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About Us: "Throttle
Forward"
By Ralph McCormick, Publisher
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I have always heard that, “Even a blind
squirrel eventually finds an acorn.”
Well, I did! My plan was to go by
Tucumcari, New Mexico for at quick photo shoot and then on to
the Colorado Mountains for the fall colors, calling on customers
on the way. I ended up staying at Tucumcari for two and one half
days. They treated me like family from the very beginning. I was
able to interview some of the top names in aviation. It was a
real pleasure to visit with Frank Borman. |
Frank Borman and Ralph Ralph
McCormick |
For those of you youngsters who didn’t pay attention in school,
Frank was on the Gemini 7 flight and the Apollo 8 flight (the
flight to the moon, circled it and back to earth). Apollo 8 was
launched on December 21, 1968, and was the first manned mission
to achieve lunar orbit. The crew of this six-day mission, Frank
Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders, conducted a
complete test of the Command and Service Module (CSM) flight
profile for lunar missions. The Command and Service Module
entered lunar orbit on December 24, 1968, and orbited the moon
for ten revolutions (20 hours 7 minutes) before returning to the
earth and a controlled reentry into the Pacific Ocean. It was a
pleasure to be able to visit with this fine soft-spoken
gentleman. Having followed the space program closely, I was
familiar with the astronauts who first went into outer space and
walked on the moon. Did I ever expect to meet one of them? Not
on your life!!!.
The other pilots at the air show were names one would recognize;
Gene Soucy, Gene McNeely of the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team, Erick
Beard, Greg Poe, and Bob Carlton. Everyone had a great time even
though the weather was not that good. The aerobatic box only had
a height of 1,500 feet msl. Even with that major problem, all
the performers did a superb job. Little did I expect to find
such talent and famous names in a small New Mexico town in
October? I certainly recommend this event to everyone.
During the visit with Bob and Laurie Carlton (aerobatic team), I
was informed of a gentleman who lived in Albuquerque that held a
license signed by Orville Wright!! He still holds a current
medical and is still flying. NO WAY!!! I said. I asked Laurie to
get me his phone number. I called him during the air show at
Tucumcari and asked for an interview the next morning. He
agreed. I had just found another ‘acorn’. I looked at it as a
chance to preserve a bit of history. My visit with Al Santilli
of Albuquerque was most pleasant. Our hour plus interview seemed
short. I hated to close it, but I had told him we only need a
half hour when the interview started. He is a most fascinating
man. His story is in this issue. I think you will enjoy it.
The front cover of this magazine can get changed at the last
minute and often we forget to give credit. That was the case in
the last two issues. The Mount Rushmore picture was a
compilation of a photo of Mount Rushmore and an aerobatic photo
from Oshkosh. The October issue was a picture of a World War II
trainer I took at HolleyFest 2002. The plane was a Vultee BT-13
built in 1941 with a 985 Pratt & Whitney 450HP owned by Colonel
Dave Johnson, Commemorative Air Force, Razorback Wing, Pine
Bluff, AR. To us, the cover is like an artist canvas, we explore
all aviation pictures and combination of pictures to give you
the most effective and attractive cover. This issue’s cover is
of re-enactors of WWII at Oshkosh. Next month you will like the
combination of photos which Peggy Garrett our graphics “guru”
put together. |
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Throttle
Forward and Fly-Low!!
ralph@fly-low.com
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Forward" Archives
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