March 28, 2023 Aloha!

The Liberty Gazette

March 28, 2023

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: The story often begins like this: In 1922, a 16-year-old Canadian girl who had been sent to a convent in Europe found her way out by answering an ad in a Paris newspaper looking for a partner in adventure. 

Idris Galcia Hall Welsh was a tomboy who read voraciously from her step-father’s collection of adventure books and dreamed of sleeping “with the winds of heaven blowing round her head.” She was already an explorer at heart. The gig was run by a Polish adventurer whose name most people couldn’t pronounce, so he gave himself the stage name, Walter Wanderwell. Idris signed up for the deal: to drive around the world in a Ford Model T, and Walter gave her a new name: Aloha Wanderwell. They’d show films from their travelogue, sell photos, and give lectures to make money. 

From that point, her story mostly focuses on the wild tales that came from the years that made her the “world’s most widely traveled girl.” She was a beautiful gal, six feet tall, blue eyes and long blonde hair that twisted and curled like Shirley Temple’s hair did, and she carried a pet monkey. Eventually, the pair married and had two children. Those are a few of the basics. Now let’s get on to the flying – because she did that, too. 

Linda: In 1931, motivated by the desire to search for the lost explorer, Colonel Percival Harrison Fawcett, and the Lost City of Z (the legendary city of Eldorado), which he was looking for when he vanished, she and Walter flew a German seaplane called a Junkers to Descalvados Ranch in Cuibá and set up camp. When they took off to fly over uncharted Mato Grosso in Brazil, their plane ran out of fuel, and they landed on the Paraguay River. Walter hiked out to get help while Aloha stayed in the Amazon basin with the Bororo tribe. They all got along well, and Aloha just kept doing what she had been doing (sans airplane), that is, documenting everything on film. Turned out, hers was the first footage ever taken of this tribe, making it an important contribution to anthropology and other studies of humanity and cultures. The tribe performed a ceremonial dance for the camera and men demonstrated having sympathetic labor pains. God bless them! 

Aloha and Walter never found Percy Fawcett or the lost city, but when they finally got home, she edited the film and released it as, “Flight to the Stone Age Bororos.” They later used some of the footage for other films, “River of Death” and “The Last of the Bororos.” The Smithsonian has copies in their Human Studies Film Archives as does the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Mike: Aloha had wanted the pages of those adventure books to come alive. I’d say she surpassed her dreams, exploring the most exotic places on earth and taking to flying a seaplane like it was just another page in a story to live out. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com 

March 21, 2023 Our Friend, Mary Anne

The Liberty Gazette

March 21, 2023

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Liberty is a better place because of Mary Anne Campbell. We miss her, that kind, gracious, lady with her beaming, beautiful smile. When I think of Mary Anne, I can hear her voice, the distinctive wayin which she pronounced words, and I see those sparkling eyes. And that desk full of papers. Mail, magazines, notes, gifts, and who knows what else. “I’ve got to get this cleaned up,” she always seemed to say. But somehow, she was able to put her hands on what she wanted. Either that, or she’d call us back as soon as she found it, whatever it was. 

Mike: Mary Anne was a dear personal friend. She kept several copies of all our books at the Chamber office. She was also a treasured friend to the community. And she was a supportive friend to the Liberty Municipal Airport. She encouraged us to keep on keepin’ on, to promote aviation and our little community airport, to keep putting it out there, front and center, so everyone would understand its significance. 

She invited us to address the Chamber in March 2008 to discuss the economic impact of the Liberty Municipal airport on our city as well as it’s crucial role as part of the national airspace system. 

She helped with logistics in the planning and execution of “Hope Flies,” the 2008 fund-raiser fly-in for a local family, the “Trick-or-Treat Poker Run” in 2009, and the “Valentine’s Treasure Hunt” in 2011. 

