November 23, 2010 Fall Foliage Tour, part 4

The Liberty Gazette

November 23, 2010

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Returning from our Fall vacation last month, the same tailwinds we enjoyed on the way up to New England were headwinds on the way back, considerably reducing ground speed and thereby requiring more fuel stops. First stop after departing Pittsfield, Massachusetts came three and a half hours later in Morgantown, West Virginia, once we cleared a lot of mountain ranges along the route. The airport was quite busy, which we learned was due to a local college football game. The FBO fueled the plane, the airport restaurant fueled us, and we were airborne again.

Linda: Often when we’re travelling during football season we end up at an airport in a town where an important game is going on. Usually it’s the college games which affect the general aviation ramps, filling up with aircraft of the many alumni who fly in. A fuel stop in Knoxville, Tennessee proved to be another stop like Morgantown. A football game was going full tilt when we contacted Knoxville Approach Control. It so happened it was my turn in the left seat on that leg. The approach controller vectored us around the University of Tennessee Neyland Stadium so we could get a good view, which, were I a football fan (I know, I’ll dodge the tomatoes) I’d have been thrilled about. “Grumman 958, how’d you like that view of the game,” he asked as we flew along the southeast edge of the stadium. The Volunteers were playing the Alabama Crimson Tide and we figured it must have been halftime, judging by the barrage of camera flashes we could see from above, and undoubtedly a capacity crowd in the 102,455-seat venue. My honest response to the controller probably set me apart from everyone else in town. “Well, I’m not much of a football fan, but I sure love flying!” His quick follow-up likely hid his real feelings, saying, “Well either way, it’s a great view,” before handing me off to the airport’s control tower.

Mike: The airport ramp was packed; jets, turboprops and piston airplanes everywhere. “You here for the game,” was the presumptuous question posed more like a statement of fact until we shocked the people in the FBO saying, “No, just a fuel stop and overnight.” The FBO folks told us it was good we called ahead, that we were lucky to get the last hotel room in town. And fortunately, the hotel was right across the highway with a Ruby Tuesday’s next door.

As we made our way out on the FBO ramp the next morning, Linda spotted a Cessna 310 with Isaiah 40:31 painted on its tail. She researched the registration and found this story: in 2003 at the age of 56, N137CM’s owner, Charlie Queen, suffered a massive stroke and spent many weeks in a hospital. His wife was told to find a nursing home for him. Linda spoke briefly by phone with Mr. Queen and there is more to his story, which we are eager to hear so we can share it here, but this miracle we know: that he can now walk again, and is putting his miracle to great use.

Linda: Arriving at Ellington just as the sun was setting on Wings Over Houston air show, we carefully taxied past break-down crews to our parking spot, marking the end of our fall foliage tour.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

November 16, 2010 Fall Foliage Tour, part 3

The Liberty Gazette

November 16, 2010

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Autumn in New England. Lovely. Through the Green Mountains on our way to Weston, Vermont, we travelled country roads draped in old train trellises, past old houses mirrored by serene lakes, as fog finished its whisper to canoes waiting mostly on the shores and the water began to smile from ringlets of raindrops. Even with the apparent age of these places, splashes of fall color and a Maple Lane in every town sets the stage for great sight-seeing. Weston, the town we read was “like a Norman Rockwell painting” is home to the Vermont Country Store, a popular attraction for shoppers. Adorned with Autumn-ness its pumpkin-lined slate rock walkways accented by wood and iron benches, old wooden barrels, and dotted with mounds of bursting fall chrysanthemums lead to a welcoming porch with waiting rockers. Off to the side, a 1950’s Chevy pick-up and an old milk can. A bit touristy but a trip down memory lane in the candy department helped me get over it with rock candy, jawbreakers, and yardstick bubble gum. We stayed one night in Weston; there was more of Vermont to see.

After lunch in Woodstock the next day, we roamed through an art gallery and a used bookstore, waiting for more flyable weather. As the clouds began to clear enough to make our next flight we shortened our time brief at one of many antiques stores in Quechee and hurried back to the airport in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Next stop: Stockbridge, Massachusetts (landing in nearby Pittsfield). It was my leg to fly on this “interesting” weather day. Light rain, but visibility good. Still, a large band of low clouds meant a longer flight to find clearance over the mountains. Since we don’t have de-icing equipment we would not fly in the clouds, as the temperatures in them were below freezing. Pittsfield’s airport was hiding behind a mountain range, but eventually we came upon it. Fortunately the swift wind was blowing straight down the runway.

