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Warbird 17 Welcomes New Members
EAA North Georgia Warbird Squadron 17 is proud to announce new members to our ranks.
Richard (Rick) Hess
Rick and his wife Rosann are originally from NY. They’ll be married 28 years in Jan. They have 3 kids with the youngest graduating
high school this year. Rosann is a nurse in Marietta.
Rick has just retired as an O-6 after 28 years in the US Air Force. He’s got over 7500 hours in A-10s, T-37s, T-38s, and C-141s, along with a like number of hours at Delta Air Lines in B-727, 737, 757, 767, and
MD-88’s.
While Rick has only got around 200 GA hours, they've been in a wide variety of aircraft, including most of the single-engine Cessnas and Pipers, Great Lakes, Twin Commanche, CJ6A Nanchang, and
Yak-52s. He fell in love with the Yaks so bad that he went out and bought one this fall. Rick’s Yak-52W is only three years old, it's basically new with only 140 hours on the tach. Quite a steal. Rick can be found most weekends flying formation with is Yak buddies over Moontown (HSV).
Skip Lam
J.R.(Skip) Lam is a native of Greenville, Ohio (near Dayton), where he learned to love aviation at an early age. Skip joined the US Army Reserves in 1968 and continued
his college education where he graduated from Ohio University in 1970 and immediately entered active duty. His interest in aviation led him straight to flight school at Fort Wolters, TX.
Skip has commanded Army aviation units at all levels and served in S.E.Asia, the Pacific, and Europe and as a flight instructor and test pilot. Skip holds a Masters Degree from Embry Riddle. After graduating
from the Army with a 20 year career, Skip pursued a career as a movie and television stunt pilot. Today, Skip is the Regional Director of Business Development and Sales for Rockwell Collins and is responsible for
avionics and flight entertainment systems for the airlines.
When he’s not taking orders from his wife Trish, Skip also flies the AH-1 Cobra and the OH-6 Loach for the Sky Soldiers Demonstration Team and is an active member of the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation. Skip's other interests include scuba diving, downhill ski racing, golf, guitar pickin' and slamming Bill Johnson’s margaritas at various and sundry aviation and related events.
Sharon & Don Jowett
The Squadron met Don and his wife Sharon, when we started volunteering at Oshkosh some 3-4 years ago. Don and Sharon are both Oshkosh natives and live
close to EAA grounds and have been extremely helpful to WB17 over the years especially on our Work Party Weekends..
Don is retired from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute after 30+ years.
He served his country in the US Navy and was stationed out of Charleston SC serving on the USS Wisconsin for a time. Don became interested in EAA and Warbirds in 1974 and joined up. He took over the chairmanship of Buildings and Grounds in the Warbird area in 1994. He has been great to work with.
Sharon got the bug when she married Don in 1981.
When she started she didn't know one Warbird from another. That has certainly changed. She started volunteering the year before she and Don were married. Sharon volunteers in Warbird Merchandise, and helps Don with the building and grounds. She has 22 years in volunteering and is now a full time employee of EAA. Before that she was employed at Oshkosh B' Gosh, Inc. for 29+ years. She enjoys working for EAA and talking to all the members and new members.
Warbird 17 welcomes Don & Sharon to the squadron as they join our other Oshkosh based members Peter Moll and Jan Streblow.
Skip Davis
Skip and his wife Diane (of 30 years), live in Woodstock, GA and have 4 children. 3 girls, 1 boy.
Skip grew up in New England and attended school at the University of Massachusetts.
Skip is currently a full time Georgia Army National Guardsman but prior to that he worked for E.F. Hutton and Merrill Lynch
as a financial advisor and consultant. Skip spent 3 tours in Vietnam flying Cobras, Huey Gunships & Slicks and sold Bell equipment for a time when he got out. He was called back to active duty and
participated in Desert Storm where upon returning, the GANG successfully lured him into their full time ranks.
In addition to his Guard duties, Skip is also the Air & Show Boss for the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation located at Tara Field in Hampton GA.
This group is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of Army Aviation and its history. You can check them out at www.armyav.org
Welcome Aboard Skip. We are happy to have you and we appreciate your involvement.
Gary Austin
Gary is our most recent addition to the squadron and we welcome him.
