As we all well know our WW2 veterans are departing at an extremely high rate these days and many of us have or had very personal connections to several of them in many ways. As sad as it is their departure, we should also rest assure they can't stay with us forever and we should feel comfort in knowing they may depart the world we know only to join their comrads from a world they knew long ago. They earned the right to live a long happy life and now they are earning the right to join their fellow mates and to be honored for a job and life well done.
That being said it's quite a unique and special tribute when some of the folks we know here on WIX,
who are warbird owners and pilots, take of their personal time, financial commitment and sacifice to honor these veterans. As much as we all think we would do the same for a veteran if we were in their shoes, sometimes reality has other ideas.
We all know Chuck Wahl as the man who has taken on the monumental and very much appreciated task of completely restoring the World's second flyable SB2C (along with an SBD) with what has to be the one of the most advanced restoration technics and state of the art processes to date. This achievement is nothing short of spectacular and we will be seeing the award winning results very soon indeed. To say Chuck is performing aircraft restorations is an understatement as his work certainly fall into the category of art.
Anyone who knows Chuck will know he's a man of honor and a man who lives by a modest code of conduct. Even though he has a right to embellish his accomplishments to all of us here on WIX (of which he does give us a look from time to time with his monthly restoration progress reports) he usually stands fast to that modesty. For this reason I'm honored to share with you all the intricate planning and events of last Sunday's special tribute to veteran Lou Fields.
Chuck and his fellow pilots artwork was on full display to the lucky folks of the San Francisco Bay area and USS Hornet this past Sunday when Chuck took his award winning SNJ up for a special tribute to a departing veteran and local hero Lou Fields. Below is a breakdown and a few photos of the process it takes to achieve such a special tribute.
Thank you Chuck, Paul, Tony, Jim and Jim for a job well done. Much pride was shown Sunday and we ALL appreciate very much what you did for our veterans past and present.
Lead Paul McDonald/Tony Banta
#2 Jim Eberhardt
#3 Jim Thomas
#4 Chuck Wahl
Gents,
I'm looking forward to flying with you all on Sunday.
It will be just a short flight, but one with a big impact. Lou was a giant in aviation. He's provided flight training and aircraft rental from his flight school at Oakland since the early 1970s. He also served the community as an FAA designated pilot examiner. Prior to all that, he served 29 years in the U.S. Navy as a fighter pilot. He started in the F4U and finished up in Panthers and Demons. He was healthy and actively flying up until his passing three months ago, after 33,000 flying hours, at age 90.
The list of attendees for this party has grown so large that they had to move the venue from a T hangar at Oakland to the deck of the aircraft carrier Hornet in Alameda. Our mission is to put four Texans overhead at 1345 for a single missing-man tribute. We'll be followed by Lou's own Aeronca Champ, which will distribute his ashes just west of the bow of the Hornet.
Let's plan on:
1230: brief at the Terminal building
1310: engine start
1312: check-in and taxi
1325: takeoff
1345: overhead USS Hornet
Please have your airplanes pre-flighted and serviced prior to the brief.
Photos courtesy of Chuck Wahl
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