Aviation means many things to many people for many reasons. Some fly, some build, some simply enjoy taking it all in. For James Raymond, EAA 1170677, aviation now is a way to relive fond memories and times that have passed, and for his 91st birthday, he wanted to go for one more flight.

When James graduated medical school, he quickly discovered that joining the Army would be a better deal than the $25-per-month pay a civilian medical internship would earn him. He became an Army surgeon and served for nine years.

In 1967 while stationed in Denver, he was inspired by a friend taking flying lessons at a nearby Air National Guard base. “I came home and I told my wife, Eileen. I said, ‘I think I might want to go flying,’ and she looked at me and said, ‘You’re afraid of heights.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but I don’t think it’s the same in a plane.’ She looked at me a long time and said, ‘Okay, go ahead,’” James said.

With three young kids at home, it was not lost on James how much Eileen’s approval meant.

“I went to pilot school and got my license. My instructor was an old, retired master sergeant, a grouchy old guy. He didn’t like officers, and he didn’t like me in particular. But anyway, I got my license, and he said, ‘Congratulations. Now try not to kill yourself.’ And that explains the next part,” he said.

When James resigned from the Army, he started training for his commercial pilot certificate; not to be a commercial pilot, but to increase his proficiency as a pilot — he always had safety and his family in mind.

“I was out flying one day, it was the winter, and I got carburetor icing. The engine started failing and the altitude started going down. I had picked out a cornfield to land in, and about 1,000 feet off the ground I had the microphone in hand to issue a mayday. Just then the engine resumed normal running again. So, I turned around, landed it, and then I thought about my instructor,” he said. Thinking back to his instructor’s sarcastic advice and his wife and three children at home, James decided to hang up his headset.

James may have discovered being pilot isn’t his cup of tea, but he still loved all things aviation. “I came to Oshkosh and got exposed indirectly to all the flying. I decided I was going to build and fly model radio control airplanes. That’s the next best thing to flying the real ones,” he said. “I was very good at building planes. I built four of them, including a Long-EZ. I was terrible at flying. I crashed and destroyed every plane I built.”

Thankfully, crashing model airplanes doesn’t disqualify one from volunteering at the EAA Aviation Museum, which James happily signed up for after retiring from his medical career. “I was a docent here at the museum for a couple of years, which I really enjoyed getting to expose people to aviation history.”

“Then when I turned 90, I thought I’ve got to do something. I’ve got a brain that’s 90-years-old but thinks it’s 20. I was coming up on my 91st birthday, and my 20-year-old brain said, ‘I have an idea, why don’t you go flying again,’” he said. “Flying, it’s nostalgic. My wife died last January, so my whole life has changed, but I have fond memories of flying. It’s an experience, you feel free. And I’m not afraid of heights in a plane.”

James celebrated his birthday in December, and he shared his birthday wish with his granddaughter, Katie Neitzel, EAA 1592484. As a major gifts officer for the EAA Aviation Foundation, Katie just so happens to know a few folks who can fly. With help from David Leiting, EAA Eagles program manager, James got his wish and went up for a flight on February 27.

James called the experience a “flight back in time.” David offered him the controls, but James decided to kick back and enjoy the ride (and, in his words, keep the plane in the air!).

“It’s just so fun to take people flying, especially people that have that kind of emotional tie to it,” David said.

“It brought back many happy memories of just tooling around in the sky,” James said. “There is a freedom feeling that only those who fly can get to enjoy.”