Kenny, 10, is oldest of our two air-minded sons. When the postcard arrived inviting us to a potluck dinner at the Rochester airport Sunday, we planned to fly.

It is only 15 minutes by air to Rochester. When we landed, I immediately began looking for people I knew. (Kenny, with dozens of glamorous airplanes parked all around him, played baseball.)

There is usually a slight disappointment in stock when you return to a spot you sed to know well. There was a time a few years ago, when Wayne and Helen Outcelt were struggling to build a business there, that I knew all the boys and girls.

Sunday I wandered around by myself, and hardly knew anyone. And that's the way it goes. The food was excellent, the hangar-flying was low and slow and lots of fun.

But I missed people. For instance, Max Smith and his wife, from Mentone. Max is a garage man there, holds a commercial certificate.

Howard J. (Col. Blimp) Dillingham, Bourbon's genial airman, was gone with Mrs. Dilly on a flying trip to Pennsylvania. Earl Hooten, who used to be around Rochester with a red Porterfield, is operating an airport at Logansport. Didn't come. Keith Hermance, who got his start at Rochester is instructing for Hooten.

John Whittenberger, Wabash airport is named after him, is an A & E (airplane mechanic) at Kokomo. When Bud Case and J. Van Curen, from Warsaw's Smith Field, landed in Howard Smith's Swift, I greeted them like rich uncles. I was lost!

Looking over the flying calendar on the wall, it was discovered that Silver Lake's Bob Hogue had just received his private pilot's certificate. So had Lowell Hoehne and Robert Hill, of Rochester, and Loren Cunningham, of Kewanna.

Russell Doering, of Akron, and Dale Peterson, of Rochester, had just soloed:

When everyone gathered around inside the roomy hangar to start demolishing the chicken, ham, jello, pie, cake and usual stuff potlucks are made of, everyone signed a register.

That register makes interesting reading for it shows how far these flying bugs will go to have a session among their own kind.

Here are those who registered. There were others there too. Zane Fletcher, Rochester; Max Gould, Donald Dig. Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Bruner, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Duncan, Mr. and Mrs. D. C. Burget, all of Crawfordsville; Harold Starr, Argos; Mr. and Mrs. William Crabill, Rochester; Carl Metheny, Bourbon; Mr. and Mrs. R. V. Little, Logansport; Mr. and Mrs. Harold Bower, Bourbon; Bud Case, J. VanCuren, Warsaw; Lowell Hoehne, Le Roy Hoehne, Rochester; Anita Easter, Mr. and Mrs. Zane Pontius, Athens; Mr. and Mrs. Ettinger, Rochester; Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham and Mr. and Mrs. Good, of Kewanna; Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Kronig, Rochester; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Creighton, of Warsaw; Bob Hill, Mr. and Mrs. Seymour Elin, Mr. and Mrs. Burdette Walton, all of Rochester; Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Metheny and sons, Carl and Wayne, Sandra Nye, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Wirt and Darryl Wirt, Santa Monica, Calif., Dale Wagoner and family and Charles Kindig, of Rochester; James Carey of Plymouth, and Mr. and Mrs. Dale K. Person, Rochester.

Wayne and Helen have a nice airport at Rochester. If you live down that way and want to fly, see this experienced, seasoned, air-wise couple. They have good equipment and know their business thoroughly.

That is true of most small-town operators. If you really want to learn to fly and enjoy flying, stick to the small airports.

Around the Loop
Rev. Luke, of Argos, dedicated his new airport Sunday afternoon. Argos, you know, is twenty miles due west of Warsaw, makes another nice stopping-off place.

Next column, we'll discuss the new Civil Aeronautics regulations which go into effect Oct. 8 (1947). Better know them. I'm also going to tell you about the most foolish pilot still living, for it ties right in with the new regulations, their cause and effects.

Warsaw Daily Times Mon. Sept. 29, 1947