Mike: The friendly lineman at the FBO in Pittsfield drove the rental car onto the ramp to meet us, and helped secure the plane. Soon we were on our way to Stockbridge, just minutes away. Stockbridge boasts home of the Red Lion Inn, since 1773. A large and elegant historic hotel (with an operating bird-cage elevator), the Inn is decorated with thousands of antiques. Among the goodies in the room was a booklet with three short bedtime stories, a unique and charming touch. Norman Rockwell lived his last 25 years in Stockbridge. His studio was moved to a larger piece of property it shares with the museum which houses most of his original paintings and tear sheets of every Saturday Evening Post cover he created. He worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays, for most of his life. We spent most of a day at the museum that honors the beloved artist who captured on canvas daily life in America for many decades of the last century.

Too soon, vacation was nearing an end. Crossing again over the Berkshires, Poconos, Catskills, Smokeys, the Appalachian, Adirondack, and Green Mountain ranges, bright hues of orange, red, and yellow covered the landscape like a soft knitted blanket. White church steeples in small towns bid a warm good-bye. The video camera got a lot of use.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

November 9, 2010 Fall Foliage Tour, part 2

The Liberty Gazette

November 9, 2010

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Following up on last week’s start on “What We Did on our Fall Vacation,” wrapping up the patriotic portion of the trip–Minuteman National Historic Park, Concord and Lexington, the spot where Paul Revere was captured and the bridge where someone fired “the shot heard ‘round the world”–we departed Bedford, in Boston’s busy airspace, winging our way to Lebanon, New Hampshire, the northern most point of our tour. The rolling terrain of the White Mountains lit up in fall color is beautiful when viewed at low altitude below a broken cloud deck. Initial decent point came in less than an hour; over a ridge the crossing runway came in to view before we spotted the one where we were cleared to land–behind yet another hill. Turning final around the hill the air was a bit bumpy as we settled onto the runway.

The FBO manager greeted us with smile, keys to a rental car, and a bottle of New Hampshire maple syrup, saying, “it’s better than that stuff you get in Vermont–over there they paint their leaves.” On a roadmap he pointed out the many things we shouldn’t miss along the way. “Don’t miss the longest usable covered bridge in America,” he said. We checked it out, crossing the Connecticut River to Vermont and back to New Hampshire in minutes. Although it was practical back in the day to cover those old wooden bridges to keep them from collapsing under heavy winter snows, today we adore the nostalgic remnants of a romantic Currier & Ives era.

Linda: Nestled amongst the rolling hills of the Connecticut River Valley, the Monadnock Region of southwest New Hampshire, sits a 100-acre organic farm with Bed & Breakfast, the Inn at Valley Farms. Innkeeper Jackie Caserta treated us to a gourmet breakfast that outdid Massachusetts’ famous Red Lion Inn, which we would later visit. She introduced us to “popovers”, using a recipe she has perfected, fed us the freshest, yellowiest eggs we’ve ever had, and a fancy concoction of pear with maple and some other tastiness. No wonder this inn was awarded 2010 Editor's Pick in Yankee Magazine's "Best of New England." Jackie insisted we visit the headquarters of the world-famous Burdick’s Chocolates, there in tiny, quaint Walpole. Dinner in Burdick’s dining room provided another gourmet experience: traditional French cuisine (Mike wouldn’t even consider trying the escargot), and a walk through the gift shop made it impossible to remain just a browser.

People in these small New England farming communities treat visitors nicely. The old and rare bookshop in the Green Mountains in Vermont was a cozy place to meander. New England pot pies, pumpkin ice cream, and maple-flavored everything were found in abundance in every town.

Ice cream is quite popular in the northeast. In Maine it seems there’s a locally owned ice cream store on every corner. We honeymooned there and I still laugh at the memory of the moment I remarked to Mike, “There sure are a lot of ice cream shops here.” Those words had barely passed my lips when we passed “Don’s Radiator Shop... and ice cream.”

