Sightings: Consolidated Aeronautics/Lake LA-4-200 Amphibian

By Carmelo Turdo

Recently, a Consolidated Aeronautics/Lake LA-4-200 Buccaneer, owned by Patrick Murphy of Lacon, IL was sited at St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia, IL. The aircraft is a legacy of the Colonial Aircraft (later Lake Aircraft) C-1 Sea Skimmer of the 1950s, and the LA-4-200 was born in the late 1960s when the Lycoming 200hp IO-360 A1B was chosen to power the aircraft.  Production of the LA-4-200 ranged from 1968-1981, and the company changed owners again several times during this period.  

St. Louis Science Center First Friday in March Offers Space Activities for the Whole Family

By Carmelo Turdo

The St. Louis Science Center hosted its March First Friday event last week as an on-going promotion of Star Trek, The Exhibition.  The monthly event provides a variety of science education activities for all ages in the James S. McDonnell Planetarium and the main Science Center building across Highway 40 from Forest Park.  Even outside, members of the St. Louis Astronomical Society offered telescope viewing of the night sky to visitors.  Of course, throughout the evening, Star Trek, The Exhibition, was open at a discount admission rate.  

Enter from the James S. McDonnell Planetarium in Forest Park

 

Family science activities provided by the Challenger Learning Center

Cross over Highway 40 through the indoor walkway

Enter the St. Louis Science Center's main building

Our greeter is dressed in Star Trek uniform

Visit Star Trek, The Exhibition

Radio personality, Doug McKelvin, introduces Dr. Guinness

Dr. Guinness discusses current and future mars rovers

Aviation Community Mourns the Passing of Lt. Colonel R.D. White, U.S. Army (Ret)

Rudolph David “R.D.” White, Lt. Col. U.S. Army Retired, 89, of Woodlawn, passed away 7:36 p.m. Saturday, March 3, 2012, at his home.

R.D. was born March 4, 1922, in West Frankfort, a son of Rudolph Da and Monell (Moore) White. He married Ellen Louise (Modert) on June 30, 1946, in Mt. Vernon and she died Sept. 6, 2000.

R.D. was a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army. He entered the Army Air Corp. July 1942.  He served during World War II in Iwo Jima and Guam. He reentered the Army and was stationed at Camp Cooke California, Fort Lewis Washington, Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. He later went on to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he served as Company Commander of the 4th Ordinance Company which he was responsible for moving to Landstuhl, Germany. He commanded the Tuslog 67, a classified unit in the U.S. Army in Istanbul, Turkey, and then he went to Chateauroux, France. At Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, he attended Command and General Staff College and then he went to Kaiserslautern, Germany, where he was a Battalion Commander of the 71st Maintenance Battalion. He then went to Nuremberg, Germany, where he served as a G-4 of the 32nd Air Defense of Europe.

After retirement from the military his desire to stay busy lead him to manage the Benton Airport then later the Salem Airport. He was a founding member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Jefferson County Veterans Hall of Honor and Museum in Mt. Vernon and the Civil Air Patrol. R.D. served as a deacon at the First Baptist Church of Woodlawn where he was a member. He was instrumental in the construction of the new church. He attended the Baker Street Baptist Church in Walnut Hill and assisted in restarting it. He loved God, family and country.

He is survived by his daughter, Dee Richardson of Mt. Vernon; granddaughter, Devon Almaroad of Benton; and great-grandson Kent David Almaroad of Mt. Vernon.  He was preceded in death by his wife, parents and siblings.

Mount Vernon Outland Airport Manager Chris Collins put it like this: "'Team MVN', as well as the aviation world, has lost a mentor, friend, and Hero!"

(Source: Newell Funeral Homes)

Centennial of the First Parachute Jump From an Airplane Celebrated at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis

By Mark Nankivil

The centennial of the first parachute jump from an airplane was celebrated today at Jefferson Barracks just south of St. Louis today.  A commemorative parachute jump was performed by 82-year-old Lewis Sanborn, a master parachutist with more than 7,300 jumps to his credit. Sanborn served in the Army’s famed 82nd Airborne Division from 1948 to 1952 and has been instrumental in forming several sports parachuting clubs. “It never gets boring because no two jumps are the same,” Sanborn said. “Once I had done 30 or so, I started settling in and then it really becomes fun. It’s the only time in your life when you have complete freedom.”

The event was the brainchild of the Jefferson Barracks Heritage Foundation (JBHF) in conjunction with the Missouri National Guard, the Gateway Chapter of the 82nd Airborne Division Association and the Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum.

The first parachute descent from an airplane took place March 1, 1912 at Jefferson Barracks when Capt. Albert Berry successfully jumped from a 1912 Benoist Type 12 “pusher” biplane designed by Missouri native Thomas Benoist (Ben-wah) and piloted by Anthony Jannus. 

Jannus and Berry pose with their Benoist aircraft

Captain Albert Berry practices managing his parachute at Kinloch Field

Born in Irondale, Mo. in 1874, Thomas Benoist became an aircraft designer, manufacturer, pilot, and flight instructor and operated an aviation school in Kinloch Park in 1912.  He started the first commercial airline in the United States that flew from St. Petersburg, Fla. to Tampa in 1914.  According to family folklore, Thomas Benoist became fascinated with flight after taking a hot air balloon ride at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Thomas Benoist was killed in a streetcar accident in Sandusky, Ohio on June 14, 1917. Jannus also met an untimely demise, dying in a 1916 plane crash in Russia.  Not much seems to be known about Capt. Berry’s life after 1916. It is unknown how or when he died.

Here are some views of the commemorative parachute jump performed today:

Lewis Sanborn is out of the plane...(JBHF photo)

Lewis Sanborn descends into Jefferson Barracks

 

Lewis Sanborn nears his landing zone

Lewis Sanborn and Jefferson Barracks Heritage Foundation Executive Director,  

William F. Florich, Jr. leave the field

Credits: Current Photos by Mark Nankivil; Historic Photos from the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum archive; portions of the text from MO National Guard press release dated Feb. 27, 2012 by Bill Phelan.