Hello Chapter members and friends,

It is August! it was a good thing we had that much rain during the first half of the year... except floods. Hope all of you who were affected by the Memorial Day flood have recovered from the damage. Please let us know if you are still working on it. Now we are starting the 100°F days again...are we really? Early morning flights or 10,000ft...maybe staying at home in A/C and making airplane noise are recommended.

We are celebrating our 51st anniversary of EAA Chapter 187 this year! On Saturday, August 15 at 10:00a.m.~12:00noon, please come join us at the Georgetown Municipal Airport terminal for the special gathering and ice cream social. We sent out our invitations to all the EAA Chapters in TX, GTU businesses, residents and Airport/Tower managers to thank them for their support and involvement in our events at the airport. It has been very interesting for me tracing the path of the Chapter 187. Amazingly few documents before the computer era are remained at EAA HQ in Oshkosh, WI, but we also have long time members, previous presidents of the earlier years and Seth Hancock, a charter member in our Chapter. They will be sharing their experiences and memoirs in earlier EAA and Chapter 187 history.

Tony Bingelis organized a group of aviation enthusiasts in Austin area in 1963 and EAA gave them the official chapter number "187" in January 1964. Many different places Chapter 187 has roamed, like the old house at Tim’s Airpark, UT classrooms, Kitty Hill and a few libraries and we are still in a library. We are currently checking the possible venues and City’s future plan in Georgetown Municipal Airport for our Chapter hangar. Listening to the other chapters about how they got their hangars, I realized we were in a much better situation and can see the very possibility to own our Chapter hangar, if we find an appropriate venue.

EAA HQ just called and said that they shipped out the "EAA 50 year Service Plaque" and a banner today, and that because of the low budget for travel fund a representative cannot come to present the plaque. I guess we can present it to ourselves. Why not?

If someone has a used microphone to donate to Chapter 187, please let us know. it will help our meeting a little more audible to some of us. Otherwise, we will purchase a new one. We would like all the members attending our meetings and activities and enjoy them loud and clear.

See you all at the Chapter’s 51-year Celebration at GTU. Please be aware that there is no Thursday meeting on August 13.

Keep yourself cool!
Haruko Reese
EAA Chapter 187 President