EAA Chapter 25

Charles Peter “Chuck” Doyle was born to be a pilot and stunt man. Impressed with Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 solo flight to Europe, Doyle talked his father into taking him to the Minneapolis Airport where he was given an air ride in a Navy trainer. In his teens, Doyle owned a Harley Davidson motorcycle and cut classes at Washburn High School to ride to the airport and hang out. In the summer after his junior year, he offered to trade the motorcycle for flying lessons, but instead was given work helping to rebuild airplanes. He soloed in an airplane that summer and borrowed money to purchase his own Travel Air biplane. During the 1933 fall homecoming football game at the high school, Doyle buzzed the field and was promptly dismissed from school. He would finally graduate from Washburn in a colorful 2002 ceremony!

At the airport, Doyle earned a living working on airplanes, selling tickets for barnstormers, and performing daredevil stunts. In 1935, Doyle made his first parachute jump at the Minnesota State Fair and towed his first aerial banner for Griffith Shoe Polish. He had learned the fine art of skywriting from local veterans and rigged his plane to fulfill local Pepsi Cola assignments. In addition to the flying, Doyle also began to take part in other thrill show events at fairs and celebrations across the country, performing such stunts as driving his motorcycle through burning board walls, head-on auto crashes, crashing airplanes through ‘houses’ built within fairgrounds, as well as climbing from his speeding motorcycle to an airplane by means of a rope ladder hung from the airplane. He used his motorcycle and ramps to jump over cars long before Evel Knievel was born. Despite the spectacular lifestyle, Doyle was never injured.

During WWII, Doyle worked briefly for Northwestern Aeronautical Corporation in St. Paul, building gliders that were used by the Army to land troops behind enemy lines. In 1942, despite having no college education, he was hired by Northwest Airlines in January of 1942 after Pearl Harbor as a training instructor and taught at Rochester, Minnesota. When Northwest was contracted by the Army Air Transport Command, he was assigned to fly Northwest transports in Alaska, making flights as far out as the Aleutian Islands.

Following the war, Doyle bought war surplus aircraft, flying, restoring and racing them at Reno, Nevada. Many of his airplanes found their way into museums, including three in the Air Force Museum at Dayton, Ohio, and a Curtiss Pusher aircraft that hangs in the MSP Airport’s Lindbergh terminal. Doyle’s airline career with Northwest continued until his retirement at age 60 in 1976 after 34 years, but his flying career wasn’t over. From his home airstrip in Apple Valley, Doyle continued to sky-write and tow banners. The airstrip’s signboard heralded “UFOs Welcome.“ He owned and flew dozens of aircraft and had his hand in many Minnesota aviation projects, including the publishing of a Minnesota aviation history book. When the City of Apple Valley condemned his property for highway right-of-way, Doyle moved his planes to Fleming Field South St. Paul MN.

He knew everybody in aviation and lived flying and restoring airplanes every day of his life. Both sons, Chuck Jr. and Brian, were taught to learn to fly by their father and are pilots and continue the family’s tradition for the love of aviation. Daughter Shannon would fly only with her father but respects their love for flying.

In 1992 He was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame, in 1996 the OX-5 Hall of Fame, and in 2003 Warbird Hall of Fame. Chuck was a member and supporter of many other fine aviation organizations, including EAA Chapter 25. Chuck Doyle is survived by two sons, one daughter and four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Friday, May 2nd, 11:00 AM at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 12650 Johnny Cake Ridge Rd., Apple Valley, MN, with a gathering of family & friends one hour before the service. Private family interment at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery.

Long-time chapter member and past Chapter  President Paul Wilcox passed away on Sunday, October 28th, at home.  Paul was a Naval aviator during World War II and involved actively in Twin Cities aviation for many years. Funeral services were held on Thursday, November 1st, at Christ Episcopal Church in Red Wing.  We urge all members to share their memories of Paul via this website. Please email Jon Cumpton at jcbroke40@aol.com if you would like to do so, or simply add a comment here.

