41
May, 2015 RUPANEWS
“HOWIE” MORGAN
—Longmont, CO
Howdy. 78 and doin' great! All original parts. I
credit this with daily treadmill time and a drop dead
gorgeous blond personal trainer.
It was sad to hear that Ham Wilson has Flown West.
He was a one of a kind and one of my favorite Cap-
tains to fly with in the early days. In the ORD base,
there was a cargo trip ORD-PHL-ORD that worked
Tuesday and Thursday that I liked to do while
building my house. Many of these trips were
crewed by Ham, Jim Bohlander and me. Ham, as I
remember, was the first Captain to let me have a leg
PHL-ORD. Being a cargo liner and heavier than
the trainers of the past, I made a rather firm touch-
down. Ham just said "Howie, next time just fly'er
down to 3/8ths of an inch and EASE'er down from
there!." I have never forgotten that, and in fact, had
a sign made for my hangar that says just that. He
regularly alternated legs including me from then on.
The dispatch guys in PHL were always putting
misc. junk in Ham's flight bag when we were laying
over there. I remember empty coke bottles and sash
weights in particular. We had some fun on those
trips! He was an unforgettable guy who will be
missed by many!
I'm still making old things new. My latest project in
a 1955 Austin-Healey-100 that is in the later stages
of a last nut and bolt restoration. I have had this car
since 1958 and it will be as original as possible. It
should be ready for the English Car Show that hap-
pens every September here.
I still have and fly our Cessna 185 and 150. Both
have been rebuilt to near new condition a few years
back. The 185 won a Bronze Lindy at OSH but the
150 is not old enough to qualify yet. I am hoping
along with many of you that our govt. finally elimi-
nates the third class medical requirement. It certain-
ly would be less of a pain to not have to do all the
redundant tests every year that some of us have to
do. So, write your govt. reps and ask them to sup-
port the legislation.
For years, my part-
ner and I owned an
N3N-3 which we
enjoyed from 1976-
1996 when regretta-
bly we had to sell it
for a number of rea-
sons. The airplane
went to a fellow in Connecticut who had a number
of fine airplanes. Our N3N came up for sale last
summer and my partners son bought the machine
back! It is now living at Poplar Grove, Illinois,
which is an airplane paradise, in one of the most
beautiful hangars one can imagine. Hope to get
back there this summer to fly it again. We always
had interesting conversations at airshows about this
airplane NOT being a Stearman, Not being a Boeing
and Not being an Army trainer. In fact it was built
by the Navy, for the Navy in the Naval Aircraft Fac-
tory in PHL. The factory is still there just East of
the PHL airport.
My son, Butch, is flying a Phenom 100 for a frac-
tional outfit and hoping to get the call from UAL.
All of the noise about a pilot shortage in the news is
not happening at UAL as they have many appli-
cants. His latest estimate is that it may be two years
out for an interview.
The highlight for trips this past year was our invita-
tion to attend the polo games at the Houston Polo
Club which we have done twice. I played a bit in
college but have not been to a game for some time.
It's pretty exciting if you like incredible horses and
fast action. We hope to go for more this year.
Until next year’s report, if you’re in Longmont, CO
stop by the airport and look me up. Hangar 33H,
phone 303-601-3536. Cold beer, toy show and
hangar flyin'!
Sincerely,
Howard "Howie" Morgan
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