For several months we researched and planned our Fall Foliage Tour. One of the places that piqued our interest was the town of Weston, Vermont, described by a travel resource as, “like a Norman Rockwell painting.” We’ll have that and more next week. Till then, blue skies.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

November 2, 2010 Fall Foliage Tour, part 1

The Liberty Gazette

November 2, 2010

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: After planning for more than a year, we took off in our Cheetah for a New England leaf-peeping tour. The rolling terrain dressed in beautiful fall splendor of Ash, Birch, and Maples draws many a foliage fan every year. Sojourning with the birds grants a great view of the countryside from Houston to Boston. Leaving the flatness of southeast Texas we marveled at God’s handiwork: the Berkshires, the Poconos, the Catskills, the Smokies, Appalachian, Adirondack, and Green Mountain ranges, each offering their beauty in turn. Winging our way northeast from a fuel stop in Chattanooga the landscape began to change from green and brown to shouts of yellows, oranges, and reds, becoming more brilliant as we crossed over West Virginia into Maryland.

Cumberland, Maryland was our lunch stop (gusty winds made the landing “sporty”). An adorable little town, population about 20,000, their historic, shopping, and restaurant district downtown is quite impressive with its brick streets, flowerpot-lined sidewalks, busy shops, unique galleries, restaurants, and prominent buildings of interesting architecture.

Linda: Following a scrumptious lunch in a Cumberland café, we were off to Bedford, our Boston area destination airport. In the air, New York Center controllers rattled a steady stream of traffic instructions to pilots, including advisories to us about airline arrivals crossing our path flying into New York’s busy airports: “Grumman 958, traffic, eleven o’clock, east-bound, 5,000 feet, three miles, a 747.”

A little further north, West Point Military Academy came in to view along the Hudson River. I said something to Mike about trying a water landing, Sully-style. He’d already had his moment of imposter-glory when he re-created that famous scene in a simulator. I remember the grin as he told me he’d landed “within one block of Sully’s landing” – in the sim.

Mike: Assisted by a speedy tailwind we sailed through New York and Boston’s airspace, flew over Walden Pond, made famous by Henry David Thoreau, and entered the traffic pattern at Bedford, Massachusetts. In nearby Concord we had reservations at the historic Colonial Inn, which proudly faces Monument Park, the centerpiece of Concord’s downtown. There stands a monument to the area’s Patriots who hoped for peace but had to fight when the British “Red Coats” attempted to take over the town April 19, 1775. It was in that spot the townspeople gathered and waited as the King’s soldiers marched from Boston to Lexington and soon to Concord. Many of the buildings, taverns, meetings houses and residences there at the time are still standing. It was in Lexington, just east of Concord, where the British opened fire on townspeople, killing eight, and injuring many more including Prince Estabrook, a black man who was a slave, and served in the town’s militia.

Just a mile from Col. Barrett’s farm is the North Bridge which arches over the Concord River, where “the shot heard round the world” was fired. It was the first time Colonials fired on the British. The British Regulars tried to escape back to Boston but many died on what is now known as Battle Road. Our tours of Lexington and Concord, the first two battle places of the American Revolution seemed timely in today’s political climate.

Minuteman Park Rangers were outstanding tour guides, and the multimedia presentation was a top-notch production. On April 19th each year these battles are re-enacted, lest we forget.

The next town on our agenda was Walpole, New Hampshire, where we traversed New England’s longest covered bridge on our way to a bed & breakfast on a 100-acre organic farm. ‘Til next week, blue skies.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 26, 2010 Liberty Airport's Humble Beginnings: A visit with Benny Rusk, Part 4

The Liberty Gazette

October 26, 2010

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Our recent visit with Benny Rusk netted many interesting chronicles of aviation, farming, friendship, and life. In the past three weeks we’ve shared a few of those, including some of the important history of the Liberty Municipal Airport.

As we followed him down the hallway of his modest farm home “Mr. Benny” pointed out framed photos hanging on the walls. Some were of him in his boxing days when he was a heavy weight contender from 1946-1948. He fought the heavyweight champion contender, Roy Harris, of Cut-N-Shoot, at the 1958 Trinity Valley Exposition. The match ended in a draw.

Others were shots of him with airplanes; trips he’s taken with family; a Curtiss C-46 “Commando,” (once used by the Army Air Corps in WW-II to fly the “Hump” from India into China) that he and Earl Atkins picked up in Alaska and flew back to McAllen; and a Northrop T-38 “Tallon” (a supersonic trainer jet used by the U.S. Air Force) he flew for an hour, as did folk singer Gordon Lightfoot and friend Charles Wiggins. When I commented on how exciting that must have been to fly a T-38, he said the power provided by the jet’s afterburners shot them straight up to 14,000 feet, “and it flies even better upside down!” After his ride in the rocket someone asked him, “So what do you think of the T-38?” Benny responded with the kind of enthusiasm aviators have, “I think every family should have one!”