Gary is a long time EAA and Warbirds member and comes to us via Tillimook Oregon where he worked maintaining the fabulous Erickson Air Crane Warbird collection and most recently from Kentucky where he participated in the major efforts of restoring the P-38 “Glacier Girl” of Pat Epps and the Greenland Expedition fame.
Gary holds an ATP as well as being an I/A with flight qualifications in Jets, Turbo-Props, etc.
He has flown large 4-engine bombers, PBY Catalina’s all the way to his Taylorcraft BC-12D he currently keep at Air Acres.
Gary made recent headlines in the Taylorcraft Owners Club newsletter by having the most expensive T-Cart aileron drying rack in the world. See Article
J.S. “Chip” Allen
Chip Allen is 52 yrs. young, and been flying all his adult life.
He’s a graduate of Embry Riddle, and currently own a Beech B55 Baron, and a beautiful 1939 J3 Cub. Chips interest in warbirds goes back to 1969 when he got his multi-engine rating in a Beech C-45. Seems a T6 / SNJ currently has got his eye so we may have another one in the stable before to long. Chip has over 7,000 hours total time, in more than 50 types, and spends about 200 hours a year flying the Baron on business.
Chip and his wife, Sandra live in Roswell. They make their living as owners of Southern Water Technologies, Inc.
Welcome aboard Chip.
Mindy Lauter
Mindy Lauter comes to us via Sam Lyons. (Some feel this is Sam's most relevant contribution to date).
Mindy is not only a new member, but will taking on the duties of Newsletter Editor for the Squadron. Mindy was interested in airplanes long before she was interested in Sam, she's been a sort of fanatic for about 20 years, collecting all things related to aviation, going to air shows, and getting an e-mail address with "planekrazy" in it. There's no rhyme or reason for her obsession except flight and airplanes fascinate and intrigue her. She's done a little flying and hopes (with the help of the wonderful people at Air Acres) to do some more. Just look out when Mindy does her first landing or take-off!
To fuel her hobby, Mindy is Senior Copywriter at a Decatur company's in-house advertising agency
Joey Ogburn
Joey has been around the Georgia Boys and the grass strip since the late 80’s. We’re glad to see him at the airport and getting back into the swing of things.
Rich Petersen
Rich Petersen, Director of Technical Services for Image Information, Inc., joins Warbird 17 after participating in the Oshkosh Work Weekend. Rich’s professional
career has centered around the IT arena with particular emphasis on Data Management. Prior to that Rich was in the US Navy as a Avionics Technician working the carrier USS Midway’s flight deck.
If you want to see and hear some incredible stuff, go to Rich’s family website for the story on how Rich got blown off the carrier, spent 14 hours in the Sea of Japan and spent his last tour of duty at the South Pole. Quite an adventure. Rich is currently taking flying lessons and is planning to go all the way through multi-instrument training. No doubt there will be ample opportunity for harassment.
Dick McSpadden
Dick McSpadden, USMC (Ret) joins the squadron from Canon Ga. and is based at 18A Franklin County Airport. This is quite a family of aviators. Dick’s oldest son, Lt.
Col. Richard McSpadden is “Thunderbird 1”
for the USAF Thunderbirds Flight Demonstration Team. That’s right, Team Lead! His other son Cliff is an ASA Captain flying the Regional Jet and they own an L-17 and a C-45. Cliff is the primary pilot for the C-45 and they love to fly so drop in and say hi. Dick says there's a neat bunch of guys and planes on the airport and he encourages anyone to come visit. Franklin county airport is in Canon, Georgia, about ten miles South of Lavonia, GA. off I-85.
John Trent
John Trent is a new member from Marietta, GA. Johns father was a B-25 pilot in the CBI theatre, mainly China, and flew
with the Burma Bridge Busters and the Ringer Squadron. His father in law was a B-17 pilot on the 1st daylight raid over Berlin. He was shot down and became a POW for a year and a half.
John was raised an Air Force brat with a few FAC hours back in the ' 60's, and while he hasn’t flown in a few years, John is an avid Warbird enthusiast. John has a few flights logged in the "Aluminum
Overcast" B-17 and has flown in our former flagship, the "Georgia Girl" B-25. Another member with quite a family history in military aviation.
Were happy to have you John, “Welcome Aboard”. Now, we have to see about getting you back in the air. :-)
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