On September 26th, Jim Koepnick, EAA Sport Aviation photographer, visited Osceola’s Simenstad Municipal Airport to complete a series of ground and aerial photographs of Dick Navratil’s new Pietenpol. Photo 1, EAA’s Cessna Centurion, was piloted by Janet Davidson, who flew over with Jim from Oshkosh for the afternoon. It was perfect fall weather for the activity.

Dick had just completed a few modifications after his first two days of test flying. After shooting some photographs on the ground and going through a pre-flight briefing on flying “photo formation”, the two airplanes took off for a 45 minute aerial shoot.

Of course the beautiful pictures you see in Sport Aviation may look easy to shoot, but the only thing that makes it easier is the removable photo door on Photo 1. In this case, the Pietenpol only does about 65 mph, so the Centurion was flying close to stall speed the whole time. Then the photo plane had to be up-sun, fly at different altitudes for different shot angles, and worry about how the subject airplane looked against the background of the terrain. Watching Jim and Janet in action  showed how hard they work to get such beautiful results.  And those results included an array of beautiful shots against the fall colors and lakes of Wisconsin. Look for a feature article by Jim Busha in an upcoming issue of Sport Aviation.

Once again, the Coffey family campsite served as “Chapter 25 Central” for transient Chapter members without a campsite of their own at this year’s Airventure. And, in the case of your Chapter President, an added bonus of a parking space convenient to the Airventure grounds. Sightings included Pat Halligan with some NWA pilot friends in tow and Ron Oehler visiting from his nearby campsite with former president Steve Beach (now in Witness Protection in another city as are many former presidents). Then there was Gary Rosch, Harvey Havir, Norm Tesmar, Peter Denny, Jim Ladwig — not to mention the annual sighting of Jeff Coffey himself. Jeff took out time from remaking the AOPA Website for the annual pilgrimage to the shores of Lake Winnebago. In the photo above, he waves the ceremonial first brat off the grill for Pat Halligan’s benefit.

by S. Steve Adkins

from On Final February 2006

Acknowledgement: My thanks to Chris Cooper whose counsel enabled me to receive my Third Class Medical Certificate.

For a number of years, I had noticed increasing discomfort when breathing cold air. Simply… my lungs hurt. I bought a couple of devices to warm the air including a simple dust mask. More recently, I experienced symptoms similar to being out of breath when hauling brush up a steep hill. I wrote it off to old age until the symptoms got more severe. Another clue of health problems was that my iceboating buddies seemed to think pain from cold air is unusual. Note: the only place you can find warnings about sensitivity to cold air is on the web.

After reporting these symptoms to my doctor, I was immediately put on four medications and sent to the Minnesota Heart Clinic. Diagnosis: Angina. Shortly after that, I was given a stress test accompanied by a heart echogram. Soon I was on the operating table where the surgeon was installing two stents in arteries that were 95% blocked. It is a painless procedure. You go home within 24 hours. (Read on …)

by Gary Rosch

from On Final July 2005

This journey begins with the restoration of a 1950 Piper Pacer. It was a five and half year project that brought me closer to my Dad. He passed on his mechanical skills and we spent some quality time together.

In the spring of 2002 Dad suggested going to the big aviation event, Sun ‘n Fun in Lakeland , Florida. The trip was later cancelled because of his bladder cancer though we did not know about it yet at that time. The Pacer was completed in September and Dad had a couple of flights in it before he passed away the following February. If things had gone my way, Dad would have flown with me to Sun ‘n Fun in Lakeland, Florida. In the spring of 2005 I decided to go to Sun ‘n Fun; Dad would be with me in spirit.

