The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Hello Dear Folks,
I hope you enjoyed your Labor Day weekend and visited family or friends.
There are a lot of events on holidays and it sure is nice to get Nellie out of the barn and ride into town to take part in some of them.
The old Stearman biplanes that my parents' cousin George Johnson flew during WWII, gathered in at the Galesburg airport Labor Day and are there all this week. That morning they flew into Kewanee for Hog Capital of the World Days fly-in breakfast and enjoyed all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage at the Kewanee Municipal Airport. It was hosted by the Kewanee firemen. Then Stearman pilots had a fly-over during the Galesburg Labor Day Parade.
My Aunt Gertrude and her husband Ralph Swanson from Kansas, came to see the event and told me that the Stearman Aircraft Inc. was an aircraft manufacturer in Wichita, Kansas founded in 1926 by Lloyd Stearman, its first President (the same year Paul and C. M. Bell purchased the Stronghurst newspaper).
Ralph was pretty excited to see all the Stearman and visit with them and hear their stories of their planes.
They were planning on being at the Prime Beef Festival in Monmouth today where the Stearman will have a fly-over at 5:00 p.m..
He said in 1943, the company produced its 7000th trainer, and in 1944, its 10,000th. A total of 10,346 primary trainers in all were built by the company for the U.S. military.
They are taking me Thursday for the Stearman Aerobactics presentation at 10 a.m. before they fly to Geneseo for lunch. They do more aerobactics at 2 p.m..
A lot of fun things for families and kids are on Saturday before they all fly home on Sunday.
Ralph said the Stearman come from all over the world and there are 20 minute flights available for those who saved up for the event from Dave Brown and Robert Preston.
I was hoping to get Ethel to fly in one but she will have nothing of it.
"My feet are staying flat on the ground!" she said.
I guess it is over $300, so maybe I need to be sellling a lot more eggs before I can afford to go.
It still would be nice to visit with some of those who flew those relics of the past or whose ancestors did.
God bless all who work to keep this country moving and full of food supplies and vehicles for transportation!
I hope to see you in church Sunday so we can visit more.
- Love, Aunt Polly
P.S. Just a few tidbits to ponder on…
"When you focus on problems, you have more problems. When you focus on possibilities, you have opportunities!"
"Once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things you lack!"