Congratulations and thank you to Gerard Putzer, EAA 594840, who retired on Friday, January 11 after a solid 30 years of hard work and dedication. Gerard served as a wealth of knowledge and skills through his work on various aircraft as an aviation mechanic. Before joining EAA, he served in the Army as a helicopter mechanic and later went on to Blackhawk Technical College for A&P mechanics.
Gerard’s interest in aviation sparked in the early ’70s when he was attending Lourdes Academy school in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. At the time, Lourdes had an EAA Project Schoolflight program in the basement. In that basement, Gerard found his passion working with local volunteers to build a Sonerai.
Gerard’s father noticed his passion for aviation and helped steer him in the right direction. In 1989, his father was volunteering for EAA and Gerard decided to follow in his footsteps and joined EAA as an aviation mechanic.
Gerard’s favorite memory working at EAA also came out of that year when he met Paul Poberezny.
“What really impressed me then as a young 30-year-old in 1989 was the fact that he came over the hangar, came up to my toolbox, stuck out his hand, and said, ‘Welcome aboard.’” Gerard said.
Gerard put into perspective how EAA much has grown since he began.
“I asked some of the newer people that work in the office what their employee number is just because they never repeat them,” Gerard said. “And I think the last I heard, I don’t know what they’re up to now, but probably about four, five, six years ago was up in approaching 6,000 employee number. And then they’d ask, ‘Well, what’s your number, Gerard?’ And I’d mention mine as 0084.”
Over the years, Gerard has had the opportunity to work on many different aircraft, including the Travel Air E-4000, F4U Corsair, the Ford Tri-Motor, and the B-17— on which he was nominated to serve as lead mechanic for. His most memorable project was working beside Paul to restore EAA’s Spirit of St. Louis replica.
“Anytime he’d come through the hangar, we got to know each other well,” Gerard said. “He commuted [in] his Piper Twin Comanche, so we’d see each other quite a bit and we worked on a lot of restoration work back in the day.”
Apart from his incredible mechanical skills and vast knowledge, Gerard left an impact on his coworkers by simply being a good person.
“Gerard is one of the most knowledgeable, skilled, and conscientious gentlemen I have had the pleasure to work with,” said Dennis Dunbar, EAA director of flight operations.
EAA Aircraft Maintenance Manager John Hopkins also expressed his gratitude toward Gerard.
“If it wasn’t for Gerard’s skills and dedication, some of these aircraft might not still be in the air,” John said. “Over the years, Gerard has had significant input into the creation, restoration, and reliability of what we have to fly.”
Gerard always made sure to mention how valuable and irreplaceable the volunteers at the Kermit Weeks Hangar: EAA Flight Research Center are. Watching him interact and mentor these volunteers makes one thing very obvious; Gerard is a very selfless person.
Gerard said every project comes with a fair share of challenges, but the biggest challenge is working on antique aircraft.
“Years ago when we did a heavy restoration on our Ford Tri-Motor, now this is an airplane that goes back to where you don’t have the documents and the books and all this type of stuff,” Gerard said. “The challenging part is how can I maintain some of these airplanes? Especially when you’re taking them all apart and it’s not like [the B-17] or some of the later ones that have some documentation.”
Gerard stressed the importance of mentorship, being sure to thank the people who helped mentor him when he first started such as Darrel Ens and Bauken Noack. He said his goal before enjoying his retirement was to leave a footprint behind that would help those after him.
“This current group we have out on the hangar floor now is, I think, up to the task and well on their way of experience,” Gerard said. “Some may have only been here a couple of years, but they’ve experienced a lot of different things on some of the aircraft.”
Gerard said he looks forward to spending time with his grandkids in his retirement and visiting EAA AirVenture Oshkosh as a guest. He also said he will likely be making a return to the shop as a volunteer.