Air Force Lt. Col. Hector Santa Ana flew 35 missions during a 17-week blitz over Germany during World War II and 127 Berlin Air Lift missions. He also taught hundreds of Air Force pilots to fly before his retirement. A long-time resident of Millersville, Maryland, he died Dec. 9 of pneumonia at Dover, Delaware. Santa […]
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A life in motion:Bill Milliken’s autobiography is a wonderfully entertaining book
“Equations of Motion” isn’t the catchiest title on the shelves, and seems to belie the fascination of the book. At first glance, the subtitle may seem more apt: “Adventure, Risk and Innovation.” Far from being the engineering or physics treatise it might sound like, it is the autobiography of William F. Milliken, now 95 and […]
Margery Taylor Ware, former WASP, dies
Margery Taylor Ware, who flew as a WASP during World War II, died Nov. 22 of renal failure at the age of 91. Ever a fighter, she stood up against sex discrimination, bigotry, poverty and violence all of her long life. Her father, an Episcopal minister, told her that to whom much is given, much […]
The FAA and LASIK surgery: Approval comes with many warnings
About 55% of the civilian pilots in the United States require some sort of vision correction to meet the FAA’s requirements for medical certification, according to the FAA. While glasses are the most common choice, a growing number of pilots are choosing laser refractive, or LASIK, surgery. The procedure alters the curvature of the cornea […]
Florida rookie Jason Newburg wins at Reno
When something bad happens, a lot of people can let it get them down. Not Jason Newburg, who took something bad and turned it into victory. The Edgewater, Florida, aerobatics performer bought a Pitts Special S-1 in Jamaica. When it arrived in Florida, he found it had been damaged in shipping. The plane, now named […]
Doctor’s order: Fly a one-of-a-kind airplane
It all started for Jeff Laskin when he was in first grade in Chicago. “I was so excited about wearing a ‘Mighty Mouse’ costume for Halloween,” he recalls. “I remember jumping off the desks pretending to fly until the teacher ‘grounded’ me.” But that teacher couldn’t ground his dreams of flight. Those dreams were put […]
Above-average hurricane season forecast
The 2007 hurricane season will be one of “above-average” activity, according to Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University, one of the best-known and most accurate forecasters. Gray’s “early season forecast,” issued Dec. 8, predicts 14 named storms, seven of which will become hurricanes. Three of those will be major hurricanes, meaning category 3, 4 […]
Tuskegee Airmen’s perfect record questioned
The Tuskegee Airmen never lost to enemy fighters a bomber they were escorting. That has been accepted as fact for 61 years, since the end of World War II. On Dec. 10, however, Tuskegee Airmen Historian William F. Holton told the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser that Air Force records show at least a few bombers escorted […]
‘Diamond Li’ undergoes extreme makeover
The Commemorative Air Force’s “Diamond Lil” may be no more. The B-24, the oldest in existence, is in the midst of a restoration that will return it to its original B-24A status. Based at the B-29/B-24 Squadron at the CAF’s Midland, Texas, headquarters, “Diamond Lil,” was put in the paint scheme and markings of the […]