Mike: Benny has confirmed many of the stories the Mitchells, of M&M Air Service, have told us, including that there were grass strips on nearly every farm in the Tri-County area – 175 of them – but that crop dusting in this area has dwindled. Fewer than 8,000 acres are planted in rice now – “Can’t make a living growing rice anymore,” says Benny, so he runs cattle on his property and laments along with many of us that our country is in a downward spiral. “No one knows how to plant a potato any more, and you can’t raise a farmer in 30 days. We have a great country. Somebody better wake up and save it.”

Aviation has been an enriching part of Benny’s life. Today, alongside his mile-long grass runway, which he says at one time was designated as the auxiliary airport for Liberty, sits the hangar that once housed his Piper Comanche, Cessna 310, and others over the years.

While Earl Atkins is properly credited as the founder of the Liberty Municipal Airport, it didn’t happen without Benny Rusk. In him, we met a hard working humble man who speaks generously of the good in others.

Looking forward to the recently announced plans for repairs and upgrades, approximately $1.6 million to be invested in our 54-year old airport, while Benny may not have realized then how important his little grass strip would become, he is one of the people who made it all possible.

Today, when our area faces a crisis and roads are jammed or closed, help is able to come by air.

When business people need to fly in to Liberty, they have a place to land and contribute to our economy. Benny’s passion and enthusiasm not only sparked so many friends and family members to earn a pilot license, but has become an integral part of the National Transportation System, a gift to the community that will outlast us all and will keep on giving in immeasurable ways.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 19, 2010 Liberty Airport's Humble Beginnings: A visit with Benny Rusk, Part 3

The Liberty Gazette

October 19, 2010

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Welcome back, we’re on Part 3 from our fun visit with Benny Rusk, pinning down more oral history on the Liberty Airport and its most significant care takers. Says Benny’s daughter, Benetta, “the friendship of my dad, Earl Atkins, and Chester Holbrook was the source of many tales of adventure. I would get up in the morning and wait by the door,” she recalls of her childhood, “because I didn’t know where Daddy would be going next, but I knew there would always be an adventure.”

Benny enjoys reminiscing those days, and especially his good friend, Earl Atkins, whom he says, “was 24-karat.”

Mike: In addition to crop dusting and flight training, Earl bought and sold airplanes and operated a charter service. Benny says Earl really understood the business end of aviation, too. “Art Barkus’s dad held the patent on some oilfield machinery,” he explains. “When Art showed up for flying lessons, Earl explained to Art’s dad how airplanes can increase business by cutting down the sales staff’s travel time. A deal was struck whereby Earl would purchase a Twin Beech and provide charter service to the elder Mr. Barkus. He always credited Earl Atkins for tripling his business, because his sales staff was able to cover more ground in less time.”

And that’s the thing about business aviation. It pays for itself many times over, as Benny learned when he’d take clients to his ranch in West Texas. “It’d take 12 to 13 hours to drive the 595 miles from Liberty to the ranch but with that Comanche 400 we could make the trip out there in two hours and 40 minutes and with the wind at our back, make the return trip in two hours and 15 minutes.” Chuckling as he points out the window towards an airstrip behind his house, he says, “We’d leave late on Friday off that strip out there and be back on Monday morning before anyone knew we were gone.”

Benny’s only mishap was a belly-landing which occurred when a passenger was playing with the controls and Benny thought the gear was down. But there was the time, Linda Rusk reminds him, they were returning from a trip to her parents’ home when ice built up on their Cessna 310 (twin engine), making it heavy and altering the aerodynamics. Fortunately they were just over Eagle Lake Airport, but says Linda, “He had to land the airplane by looking out what little bit he could see out the side window. The front was covered in ice.” He credits Earl’s teaching as the reason he landed the plane safely, and says, “Every moment has been worth it. We take risks every day. You can see things from up there you never dreamed were there.”

