By Keith McCutchan, EAA 199951
At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025, we celebrated four generations of pilots in front of my dad’s favorite aircraft, the P-47. My dad told me if you surround your children with good people that it will be more likely they will turn out to be good people. Aviation has provided many great role models to me and my whole family. Thank you, all.
Starting from the left, Philip, my son, soloed an ultralight at 13 and got his certificate in 2003. He now flies an RV-8 and a Quicksilver MXL II.
Granddaughter Maggie at age 6 announced that she was going to get her pilot certificate and then go to Purdue’s flight school — she earned her private in July 2025 and is now attending Purdue in their professional flight program.
My dad Harold (picture frame) was attending Purdue when World War II started and was already in ROTC, earning his wings in early 1943. He’d go on to fly more than 20 different aircraft and teach aerial gunnery and rocketry. Dick Bong was in one of his groups when he came back stateside.
Keith (me) just celebrated 50 years of flying, having started in 1975, and is currently flying a Titan Tornado Stretch and a Quicksilver MXL II.
Chris, my son and Maggie’s dad, earned his certificate in 2012 and flies an RV-6 and a Quicksilver GT500.
The P-47 in the background, Bonnie, was made in nearby Evansville, Indiana, during World War II by our neighbors, and it was Dad’s favorite kind of aircraft despite one crashing into my grandparents’ house. In March 1944, a Republic test pilot took off from Evansville and immediately suffered engine failure and crashed into the house. The pilot and my aunt suffered only minor injuries.
