Happy New Year and special greetings and best
wishes
to the "TWIRLY BIRDS--THE PIONEERS
OF THE ROTARY WING INDUSTRY."
In about one month we will be meeting in
Dallas for
our annual Twirly Bird reception and business meeting. The HAl
convention
commences on Sunday, February 26th and goes through Tuesday the 28th.
Traditionally, our Twirly Bird meeting is held on the evening of the
first day,
so we plan to meet at the Anatole (convention) Hotel at 5 PM until 7 PM
(or
shortly thereafter) on Sunday 26 February. The meeting room has yet to
be
assigned; therefore, upon arrival at the hotel, simply check the
bulletin board
or ask (or call) the concierge and we will look forward to meeting and
greeting
you, all your old friends and industry associates.
We will commence the activities at 5 PM with
a
warm-up/ice breaking social hour, which will feature an open bar
(serving your
favorite refreshments), followed by a short business meeting. We will
introduce
new regular members, three new associate members, and present the
annual
"LES MORRIS" awards, plus any other old/new business requiring our
attention. We will try to keep our
formalities at a minimum and keep focused on the main purpose of the
annual
get-together--- which is to meet, greet, and socialize with our Twirly
Bird
friends and associates.
We have three Associate Candidates approved
by the “Associate
Committee" for the year 2006. An Associate Candidate is a person who
has
made a significant contribution to the rotary-wing industry for at
least
twenty years. The three nominations for the 2006 Twirly Bird Associate
Membership are as follows:
1. James F. Atkins.
Most of us will remember Jim as the President
of Bell
Helicopter Textron during some of the most difficult, crucial periods
of the
rotary wing industry. Jim joined Bell
Aircraft Corporation in Buffalo, NY in 1940. His tenure at Bell was
interrupted
by a stint in the Army Air Force from March 1942 until May 1946. He
moved to
Texas when the helicopter portion of Bell Aircraft was moved to Ft
.Worth in
the early 1950's and continued with Bell Helicopter Textron until his
retirement in 1983. Jim's many other
activities, past and present affiliations, include: member and past
Chairman of
the American Helicopter Society, HAl, Director of Interfirst Bank of
Ft. Worth,
Director of Maorca Corporation, Houston, TX...
2. Pat
Aldous.
Pat joined Okanagan Helicopters as
Secretary-Treasurer
in 1969. He continued with Okanagan, working many assorted positions on
his way
up to becoming President in 1983. In 1988,
Pat, along with Dave Whyte (Chief Pilot of Okanagan), purchased Alpine
Helicopters. Later on, he started Alpine AeroTech and purchased
Canadian
Mountain Holidays, Inc. In 2004, Pat
sold Alpine Helicopter and subsidiaries to Intrawest Corporation, but
has
continued on as CEO of the operation. Pat's other positions include:
Director of
the Okanagan Symphony Society and Member of the Advisory Board of
Kelowna
Flightcraft.
3. John Swihart, Jr.
Work experience: FAA Systems Engineer (1967
to 1991).
Helicopter systems evaluations for FAA Certification working programs
including
the Bell 205, 206, 212, 222, and 212 IFR. IFR
STC's include the Aerospatiale Gazelle,
350, 355, 360, 365, Agusta A-109, MBB BO-105, and the Sikorsky S-16.
Related
helicopter aviation activities include: Asst. Chair, Rotorcraft Issues
FAA
Aviation Regulatory Advisory Committee (1996-present), Member of the
Boeing 737
Flight Control Engineering Test and Evaluation Board, and Member of the
American Helicopter Society. Elected as the FAA Engineer of the Year in 1990 by the
National Society of Professional Engineers.
Over the past several Twirly Bird
newsletters, I have
endeavored to include biographical sketches of one or more of our
members.
Inasmuch as most T-Birds are by nature, "shy and retiring", it has
been difficult to get the info for the letter. However, at this
writing, I am
in receipt of a magazine article about our foremost female Twirly Bird,
Jean
Tinsley. The article was written by Herb Foreman for "In Flight USA"
and I will be borrowing items from Herb's article to include in the
following
paragraphs about our own Twirly Bird, the "Contemporary"
First Lady of
Aviation, Jean Tinsley.