Linda: From pheasant hunting in Nebraska to land deals in Louisiana, aviation has been an enriching part of Benny’s life. We always say we meet the neatest people in aviation, or, as Benny puts it, “just a different class of people.” A trip to Mexico for a fly-in turned out to be one of those times. We’ll have more next week. Till then, blue skies.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 12, 2010 Liberty Airport's Humble Beginnings: A visit with Benny Rusk Part 2

The Liberty Gazette

October 12, 2010

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Continuing with personal insight on the Liberty Airport’s humble beginnings, here’s more from our very enjoyable conversation with Benny Rusk at his kitchen table.

What began as a 42-acre piece of land, with skillful negotiation and planning and a great passion for aviation became today’s Liberty Municipal Airport. It was the 1950’s and rice farming ruled here in Liberty County. Earl Atkins came to Liberty to do aerial seeding and crop dusting for M&M Air Service, operating out of Roy House’s grass strip. Benny Rusk was a banker who owned 42 acres near Ames.

Business was booming and Earl needed more space. If Benny could increase the size of his property Earl could move his operations there. According to “Mr. Benny,” negotiations with one neighbor added “another 12 or 14 acres.” Then he bought another 400’-500’ of frontage road from another neighbor making the property big enough for a landing strip. As soon as Benny and Earl got some hangars built Earl moved his operations to the present location of the Liberty Airport. That was 1956. Of the hangars built back then, only one remains– the one nearest the gate on the FM2830. The City of Liberty eventually took over ownership but Earl continued to manage the airport until he moved to the Valley. In 1984 the City acquired adjoining land to extend the runway to its present 3,800-foot length.

Mike: Those who knew Earl Atkins say he was a top-notch pilot, an outstanding instructor, and savvy aviation businessman, so it’s no surprise Benny has lots of Earl stories, such as the way he handled an airplane while crop dusting. Rather than make sweeping turns at the end of each row, Earl would pull the nose up almost vertical, kick the rudder and the resulting hammerhead (an aerobatic maneuver that takes some skill) would have the plane nose down, picking up speed. He’d eased it back to level, in line with the next row. “He cut those turn times in half,” laughs Benny.

But one time the control stick detached, coming out in Earl’s hand just after take-off. He dumped his 1800-lb. load, used the trim tab for pitch control and made power (thrust) adjustments to get the airplane down safely.

“And then there was the time Nelson Waldrop offered to fund the expenses for an air show,” Benny continues. “5,000 people showed up at the Liberty Airport for that show. Near the end a man and woman asked Earl to take them up, one on each wing, so they could parachute down. I wasn’t sure how they were going to jump off the wing, but right in front of the crowd at 850’, the minimum altitude they needed for the chutes to open, Earl suddenly cut back the throttle, almost like stopping the plane in mid-air. The two went sailing forward and opened their chutes. The crowd loved it.”

Linda: Benny’s enthusiasm for aviation is contagious. After Earl taught him to fly, eleven of Benny’s family members eventually learned. Among them, his wife, Linda, presently a school teacher in Mont Belvieu, who earned her private pilot license; daughter Benetta, who has some great memories of her own to share; and nephews Mark and Craig McNair who both went on to become professional pilots.

There’s more good stuff to come, so don’t miss next week’s issue. Till then, blue skies.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

Funding will provide $1.6 mil in airport improvements

October 5, 2010

by Linda Street-Ely
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn.
Airport Support Network Liaison

In a press conference held last Wednesday at the Liberty Municipal Airport, City Manager Gary Broz provided details of the planned $1.6 million investment in the 54-year old airport. From its humble beginnings as Benny Rusk’s private property where Earl Atkins operated his crop dusting and other flying business, to its present condition, a 3800’ runway, self-serve Avgas, and a few old hangars, the airport has weathered some storms. Like some small towns, at times it has been out of favor with politicians of the day, and at other times it has been fortunate to have some of the best advocates money cannot buy. The airport was assured a bright future with the addition of Gary Broz, who said, “There is no use having an airport if you’re not really going to have an airport.” Gary’s 25-year long flight training journey gives him the passion greatly needed here; his experience as city manager in Brady, Texas working with airport manager Joe Mosier, and all the improvements made there are serving as a backbone to Gary’s understanding of the tremendous potential value an airport offers a community.

The presently planned improvements include $725,000 in federal grant funds for what TXDOT calls Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) that have been in the works for more than three years, such as continued drainage work, resurfacing and rehabilitating the runway, and upgrading the lighting system. All these projects are very basic needs and important in the long run for Liberty Airport to be improved.