Linda: I remember Bruce and Andrea joining their mother for the start of the poker run at the Liberty Municipal Airport. More than a hundred people had flown in to play the game. They came in Cessnas and Pipers, a Mooney, and aerobatic airplanes such as an SIAI Marchetti, an F-1 Rocket and several Van’s RVs – kit-built airplanes – some with a passenger or two. One airplane hauled a family of four. Participants in the event were children from as young as 19 months to senior citizens in their 80’s, and some even brought along the family dog. They came from Pearland, Sugar Land, Kingwood, Baytown, Houston, Conroe, and all around the Houston area. And there was Mary Anne, welcoming them and handed out goody bags full of coupons, fliers, brochures, and samples, promoting Liberty area businesses. 

Mary Anne had had the highest bid for four VIP tickets to Wings Over Houston in that year’s Chamber “500” auction, and the family looked forward, as always, to the upcoming air show. Andrea, who already had a few hours of flight training, had the winning bid for a flight lesson at Flying Tigers at Ellington. She also snagged a ride for the poker run, and her mom was excited for her to get another chance to fly. She said it was good.

I can hear her say that, the way she pronounced “good.” It was a word she said often.

Til we see you again, dear Mary Anne, blue skies and tailwinds. You have the real VIP seat now.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

March 14, 2023 Solo Day Anniversary

The Liberty Gazette

March 14, 2023

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: This past week was a fun anniversary to celebrate. This time of year, in 1977, I flew my first solo flight in an airplane. It felt as if the airplane sped up quicker down the runway and leapt skyward, making a skyrocketing climb rather than a saunter to altitude, all because one less person, my instructor, wasn’t aboard; without his added weight, the airplane responded with more zip. He was speaking to me through my thoughts as I remembered the lessons he taught. As I moved controls, he was there (in my head) telling me when to adjust the throttle to change my power setting, raise or lower flaps, push the control wheel forward to lower the nose, or turn it to increase bank angle or level the wings. 

That’s what an instructor does, they take knowledge and skills they’ve gained through their own training and experiences, plus those from other pilots, and share them with new pilots. Experience, in my opinion, is the best teacher, provided you survive to learn from it–the major goal of flight instruction.

I have ten pilot logbooks stuffed with experiences, and sometimes I just look through them. Some of those entries flash images as if I were reading an epic novel. Most flights seemed tame or routine. But none of the flights, even along the same route or in the same type of aircraft, are ever identical. Each had some sort of lesson to teach, or something learned was reinforced. Learning is incremental, not always a big-bang revelation. Gaining skill and judgment only come with practice and time.

What would I change if I had to do it all again with the knowledge and experience I now have? What would I tell my teenage self? A perplexing question, since I gained what I have through the experience, and I would not want to rob myself of that, both the highs and the lows. Pondering that question seems like a waste of time. I’ll just pass what I can to the next generation of pilots. Even so, their experiences will be different.

I encourage young pilots to engage in as many different types of flying as they can, not to just focus on the airlines. They should learn soaring, fly seaplanes, and land at backcountry airstrips. Flying for the airlines may be a good career goal, but pilots need to develop judgement and leadership along with expanding their flying skills. By stretching themselves, they will grow professionally and personally. One point I make, especially with new pilots, is that there is no safe space, no place to go and hide when something goes wrong. Every decision a pilot makes has the potential to either take him or her down a path of success and survival, or, if it’s a bad decision, destruction. We make a lot of life-affecting judgment calls on every flight. We own our trophies as well as our failures.

It’s been forty-six years since I first soloed, and I’m still learning from the experience. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

March 7, 2023 The Brightest Stars Don't Need a Spotlight

The Liberty Gazette

March 7, 2023

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: We celebrated my mom’s 90th birthday with a banquet hall full of people. I asked her if she would share some words of wisdom, but instead, she wanted to take the opportunity to express her love, mentioning something special about each person in turn. The evening proved our abundant fortune. Mom is a hero to me, but she never looks for attention. Humble and full of grace, energy, love, and laughter. 

She grew up in the shadow of the Greatest Generation, many of her uncles and older cousins serving in WWII. She remembers her mother keeping a world map on the wall at home, with pins marking family members’ last known location. All of those close kinfolks came home – not all without injury, but alive. We like to pass these family stories down the generations, and I imagine Bill Crawford’s family does likewise. 