As I made plans to go to Sun ‘n Fun I met another Piper Pacer owner who was also thinking of flying to Sun ‘n Fun - Scotty, who has the same year (1950) Piper Pacer as mine. The aircraft are both painted in the same colors and from a distance you would have difficulty distinguishing one from the other. Scotty’s aircraft is a perfect restoration. On my aircraft I can point out all the imperfections you would not even see. When people see my aircraft, they always say what a beautiful restoration. Scotty and I would fly together, in formation, down to Florida. This was an unexpected delight of the trip. It was great to have someone to talk to, watch out for me, advise me on where to go, how to get there, where to stop for fuel. This would be a different adventure in that I would have a wingman. Most of my life I’ve gone solo, “I’ve done it my way” as the song goes. It’s an American Male disease.

Scotty led in a quick low pass over a friend’s airstrip. Jim walked out on his deck with a cup of coffee in his hand to wave us off on our great adventure - life. As we took off I could see lighting flashes from the storms moving into the area behind us. I was glad that we had decided to leave two days earlier. We would switch off on who would lead the formation. When I was leading sometimes we would not talk to each other for extended periods of time. But it was always comforting to hear Scotty’s voice, knowing that he was watching out for me. Even when above some clouds and not able to see the ground, with our onboard GPS I could always know where I was. I really liked flying cross-country with a GPS.

Scotty and I had a radio frequency that we could talk to each other on. If I was leading I could not see him, but it was always comforting to hear his voice. Sometimes he would call to give an updated altimeter setting. As we were flying over the clouds I thought of the B-17’s that flew in formation in World War II and their fighter escorts. I’m sure those bombers really appreciated the company of their fighter escorts. Our first fuel stop was in Canton, IL there was a Bible verse on my fuel receipt, “With God all things are possible” Matthew 19:26. I would need that verse later in the day but after several hours I forgot about it.

Our second fuel stop was in Waverly, TN. We sat in a couple of rocking chairs on a beautiful late Sunday afternoon and had a little lunch. We decided to press on for another couple of hours of flying.

After another hour of flying, Scotty suddenly called over the radio that he was getting an airspace warning on his GPS. I checked my GPS and it was giving the same warning. I checked my aeronautical chart and quickly realized we were entering into a restricted area. I had seen it on the map earlier but had forgotten about it as the hour had passed. We quickly changed course and switched to an emergency frequency to see if someone was trying to contact us, but no one was. Checking the back of the aeronautical chart revealed that the restricted air space was not active on Sunday.

We decided to land and spend the night at Talladega, Alabama. As I flew over the airport and racetrack it looked perfect. There were plenty of camping spots; it even looked like there was some activity on the racetrack. We landed and set up our tents just as the sun was setting. Other than strong head winds that had slowed our progress, the weather had been good and we were more than halfway to Florida! We decided to walk over to the local Fixed Base Operator (FBO), which from the airport diagram looked to be about a mile away towards the racetrack. It was a beautiful warm evening as the stars came out and we called in to let our mechanic know the aircraft performed perfectly. We kept walking on but could not find the FBO. Soon we came across a guard shack. We asked the guard about where to get something to eat. He was new and did not know much other than some places too far to walk to, but his supervisor would be back soon.

The supervisor was not much help either other than suggesting heading the other direction for at least a couple of miles. It turned out that this was a test facility for Harley Davidson motorcycles, but no one suggested the use of a bike and we did not ask. So down the road we headed - a dark unlit road. We couldn’t see much; I thought I saw a dead rat on the road. We reached the first main highway, with nothing in sight other than a freeway off in the distance. We walked along the highway for a while, but still not even some lights that might suggest civilization. It looked like dinner was going to be dried turkey jerky and some grapes. Scotty had moreideas than me. He was going to make a non-emergency call to the local police station to see if a squad car might be close by that could give us a lift. No such luck as a couple of squad cars raced down the highway, their lights flashing. They probably never even saw us.

Then I spotted a sign. “All things are possible.” There was that verse that I had seen on my fuel slip earlier in the day. Just then a white vehicle came out from the Harley Davidson Test facility. I flagged the car down, hoping to ask the driver if he knew of a place to eat. Ted was a test engineer for Harley-Davidson on temporary assignment who said he’d give us a ride since he was looking for a place to eat as well.

