District VII—Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Tim Jesky
Vice President
timjesky@charter.net
2886 E. Country Ln., Monroe MI 48162
Tel: (734) 384-6085;
www.amadistrict-vii.org
It’s hard to believe that we’re looking at September already. I hope the summer has been good to you and that you’ve gotten maximum stick time with minimal repairs. For the most part, it’s been hot and dry in my little corner of the world but, all things being equal, I’d rather fly in the heat than cold and rain.
Rather than what you normally see in this column, I’m going to stray a bit and write about how I spent the Fourth of July weekend.
It began with an outdoor concert with my wife and oldest son’s family at the Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The concert featured the U.S. Army Field Band and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performing patriotic-themed music followed by a beautiful fireworks display. There were thousands of people from all walks of life decked out in red, white, and blue who came out to celebrate our nation’s 240th birthday.
The following day, we traveled with our grandkids in tow to Chesterfield, Indiana, to visit son number two and his girlfriend and to attend the town’s Independence Day parade. This was small town America at its best. The high school band, Girl Scout troop, the champion Little League baseball team—you name it, it was there. It was the same theme as it was in Dearborn. Plenty of people, lots of red, white, and blue and Main Street lined with people in lawn chairs enjoying the day. Although a transmitter didn’t touch my hands, I
wouldn’t have changed a thing. I’m sure that when President John Adams envisioned celebrating Independence Day, he’d be pleased if he had been there to see it.
Now back to flying. Iowa Associate Vice President Kent Woods traveled to the Des Moines Modelaires club to check out the club showing off model aviation to the local Civil Air Patrol (CAP) chapter.
I attended an event with the Des Moines Modelaires club at its west field. Club members hosted a group from the CAP. For those not familiar with this organization, I have included a brief history.
In the late 1930s, more than 150,000 volunteers with a love for aviation argued for an organization to put their airplanes and flying skills to use in defense of their country. As a result, CAP was born one week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Thousands of volunteer CAP members answered America’s call to national service and sacrifice by accepting and performing critical wartime missions. Assigned to the War Department under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Corps, the contributions of CAP, including logging more than 500,000 flying hours, sinking two enemy submarines, and saving hundreds of crash victims during World War II, are well documented.
After the war, a thankful nation understood that CAP could continue providing valuable services to both local and national agencies. On July 1, 1946, President Harry Truman signed Public Law 476 incorporating CAP as a benevolent, nonprofit organization. On May 26, 1948, Congress passed Public Law 557, permanently establishing CAP as the auxiliary of the new U.S. Air Force. Three primary mission areas were set forth at that time: aerospace education, cadet programs, and emergency services.
This group of young men and women that visited the Modelaires was interested in model aviation and they all had some time on the buddy box and listened while one of the members gave some preflight explanation of how the models work.
Take a kid flying!
Associate Vice Presidents: Bruce Baier, Oshkosh WI; (920) 233-1127; buzzsr@gmail.com; Lee Frederickson, Ada MI; L1520@comcast.net; David George, Riverview MI; (734) 284-9017; indianci5129@yahoo.com; Randall Gibson, Lansing MI; (317) 698-4346; rgibson@mmrcha.org; Bud Gorman, Knife River MN; (218) 834-5797; bgorman@frontiernet.net; Don Held, Elmira MI; (231) 584-2662; edge540m@aol.com; Noel Hunt, Shelby Twp. MI; (586) 677-1540; huntt47@comcast.net; Bob Johnson, Froid Du Lac WI; (920) 922-6705; bob54935@yahoo.com; Mark Robotti, Lindstrom MN; (651) 257-6792; mgrobotti@frontier.com. Marc “Doc” Shelstrom, Lancaster WI; (608) 732-4077; sheltmm@uwplatt.edu; Kent Woods, Ames IA; (515) 232-8180; woods229@msn.com.
Contest Coordinators: Wayne Yeager (RC Michigan), (517) 260-0132, yogi1931@comcast.net; Michael J Haller (RC non-Michigan), Fon Du Lac WI; (920) 979-9452; mrhaller2460@att.net.
Frequency Coordinators: Al Schwartz, Roseville MN; (651) 633-2286; alberts@comcast.net; Pete Waters, Northville MI; (248) 924-0223; petewaters@charter.net.