Bill was 24 years old when he joined the Army and fought the Axis powers in Italy. When his company faced heavy enemy fire, Bill boldly attacked back. No one thought he survived, so his Medal of Honor was awarded “posthumously.” His citation reads, in part: 

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy near Altavilla, Italy, 13 September 1943. When Company I … was pinned down by intense enemy machine-gun and small-arms fire, locating one of these guns … Pvt. Crawford, without orders and on his own initiative, moved over the hill under enemy fire to within a few yards of the gun emplacement and single-handedly destroyed the machine-gun and killed three of the crew with a hand grenade, thus enabling his platoon to continue its advance. When the platoon … was once more delayed by enemy fire, Pvt. Crawford again, in the face of intense fire, advanced directly to the front, midway between two hostile machine-gun nests, one located on a higher terrace, the other in a small ravine. Moving first to the left, with a hand grenade, he destroyed one gun emplacement and killed the crew; he then worked his way under continuous fire to the other, and with one grenade and his rifle, killed one enemy and forced the remainder to flee. Seizing the enemy machine gun, he fired on the withdrawing Germans and facilitated his company’s advance.”

Bill was captured and held for 19 months, but not killed. After his rescue, he re-enlisted and served another 20 years, but no one realized the mistake. In retirement, he worked as a janitor at the USAF Academy in Colorado, and it was there that a cadet discovered the error. Bill simply responded, “That was one day in my life, and it happened a long time ago.”

But word spread, and Bill Crawford was invited to attend the graduation of the Academy’s Class in 1984. Finally, among generals and VIPs, President Ronald Reagan presented the Medal of Honor to Bill.

Real heroes don’t crave the spotlight. They lead by serving, with integrity.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com 

February 28, 2023 Flying Queens

The Liberty Gazette

February 28, 2023

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Along West Eighth Street on the campus of Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas, was a meeting of pioneers. Former members of the Flying Queens, Wayland’s women’s basketball team since 1948, were coming to celebrate the grand opening of the Flying Queens Museum. Welcoming them was a symbol of all those who believed in them: a Beechcraft Baron.

Claude Hutcherson owned a charter company in Plainview and had a fleet of Bonanzas and Barons. He became the team sponsor, naming them Hutcherson’s Flying Queens and flying them in style to every away-game. Their coach, Harley Redin, a Marine Corps bomber pilot in WWII, often flew one of the planes.

Linda Pickens was six years old when her brother told her if she excelled at basketball, she could get a college scholarship and escape the poverty and abuse she suffered at home. She held onto that dream, becoming a Flying Queen, 1966-1969.

The Flying Queens accomplished something no other college basketball team has, men or women. Their record winning streak still stands: 131 consecutive games and four national championships. Some of these women scored full scholarships and earned post-graduate degrees. Many went on to give back, as doctors, business leaders, teachers, coaches. They stood tall and proud, determined to make a way for women’s sports. All they needed was a chance, not those who said, “Your uterus will fall out if you run too hard.” 

After Hutcherson’s Flying Queens were enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019, Flying Queens Foundation President, Dr. Linda Pickens-Price, shared her vision: an on-campus museum honoring the history of these trailblazing women.

On February 18, 2023, Wayland President, Dr. Bobby Hall, joined Dr. Price in opening the museum to the public for the first time. Flying Queens who played as far back as the 1950’s descended on Plainview from across the country. Mayor Charles Starnes burst with pride as darn near the whole city filled the building and overflowed out the doors. Among them was Debby Rihn-Harvey. Debby stands far above her competition as a nine-time national champion and winner of more medals in world aerobatic contests than any other person, male or female.

About six months ago, Dr. Price asked if I knew where she could get an airplane donated to their museum project, which she envisioned sitting atop a pedestal at the entrance. I knew just the person.

“You want my Baron?” Debby asked. Yes. It hadn’t flown in a while, and she had no immediate plans to restore it. Once she heard their story, she was all-in. She prepped her beloved airplane for the nine-hour drive, had it repainted with a Flying Queens logo, and hoisted lovingly onto the pedestal, where it looks like it’s taking off for a game.

If you’re out that way, don’t cheat yourself out of a visit, where the airplane of a legend invites you to learn more about the legacies of women who were pioneers on the courts and in the air.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com