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Flying With Faber: Willow Run Airport -A Journey Through History
By Stuart J. Faber
A portion of Willow Run plant today. (Stuart J. Faber)Our minds often work in mysterious ways. It’s hard to explain. I often can’t recall the name of a person I met yesterday, yet frequently the visions and memories of certain folks I met during my childhood tiptoe into my thoughts with uncanny clarity.
It’s been over 75 years since Jack Jerstad drove up to our Racine, Wisconsin house. Donning a bright Hawaiian shirt, he emerged from his 1930s Ford Woody Station Wagon, greeted us gleeful, screaming kids and whisked us off to day camp where he taught us about nature’s magic-water creatures, weather, identification of species of trees and birds. He honed our swimming, boating and hiking skills. I only knew Jack for a few weeks during that summer of 1940, yet, he has had a profound impact on my life. It was Jack’s enthusiasm and dedication to the kids which sparked my passion for nature’s earth and its innumerable gifts.
An Interview With Ralph T. Robinson
By Michael J. Scully
Ralph T. Robinson turned 93 this month. That’s an impressive number in anybody’s book. Ralph managed to accumulate a few impressive numbers in his life, and he’s still adding to them.
Ralph’s father, who once worked for the Wright Brothers in Dayton, Ohio, bought an eleven-year-old Ralph a ride on a Ford Tri-Motor. He was instantly enamored with flight and spent many adolescent hours building wood and tissue model airplanes. In 1939, at 17, Ralph spent three dollars to take his first flight lesson in a Piper J-3 Cub at Metropolitan Airport in Van Nuys, Calif. Ralph rode his bike to his lessons via Balboa Blvd. in LA when it was a dirt road.
In 1942, Ralph graduated from Los Angeles City College with an AA in Aeronautical Engineering and landed his first job with Douglas Aircraft. That same year, he married his high school sweetheart, Madeleine Twait. With WWII in full swing and the prospect of being drafted into the walking Army, Ralph opted to enlist in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program.
Ford Tri-Motor Tours Set to Launch in May
EAA’s 1929 Ford Tri-Motor and its “sister” plane from the Kalamazoo Air Zoo will tour the country this spring and summer, giving passengers an opportunity to travel back to the early days of luxurious commercial flight.