With federal grant funds which come from airline ticket taxes and taxes on aviation fuel, insurance money reimbursing damage from Hurricane Ike, FEMA funds (also resulting from Hurricane Ike), and $450,000 from the Liberty Community Development Committee (from local sales tax), approximately $1.6 million will go in to the completion of several projects. In addition to the basic needs, plans include at least one building of 10 T-hangars, a pilot lounge, relocation of the self-serve fuel tank to the east side of the airport, a fuel truck, and additional parking lot area. The fuel truck may be used for Jet A fuel, since that option is not presently available in Liberty, but that decision will be made later. While it’s a good idea to have a fuel truck available at the airport in case of community emergencies, fuel contamination from mixing different types of fuel would pose a hazard to aircraft.

Because the Texas Department of Transportation’s Aviation Division holds the purse strings for both FAA and State airport grant funding, one requirement to receiving the funds is to have a current airport layout plan on file with TXDOT. The layout plan is an extensive plan drawn up by a team of engineers and other airport development professionals and should be updated no less than every five years. The current cost of that plan is $80,000, of which Liberty will only pay 10%. And although the ground hasn’t even been broken for the T-hangars, Broz says they are 100% leased with a waiting list, making a second bank of T-hangars a good possibility.

The city receives income through the sale of avgas, and the leasing of city-owned hangars and ground leases for privately owned hangars.

Publicly owned airports such as Liberty’s may be managed either by a city employee as airport manager or privately by a Fixed Based Operator (FBO). The better facility an airport has to offer the greater interest there is by private business to locate there. Aviation businesses such as paint shops, mechanic services, upholstery shops, small plane manufacturers, parts manufactures, as well as flight schools, air ambulance, pipeline patrol, aerial photography, freight, and many other services are always looking for well maintained and managed facilities. Companies that use an airplane for business are also important customers. Most corporate aircraft are small, single engine propeller planes.

The Liberty Airport’s present runway size can easily accommodate single engine and most twin engine piston airplanes and a few light jets. It’s location outside the Bush-Intercontinental Airport’s airspace makes it a prime location for many aspects of aviation. With 108 acres available to develop, it is, as Gary Broz says, “a real diamond in the rough.”

Future plans also call for a professional airport manager and courtesy cars, economic development tools that will have area businesses rejoicing. Broz places a high value on having a smiling face there to greet visitors, to welcome them to Liberty, and knows the importance of that person being one from the aviation community who understands the unique needs and expectations of pilots and their passengers.

The most recent study commissioned by TXDOT for airports in Texas indicates that the Liberty airport creates $219,000 annually in economic activity. With these investments, that number is sure to increase, moving the Liberty Municipal Airport closer to being the public asset it should be, one that serves its community.

October 5, 2010 Liberty Airport's Humble Beginnings: A visit with Benny Rusk Part 1

The Liberty Gazette

October 5, 2010

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Time spent in the home of Benny and Linda Rusk netted more than a few interesting stories about life in these parts, and about aviation. For more on the history of what is now the Liberty Municipal Airport, we go to the source: its original owner.

Benny Rusk disproves that idea that you have to be at least a third generation family in Liberty. His father worked for Humble Oil Company in Baytown, but missing his home in Nacogdoches and longing for the farming life again, when the price of cotton climbed to 30 cents, Benny’s dad left Humble Oil to farm cotton. “The next year,” Benny says, “the price of cotton dropped to 5 cents. We never went hungry, but we ate a lot of cornbread.”

One of six children, Benny started milking cows at age five and farmed till he was 18. The two years he worked at a shipyard before being drafted probably caused hearing loss that disqualified him from flying for the Navy, his first choice. From the Army’s Camp Walters he was shipped off to Europe during WW II and fought in four major battles including the Battle of the Bulge, finishing his time in Berlin with the 82nd Airborne. Of being at the Bulge, Benny says, “We saw three holes in a Sherman Tank from where the Germans had shot it. It was sitting in a few feet of snow. The men welcomed us, saying, ‘We’re glad you’re here. We just lost 45,000 men.’” After 1 year, 11 months, and 23 days, Benny collected only three paychecks from the Army. “I guess they couldn’t find me, they moved me so much.”

Then came his boxing days. He fought Roy Harris of Cut-N-Shoot and was a heavy weight contender from 1946-1948. A newcomer to Liberty in 1953, he learned quickly that “you have to be careful what you say because everyone here is related.”

