517th Annual Florida Mini-Reunion January 17,18,19, 20, 2009
Banquet on the 20th (Tuesday) and Departing on the 21st (Wednesday)
Hosted by: Leila Webb, Location: Ramada Hotel & Inn Gateway
7470 Highway 192 West
Kissimmee, Florida 34747
Tele: 1(800)327-9170 FAX 1(407)396-4320
web site: WWW.ramadagateway.com
Contact: Leila Webb, Helen Beddow and Lou Darden
4155 Kissimmee Park Road
St. Cloud, Florida 34772
Tele:(407)892-3595
Room Rate
- $65.00
Registration Fee - $40.00
Dick Seitz
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Video For Pilots
I thought you might find this interesting. Wouldn't this have been an exciting ride???!!! A fun interesting view!
Video For Pilots... Grab your beverage and relax for a few minutes of awesome
beauty. The SR-71 was the creation of Kelly Johnson, Lockheed, Eisenhower
and the Air Force. It was envisioned in the '50s, first flew in the early
'60s, retired in the '80s, briefly brought back in the
'90s.
In all, 13
units of the single seat A-12 were built, and 32 of the Pilot + Recon two
seat SR-71 units were built. Five A-12 were lost, one is
stored. Twelve two seaters were lost. The remaining 27 are on display
around the USA .
One more thing.
The author of the captions to the picture in this video made one
misstatement, The U-2 Recon aircraft was created in 1955, and flew
operationally in 1956. Kelly thought the USSR would shoot it down in
18 months. Lucky us, it flew until Gary Powers was downed on 1 May
1960.
But Kelly
Johnson already had the go-ahead from Ike for the A-12. It first flew in
1962, JFK kept the manufacture of it active. No one told LBJ, 'cause
everyone knew he would spill the secret. He wasn't told til the week
after JFK left us. And sure enough, LBJ gave out the secret in
a matter of months.
Click here to view the slideshow:
http://www.greatdanepromilitary.com/SR-71/index.htm Anne Valliere Hello,
How do I get in contact with the gentleman writing the war stories of
the WWII veterans? I know he was from France.
Thanks for your help,
Anne Valliere
Howard Hensleigh
Ben, I must have missed a mail call with my squib on Chuck Boyer. HH Note on Johnie Neiler to Tom McEvoy and others interested -- I saw Johnie at a reunion in North Carolina. He had his own company and was heavily into atomic work with the government. He had a fancy foreign car that he had a hard time starting when he took Russ Miller and me to the banquet. Once when in Washington on business, he came to diner at my house in Arlington, VA and we went over all my photos etc. Towards the end of the evening he told me he was terribly embarrassed. When I asked why he told me he was a Lt. Col. in the USAR and I was a colonel. Apparently he thought of me as a green 2nd Lt. when he was a seasoned first Lt. at Camp Mackall. Johnie knew a good deal and got an umpire detail on Tennessee maneuvers, spending weekends in a hotel while we slugged it out in the mud, I as his replacement S-2. When Walton and Deering were injured in the S. France jump, Mel Zais and Johnie moved up to regiment and before leaving Zais made me 3rd. Bn. S-2 in Johnie's place. That evening in Arlington must have had a profound effect on Johnie, because the next time I heard of him he was a two star general. If he has reached the clouds and thinks his rank places him far above us, he should talk with Dick Seitz and, if he has made his last jump, with Mel Zais both of whom have had no difficulty in associating with their old troopers, even with higher rank. If this stinging response does not bring Johnie out of the woodwork, he must be looking down on us from above. Howard Hensleigh
Tom McAvoy I know you will enjoy this
page as much as I did. http://www.members.shaw.ca/tfshannon2/holiday-inn.htm
Today in History 1926: Houdini dies Famous magician Harry Houdini died today from peritonitis following an operation for appendicitis. "The body will rest in the special airtight bronze coffin which Houdini recently had made to prove his contention that anyone could live without air for an hour if they did not let fear overcome them. It was Houdini's expressed wish that he be buried in the coffin," explained The Coshocton Tribune on November 1, 1926. NOTE: Houdini's legendary stunts include: leaping into the San Francisco Bay with 75-pound ball and chain locked to his body while his hands were handcuffed behind his back, breaking out of a Siberian prison van in Moscow, Russia, and jumping into the ice-cold Detroit River with handcuffs |