August 24, 2021 Memories Are Made of These

The Liberty Gazette

August 24, 2021

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: When I was young, long before my first flight, I filled out reader information service cards in aviation magazines. The postage-paid cards had numbers assigned to identify the advertisers sponsoring the information. I left my mark with circles around those I wanted more information from. These cards went to the magazines’ marketing departs, who forwarded my “interest” to their advertisers, who in turn sent brochures about their products. My free stuff became memorabilia. 

If I wrote the advertisers directly, some offered neat gifts. One of the first things I wrote for, after seeing an ad featuring maps, a plotter, and an E6B computer, was a flight plan folder. It was in the pictures’ background, so the advertisement made me think I was getting all that stuff. When I received it, the package was smaller than I expected. I was disappointed at first with the five-by-seven-inch black folder with a brass clip that held a pad of blank flight plans. They were embossed with the name of the company. After the initial shock, I was happy to just get some pilot stuff. 

Aircraft brochures were a big item. All the major manufacturers sent them. Cessna sent theirs for the 150 and their other planes. Piper sent Cherokee and Navajo brochures. Beechcraft sent them for their Bonanzas and Baron and included a map of the U.S. with a plastic overlay. The overlay had nine concentric circles in groups of three to show how far each airplane would fly in one, two, and three hours. Over time, these items piled up and were boxed away. Even after I started flying, I occasionally pulled out the boxes and went through them and dreamed a bit. 

I don’t know when most of the trinkets, advertising, and charts I collected, disappeared. There have been times when I had a thought or question about one of these pieces of my life and discovered I no longer had it. Pilot career opportunities sometimes require multiple moves, some across the country or on the other side of the world, and my path has been no different. It’s then that things naturally need to be shed. However, I still have the charts I did my initial pilot training with and some others that are special. I treasure every crease, smudge, and tear they’ve endured. 

These bits of the past are more than memories. While I have a connection, they are also powerful resources for research. Some of the information gleaned from them cannot be found online and is difficult to come by. Through eBay, the online garage sale, I’ve slowly rebuilt my library of old aircraft brochures, out-of-date aeronautical charts, and airport information. Memory has fooled me more than once, so I refer to these memorabilia as my form of fact-checking. They also nudge my mind about information I need to include but had not thought about for my next book. Plus, when I’m finished with research, I can reminisce with my pilot stuff.

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