines. Fly High My Friend !!! Col. Rick Rea

Col. Don Huster working on the staff car's fuel tank. Brrrr!

GENERAL MEETING MINUTES

Pete loved the Wing's L-Bird.

8:00 PM January 5, 2013 @ Lombardos · CALL TO ORDER · PLEDGE OF ALLIGIENCE · ROLL CALL OF STAFF: WL __ ADJ __ EXEC __ OPS __ MAINT __ FIN __ SAFE __ PIO __ · RECOGNIZE VISITORS AND GUESTS · MINUTES OF LAST MEETING – in COMPASS · INFIRMED MEMBERS – Passing of Col. Anderson “Pete” Casey on Dec 24th COMMITTEE REPORTS: Compass – John Coffey Gasoline Sales – Jim Lammert/$teve Gossett Web Site – Bob Lawrence Museum – Jack Seeman/Joe Wurtz/John Eskew PX – Bob Lawrence Recruiting & Membership – Bob Lawrence - New Members? Air Shows – Matt Conrad LHFE – Bob Moore Hangar Dance – Pat Kesler OLD BUSINESS · Covered 2012 events and airshows NEW BUSINESS · UPCOMING AIRSHOWS & EVENTS – Matt Conrad · AWARD PRESENTATIONS… Wing Leader Meeting Adjourned @ 9pm

COMMEMORATIVE AIR FORCE
MISSOURI WING P.O. Box 637 St. Charles, MO 63302-0637

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2013
CAF

TBM tail wheel being checked and packed by Ken Stricker and Ken Supranowich.

B-25 fuel calibration check. Joe and Dan on a cold January Saturday. They said it was refreshing! Ahhhhhh....

January Birthdays!

Joe Baruzzini (2) • John Henke (2) • Dave Ceglinski (2) • Phil Bamberger (7) Dick Hendrix (12) • Anastasia Kemp (13) • Joe Bodziony (14) • Dick Arnold (14) Tom Wagoner (15) • Mike Koenig (15) John Hawkins • Carol McSweeney (24) • Bill Lippincott (27) • Harold Moss (27) Dale Heining (2) • Logan Doyle (4) • John Allen (7) Mike McEntee (23) • Bill Wehmeier (23) • Frank Vitello (25) April Newsletter - Need info by March 25

February Birthdays!

Compass Deadline: March Newsletter - Need info by February 23

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