Jean began flying in 1945 at the end of World
War II,
when flying was basically a "man's" thing. To validate her title as
the "First Lady of Aviation", the following accomplishments are
presented:
- First woman in World to be rated in a
constant speed propeller Gyroplane.
- One of the few women to be qualified in both
Helicopters and Gyroplanes.
- First woman pilot to fly in the XV -15 Tilt
Rotor. (April 1990)
- First Woman President and Founder of the
Helicopter Club of America-
- Member of first World Helicopter Championship
Team (U.K., 1973)
- First "American Woman" to be elected to the
"Liverary", The Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators in England.
- Today, Jean is the Executive Director of the
International Women Helicopter Pilots and President of the Helicopter
Club of America.
Jean began flying at age 18 when one of her
father's
patients had a Taylor Craft and took her for a ride from Hollister
Airport in
1945. A neighbor owned an Emigh Trojan, painted chartreuse, and she
bought the
small, low-winged plane from him. Ed. Note: (it must have been the paint job)
After many flight hours in this
plane, she up-graded to a Comanche 250. She flew this aircraft and many
other
aircraft including the more powerful, faster, SNJ.
A friend of Jean, who was a helicopter pilot,
no doubt
positively influenced Jean on the merits of helicopters and so she
decided to
learn to fly the helicopter. Before long
she soloed in a Hughes 269 and commenced to accumulate flight hours
along with
a private and a commercial license. Today, she has over 5,000 hours in
three
types of aircraft: fixed-wing, gyroplane, and helicopter.
Jean is particularly proud of Founding the
Helicopter
Club and becoming the first female president. She
is the 118th woman in the world to receive
a helicopter license. Besides being a mother and a housewife she
received the
"Elder Statesman of Aviation" award from the NAA in Washington, D.C. Also, she received the "Distinguished
Alumni" award from the University of California and was given a
Stanford
University Fellowship that led to the position of research assistant in
the
Office of the President. I know all Twirly Birds join me in
congratulating you,
Jean, on your major accomplishments in the fixed and rotary-wing fields
of
Aviation.
The following paragraph or two is a jumble of
thoughts, thanks, and comments in no particular order, actually rather
rambling,
so please bear with me. Slats has just informed me that all the
problems/delays
he was experiencing in getting the plaques for the '06 Les Morris
awards have
been solved and all is A-OK. A Tip of the Rotor to our stalwart Twirly
Bird,
Sergei Sikorsky, for a strategic assist in making things happen. Also I
want to
thank John Miller, Alan Bristow, and Phil Fillingham for their
encouraging
words and offers of assistance. Phil
Filling stopped by to see Alan Bristow while on his vacation in England
this
past summer. They both report having had a wonderful visit. In a note
received from
Alan, he said, "You can be sure that I have an open door for any member
of
the Twirlybirds Organization passing through the UK. They can land on
the
helipad next to my home in Cranleigh or on the 1,000 meter airstrip on
the farm,
either way I would be very pleased to see them. Don't be too surprised if one
of
these fine days, a T-Bird or two may just take you up on your kind
offer.
Thanks again!
John Miller dropped me a nice note, and I
hope I'm not
talking out-of-school here when I report to you that John is starting
his
second century of life (on Dec. 15th), and that he is in tip-top,
vigorous
health, without aches or pains, and still flying his Beech V-tail
Bonanza. John,
the Good Lord has certainly blessed you, and I know all Twirly Birds
wish you a
happy 100th birthday. We will note your birth date and hopefully will
be on
time to wish you a happy 101st birthday next December 15th.
Below is a cartoon by a fellow Texas, Ace
Reid, and
thinking of John's 100th birthday, you all might enjoy: The very old
man is
telling his old son:
Gotta'
go----- See you at the Twirly Bird meeting,
Sunday 26th at 5: OO PM.
Semper
Vigilo, Paratus, et Fidelis
Cheers,
Jim
Hamilton
President
