Profiles

Cliff Robertson was born in La Jolla,Calif,. and saw his first airplane at age five. By age 13, he was a dedicated hangarrat and his reward for washing and waxing was a little unofficial stick time. Years later,in the suburbs of London, the urge to fly surfaced again and hasn’t gone away since. Cliff is […]

Elbert Rutan was born in Dinuba, Calif., inJune 1943. After receiving a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from Cal Poly, he worked forthe U. S. Air Force as a Flight Test Project Engineer at Edwards AFB, Calif., until 1972.After two years designing and developing the Bede BD-J5 he formed RAF, the Rutan AircraftFactory. For the next […]

When you arrived at Plant City you were on a VFR flight plan. What was your original plan for the day? I started in Melbourne. I was building cross-country time for my instrument rating. I want to get the instrument rating first, then I’ll have enough hours to go right into the commercial rating. At […]

Rod Machado was born in Oakland, Calif., in1953. He’s half German and half Portuguese, which he claims gives him a geneticpredisposition to conquer a country and then go fishing. He began flying at 16, soloed at17, took his private pilot checkride with legendary instructor Amelia Reid, and, a fewyears later, began to teach flying. After […]

First of all, congratulations on getting down safely. What was that last200 feet like? We were about a hundred and fifty feet from touchdown and to have a landinggear come through your windshield and the windshield come flying into your lapis kind of a strange sensation. The airplane on top didn’t really push us downthat […]

Eleanor Watterud Wagner was born November29, 1914, in Glasgow, Mont. Growing up in North Dakota, she and her brother spent much oftheir spare time at local airports and began a scrapbook of aviation photos and newsclips. When Eleanor was 14, the family moved from the midwest to Long Beach, Calif. Therethey found a mecca for […]

Henry Haigh was born in 1924 inAnn Arbor, Mich. It wasn’t long before he was flying aerobatic competitionsusing gas-powered RCs. Uncle Sam taught him how to fly real airplanes, but WWIIended before Henry could get into it. After some time off to raise his familyand start a business, Henry bought a Ryan PT-22 and resumed […]

Evelyn “Bobbi” Trout was born onJanuary 7, 1906, in Greenup, Ill. She saw her first airplane at age 12 and knew right awaythat she wanted to fly. In 1920, the family moved to Los Angeles and everyone worked atthe family’s “filling station.” On December 27, 1922, one of her customersoffered her a ride in his […]

Bob Norris was born on March 20, 1955 inGermany, where his father Bill (a test pilot for the Air Force), was stationed. He learnedhow to fly in the Navy and spent the next 19 years flying fighter jets. In January of 1996he went from one doctor to another trying to find out why he was […]

Marion Cole was born in 1924 near Peoria,Ill. He was one of nine brothers and a sister. Dad didn’t fly, but most of the brothersgot avgas in their blood early. Marion wasted no time getting his private, commercial andinstructor’s ratings, then joined his older brothers in the airshow business. Promoterswanted their money’s worth, so Marion […]