Mike: Banker, farmer, boxer, war veteran, and soon-to-be pilot, Benny Rusk’s arrival in Liberty turned out to be a pivotal time for aviation here. His flying lessons started in 1956 with Earl Atkins in a Luscombe rented from Houston TV man Ben Erskine for $3.50 an hour. They flew out of Roy House’s airstrip on Highway 90 behind where Terrell’s Auto Parts is now. After four hours of flight training Benny invested $2,900 in a 1949 Cessna 170 he purchased at Ellington Field’s aero club. A year later he sold it for what he paid for it, never having to put money into it except to buy a new tire. An economics major, he was no slouch on making good deals; over time he owned a Cessna 180, Comanche 250, and a Comanche 400, a 215-mph airplane that carries six hours of fuel. With that kind of speed, Benny learned what other business people know: “an airplane puts one more day on the week.” His last airplanes were a twin-engine Cessna 310 and a single-engine Cessna 210.

He remembers when National Pipe & Tube came to Liberty, the big reception and the politicians taking the executives up and down the river to show them the town. “We had one police officer and no crime,” Benny recalls fondly, “we had a town where rice and cows put more bricks here than oil ever did.” He also knew that aviation was vital to a community’s health and the area needed an airport. Benny owned 42 acres where the Liberty Airport now sits. We’ll pick up next week with how he grew it into what we have today.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

September 28, 2010 Garratt and Foy Around the World

The Liberty Gazette

September 28, 2010

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: World record holder CarolAnn Garratt was back in Houston recently sharing her adventures in around-the-world flying and a subject near and dear to her heart, raising awareness and funds for research for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS – Lou Gehrig’s Disease. CarolAnn and her record-breaking partner, 2006 Air Race Classic champion, Carol Foy, departed Orlando International westbound on December 2, 2008 and flew around the earth in CarolAnn’s Mooney to shatter the 20-year record set in a Bonanza.

Preparations began 18 months prior with research and flight planning. For the most benign weather they would fly in December and stay close to the Equator. Garnering an impressive international support crew was an essential ingredient for these two accomplished pilots. CarolAnn, a retired mechanical engineer, had circumnavigated the globe in 2003, but that was a leisurely jaunt. There would be little time for sleep in this “Dash for a Cure.”

For publicity, the pilots appeared at AirVenture in Oshkosh and sat in a Mooney for 24 hours. They set hard-and-fast rules about the flight, including weather minimums and what circumstances would dictate deviation to an alternate airport for landing. The westbound route would take advantage of the Easterly Trade Winds, which occur in most of the world. They would sleep in two-hour shifts and plan the route to maximize the stops in U.S. territory. The flying pilot was always on oxygen at night, and a full instrument approach was flown for every night landing. Flight leg-times ranged from 16-23 hours.

Lack of sleep, altered eating habits, a weather detour and somehow getting 30 gallons less fuel than they paid for in Djibouhti (imagine hearing a fuel tank go dry over Central Africa) couldn’t overshadow the adrenaline or the satisfaction when the pair spoke with school children from the cockpit, and called ALS sufferers to say, “This flight’s for you.”

With an FAA waiver allowing 15% over gross weight the Mooney was equipped with extra fuel tanks for a total capacity of 195 gallons (1,170 lbs) of avgas. Tools and fuel tanks crammed in the cockpit left precious little room for much else; CarolAnn toted her toothbrush in her flightsuit pocket.

Mike: 70 years after Lou Gehrig’s diagnosis, CarolAnn and Carol blew away the old record:

Old record in a Bonanza: 19 days, 54.6 mph
Garratt/Foy: 8 days, 12 hours, 18 minutes, and 53 seconds, 115.35 mph

The pilots spent 158 hours flying 20,400 nautical miles (time on the ground counts on the clock), and paid all expenses themselves so that funds raised would go directly to ALS research and support. Perhaps the best news CarolAnn has to report, what makes the record and its publicity valuable, is seeing progress in research for treatment and a cure for ALS. A new medicine which began testing last year is showing hope. While it’s too late to help her mother, or any of the good friends she’s made along the journey, CarolAnn isn’t giving the disease a break. One day the new world record she longs to see will be a reality – a cure for ALS. There’s more for you to know at www.ALSWorldFlight.com; and check out her books, “Upon Silver Wings” and “Upon Silver Wings II World-Record Adventure.”

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