The next morning we were up with the sunrise and quickly fueled the aircraft and skipped breakfast to get in the air and on our way to Florida. Once on our way southward as I was checking something inside the aircraft, my aircraft was turning ninety degrees to the right, heading out toward the Gulf of Mexico. Soon Scotty was calling out over the radio asking where I was heading. How similar to our life’s journey. Sometimes we drift off course - so subtle that we hardly notice. Before you know it you are way off course and lost.

Later on this leg of the journey, I was looking for a good refueling spot. Then Scotty calls over the radio about an airfield about one hundred miles ahead that might be good. I asked him how he found it and he replied that he had a look-ahead feature on his GPS. Boy, I like that GPS.

After refueling at Perry, Florida we headed out on the last leg of our journey to Sun ‘n Fun at Lakeland. After landing, it was a long taxi to the antique aircraft parking area, but we had arrived! Once we parked our aircraft we met Lou, a pilot from Fed-Ex who had a modified Piper Super Cub. Lou suggested we camp in a wooded area near our aircraft. It would be a welcome relief from the sun, wind and dust during the next few days.

The Journey Continues

I had a great time at Sun ‘n Fun meeting new friends, looking at all the aircraft and watching the air show every afternoon. I missed my Dad; he would have loved the time there. After several days it was time to think about the journey back home. Scotty would be flying back to Cincinnati, Ohio. I was planning to visit some friends along the way.

But first I felt I needed to find a place that would be by the ocean where I could relax for a day or two. I asked for God’s help in finding some spot. When I looked on my aeronautical chart it seemed to pop out from the map - Cedar Key, Florida. It was about one hundred miles northwest, an easy one-hour flight. Some friends had recommended this as a nice place to get away. The approach into Cedar Key confirmed it ­ this would be the perfect get-away.

After tying down my aircraft the Checker taxi showed up to give me a ride into town. Checking into my motel room, I then walked into town to get some lunch, relax, and check out the town. I walked around town and even rented a bike to explore more of the key. As the afternoon rolled on the wind began to increase and I figured it was typical sea breezes. Towards evening I started to get lonely. I was missing all my new friends and the evenings when we would get together for a social hour.

I called several friends and relatives that I might possibly visit on the way back and it sounded like some of them would be around. I also called my wife’s friend, Claire, from Tallahassee, Florida who had visited us several years back. Her son, James had been very interested in aircraft and they had taken a look at my aircraft when it was being restored in our garage. She has home and James was still very interested in aircraft and he would love to fly in my aircraft. It was set; I would leave Cedar Key in the morning for Tallahassee.

Now you need to know that I’m the kind of person who needs all my ducks in order. I want to know the plan ahead of time. I struggle sometimes with being spontaneous like calling one of my wife Pam’s friends out of the blue. But Claire said it was a God thing, her calendar, which is usually full, was empty for Friday. As evening approached though, the wind did not die down. I checked the weather channel and there was a tropical storm brewing off in the Atlantic and the winds were forecast to remain strong all day Friday, too strong to fly such a small aircraft as mine. I was getting nervous. James would be very disappointed if I could not make it; people were depending on me. But I prayed that God would calm the winds and give me courage and wisdom on whether to fly the next day.

The next morning I woke up early, the winds had died down and when I checked with the Flight Service Station the wind was supposed to pick up around 11 and blow until about 3. That would be ok to fly in the morning to Tallahassee and then take James, Claire and Emily up after school. It was a beautiful flight up to Tallahassee, but the field I had picked looked rather short with trees on both ends. After checking with the airport people they said just look out for the trees and power lines at the approach end of the runway.

Every thing went fine on the approach into Tallahassee Commercial airport. The little terminal building looked as it probably did back in the 50’s when a little airline flew out of there. Claire picked me up for lunch and later we picked the kids up from school before heading back out to the airport. The winds blew, but not so much that we could not go flying for little while.

To be continued next month…