By Ron Beasley, EAA 594538
I turn 65 in May and I know my aviating days could be over at any time. Although I’m in good health, anything can crop up and change that in an instant. Like so many of my fellow aging aviators I have a story and thought I would share.
I got bitten by the aviation bug at a young age (6 years old). I built plastic models and hung them from the ceiling in my room. Every now and then my older brother and I would select one for demolition. I know that may seem a bit extreme and not what others would have done but there is something special about seeing that thing blow up into a thousand pieces from an M-80 (I wonder who else has done that). I went to airports and air shows whenever Mom and Dad would take me and man did I see some cool stuff. I witnessed a C-119 Flying Boxcar performing a snatch-and-grab at Bakalar Air Force Base (AFB) in Columbus, Indiana, during an open house where my dad worked as a civil servant in supply and a MSgt. in the Air Force Reserve. I saw two Air Force Thunderbird F-100 Super Sabres skid off a rain-soaked runway at the Orlando, Florida, airport after a pop-up thunderstorm curtailed their performance. While it is not something anyone hopes would happen to an aviator it is something I saw with my own two young impressionable eyes and shall never forget. Mom took me to Patrick AFB at 3 a.m. one morning to see the C-5A Galaxy make its first appearance at that base. I must have been 11 years old and chomped at the bit to see the free world’s largest airplane. It was massive! I was standing on a cinder block fence so I could get a commanding view as there was quite a crowd present and a security policeman instructed me to get down as the wing would be very close to me when it turned into the ramp. He sure was right about that one as I think I could have stretched my hand out and touched it.
Dad got transferred to Patrick in 1965 and that’s when all things aviation really opened up to me. I saw nearly every Apollo launch from my front yard and man those night launches are something I’ll never forget. It was like the sun was coming up and turning night into day. The sound and feel of the most powerful motors ever created resonates through your soul. I often wonder if there are any EAA members who lived in that area at the same time I did and also remember witnessing these awesome events. It seems like everyone who lived on our street worked at NASA and the bug bit harder. I mowed lawns for many of them and even delivered their morning newspapers.
When I got old enough, I joined the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and went on many glider bivouacs in Titusville, Florida. I was exposed to many influential people in aviation while in CAP. A few even owned personal aircraft and I was afforded the opportunity to fly with them often. When I got old enough I even started taking ground school classes but never completed it as I had too many irons in the fire at that time. In high school I joined AFJROTC and in my senior year I was the cadet commander for a semester. I will never forget Col. Creech. He was the Aerospace Studies instructor and he saw great possibilities in me. I was introduced to many high-ranking Air Force officers and could have had a promising career as an officer. I was being groomed for a military career as a pilot, or so I thought. I applied to and was accepted to North Georgia College, and the Citadel, and received a nomination to the Air Force Academy. Somewhere along the way I decided I did not want to fly as a career and chose to attend the University of Southern Mississippi. I spent one year and something told me to enlist and not return to continue my studies (Mom was NOT happy). In 1976 I spent two weeks at basic training at Lackland AFB, in San Antonio, Texas, thanks to my JROTC and CAP background before heading off to tech school. Fast forward to 1997 and retirement at Vandenberg AFB, in California. The best flight experience of my life was an incentive flight on June 28, 1985, in an F-16B while at Torrejón Air Base, in Madrid, Spain.
I have been fortunate to have owned an airplane since 1993. The first was a Challenger CW Special II that I flew from Glauster, Virginia, to Lakeland, Florida, and back in 1999 for SUN ‘n FUN. Three other gents and I spent four days getting there and three days getting back. A longtime friend, Andre Pohl, flew point in his Robinson R22. Andrew is a very interesting fellow with a very interesting past as he escaped communist Hungary flying a homebuilt hang glider over the border. I sold the Challenger and got a Piper Tomahawk. I sold that and bought an early kit RV-6 (still kicking myself for selling that one.) Then came two Aeronca Chiefs and a 1964 Cessna 150, and, finally, my current and last airplane, a 1946 Cessna 120. I became the latest caretaker of N77468 on Mar 21, 2020 when Aaron English of Fort Smith, Arkansas passed the keys to me. She was completely restored 29 years ago and still draws a crowd to this day.
While my health is still good and I continue to age, I will continue to enjoy any and everything aviation for as long as possible. That of course includes my last airplane.
