For those of you who could not attend our annual Twirly Bird meeting and reception in Houston, we had somewhere between 130 to 150 folks in attendance to help us celebrate the Twirly Birds 65^th Anniversary.  This gathering of the flock was, no doubt, the largest ever—at least in the past twenty or so years.  Helping to swell the numbers, thanks to Jim Kettles our V.P. in charge of membership and communications, we signed up 30 new members at the door and another 9 or 10 mail-in membership applications. Standing aside and observing the crowd, it confirmed to me, the number one purpose of the annual meeting is to have old friends get together to renew friendships and tell new and (no doubt) improved sea stories.

The past couple letters to you I have told about the arrangement the Twirly Birds have with the University of Texas at Dallas. Mr. Paul Oelkrug, Curator of the Aviation Research Library briefed us on the endowment and archives of the Twirly Bird section.  Paul encouraged all members to send their helicopter artifacts and memorabilia to the University for the benefit of future aviators, historians, and your descendants.

The highlight of the annual meeting is the "LES MORRIS" awards. This year, another two outstanding Twirly birds, Wilbur O'Brien and Joe Kettles received the awards in recognition of their many contributions to the rotorcraft industry.

Wilbur O'Brien came into the rotorcraft industry in an unorthodox manner. When Wilbur was already almost a senior citizen (36 years of age), he came to Texas with a $68,000 check to buy and learn to fly a Bell 47G-3B.  He flew for Frontier Helicopters for the next nine years as a commercial helicopter and fixed wing pilot. In 1975, Wilbur joined ERA Helicopters in Anchorage, Alaska where he served in a number of capacities from line pilot to company president.  As president, he managed the ERA operations and facilities in Alaska and worldwide. This included the Airline and the helicopter operations involving up to 140 various aircraft and 900 employees.

Joe Kettles began his flying career in 1959 with the U.S. Army. Following his release from active duty in 1962, Joe started flying for Petroleum Helicopters (PHI) in Corpus Christi, Texas. He transferred to Louisiana where he flew several different model types for the company, primarily offshore along the Gulf of Mexico, South America, and on the North Slope of Alaska in the late 1960's.  Bob Suggs, Founder and President of PHI wanted to develop the IFR offshore program and tapped Joe to develop and lead the program as the IFR Project Manager.  Joe conducted the first FAA proving flight as Pilot-in-Command in March 1975 with Bob Suggs as the first passenger in an IFR flight offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. The success of the IFR offshore program is one of Joe's proudest achievements of his extensive military and civilian aviation career.

Although Harlan Hosler of Lansdowne, VA could not attend the meeting he made a most generous contribution—over and above the annual dues. Harlan is one of our Founder Members, having soloed in a Sikorsky XR-4B (ser. # 2107244) at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio on April 3, 1945. Harlan also won the Twirly Bird's prestigious Les Morris Award in 1996. Thank you Harlan for your many years as an outstanding Twirly Bird!

Stefan Cavallo, Founder Twirly Bird, living in New York City also made a most generous contribution along with his annual dues. Stefan soloed at Gorsky Aviation, Teterboro, New Jersey, flying a Sikorsky YR-B on July 1, 1945. Thank you Stefan for your many years as a pioneer helicopter pilot and your years as an outstanding Twirly Bird!

In addition to the Founder T-Birds, Harlan and Stefan, we were delighted to receive major contributions from four more outstanding Twirly Birds:

          Bill Tanner of Hackettstown, NJ., soloed on March 26^th, 1964 at Barita Helicopters, Stapleton Field, Denver, CO, flying a Brantly B2B. Bill has been a T-Bird since 1997.

 

        Dennis MacBain of San Jose, CA, Navy Academy graduate, Naval Aviator, soloed at Ellyson Field, Pensacola, FL on June 14, 1972, flying a Bell TH-57. Dennis joined the Twirly Birds in the mid '90's.

         Gian Blower, one of our finest International Twirly Birds, hailing from Florence, Italy. I don't think Gian has missed a meeting since he joined the T-Birds. Gian soloed on August 13, 1970 flying a Hughes 269A at Nardi Elicotter (a Hughes dealer).

         Andreas (Andy) Aastad, recently moved to a small town in the Pennsylvania Dutch country: Willow Street, PA. As Naval Aviator, flying Douglas SBD's before finishing helicopter training at Ellyson Field, Pensacola, FL on September 2, 1952 flying a Bell HTL-5.  He received completion certificate number 1172. The completion number is for all Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard helicopter pilots. Andy also received the Twirly Birds "LES MORRIS" Award in 2002.

         Jack Homer, former Marine pilot, flying Grumman Panthers and Cougars, until he transferred into helicopters. Jack soloed in 1956, flying a Bell HTL-5 at Ellyson Field, Pensacola, FL.  Twirly Bird since 1976, Jack is a former Marine and Retired President of Bell Helicopter Textron, and has been a major contributor to the Twirly Birds for many years. In addition, Jack received the coveted "LES MORRIS" award in 2007.

To all of the above contributors, our "TIP of the ROTOR" to you and all Twirly Birds join me in saying, "mana tuesan tak" (sp?)—anyway, that's supposed to be Norwegian for, "many thousand thanks".

At this time, as hard as it is to do, I must report the death of one of our most outstanding International Twirly Birds: Mr. Bertil Johansson of Umea, Sweden. Bertil was a faithful attendee of our annual Twirly Bird meetings, and on many occasions brought his wife and daughter to enjoy the comradeship of the helicopter pilots.  Bertil received the "LES MORRIS" award in 2005. I know all Twirly Birds extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Bertil Johansson—a great person and an outstanding Twirly Bird.

        

         Another momentous event (at least for me) at the Houston 2010 meeting was the "CHANGE OF COMMAND" election. A little over a year ago, I had started discussions with several of the most senior/faithful Twirly Birds about finding a replacement for me—hopefully to take place at the Houston meeting. After reviewing the top candidates, their qualifications, and their commitment to the Twirly Birds, one name kept coming to the top.  I approached Steve Sullivan at the 2009 meeting and told him that we wanted him to take the T-Bird lead in 2010. After thinking of the challenge for a while, Steve agreed that if the Twirly Birds unanimously agreed to the proposition, he would very much like the opportunity to become the new president (Gallant Leader).

To make a long story short—Steve was nominated, seconded, and unanimously voted in as the new leader.  Now, Steve will not tell you much of his background—so I will tell of just a few highlights of Steve's career in the rotor wing industry.  I got to know Steve as we both served on the HAI Board of Directors many years ago. Steve was not only a member of the Board, but became President of the HAI.  

The HAI also awarded Steve the coveted Larry Bell Award at the 2008 annual HeliExpo.  Steve has over 10,000 hours as PIC/helicopters with over 1,000 hours on combat missions, resulting in the Silver Star Award for Gallantry in Action and the Air Medal with 38 Oak Leaf Clusters. The Twirly Birds have picked a great guy to be their Gallant Leader and I wish him great success in gathering Twirly Birds from the world rotor-wing community.

In leaving the Gallant Leadership position, I want to give my thanks to Bill Yarber—our tight-fisted Treasurer. I couldn't have done it without Bill's dedicated effort on behalf of the Twirly Birds. Our newest V.P., Jim Kettles, has done an outstanding job in recruiting new members and communicating the Twirly Bird story to the vertical-flight industry. Thanks Bill and Jim—couldn't have done it without you.

 

 

Jim Hamilton, Former Gallant Leader