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First Quarter (Jan - Mar) 2005
Volume 18, Number 1
The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
Editorial
A
s we head into another new year,
it’s natural to take a look back at
what we accomplished last year
and to look forward to see what’s coming
up in the future. The year 2004 gave the
staff and volunteers at War Eagles Air
Museum a lot to be proud of. Thanks to a
dedicated and hard-working team, we
finished refurbishing our MiG-21PFM
Soviet-era jet fighter. The aircraft is now
one of the world’s finest examples. El
Paso’s ABC station KVIA-TV 7 put together a very nice piece on the MiG and
the people who worked on it in a “Southwest Treasures” segment. Last year we
also participated in the Amigo Airsho for
the first time in many years, held our second annual Chili Cookoff and acquired
two new aircraft for our collection.
2005 is already shaping up to be a busy
year. The U.S. Post Office wants to hold
a ceremony at the Museum this summer
to unveil a series of postage stamps commemorating Advances in American Aviation. In October, we will host the Fifth
Annual Land of Enchantment RV Fly-In,
which should attract about 300 of the
small, high-performance kitplanes and up
to 1,200 people. The ramp will be full for
sure during that event! We expect to attend the Amigo Airsho again this year,
and we’ll also have our third annual Chili
Cookoff—we’re on the Chili Appreciation Society calendar permanently for the
last weekend of every October. We also
hope to consummate deals to acquire at
least two more aircraft, if not more, for
display. It should be a good year, and we
all look forward to accomplishing more
great things. Hope you’ll help out!
Featured Aircraft
A
t 10:00AM on December 7, 2004,
War Eagles Air Museum staffers
and volunteers gathered out on
the ramp. The radio call announcing the
arrival of a very special aircraft had come
in moments earlier on UNICOM frequency 122.8 MHz. All eyes searched the sky
to the east over the approach end of Runway 28. The rugged Franklin Mountains
loomed in the distance, remarkably clear
of haze on this perfect flying day.
A tiny dot appeared. As it slowly grew
larger, it resolved into a bright crimson
S The beautiful 1937 WACO EGC-8 cabin
biplane arrives at Santa Teresa after a short
hop from El Paso International Airport.
Contents
Editorial......................................1
Featured Aircraft........................1
From the Director.......................2
Tailspins with Parker..................4
Rent the Museum ......................4
Historical Perspectives ..............5
Warbird Formation Flight ...........6
Volunteer Profile ........................6
Membership Application ............7
Corporate Youth Sponsors ........7
Contributor Authors Novel .........8
Featured Aircraft (Continued on Page 2)
1
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
From the Director
A
fter years of trying to gain recognition as one of the premier attractions in far west Texas and
southern New Mexico, War Eagles Air
Museum is becoming more widely
known. The First January 2005 issue of
Trade-A-Plane has our PT-17 Stearman,
piloted by Bill Whitney and Jack Bell, on
the cover. This photo brings us national
exposure. Our Curtiss P-40E Warhawk
appeared in a full-page photo on the front
page of a special section of the El Paso
Times on December 31 about the Sun
Bowl football game. In the photo, rival
quarterbacks Sam Keller of Arizona State
University and Kyle Orton of Purdue
posed in a World War II flight jacket.
During the photo shoot, 20-year-old Keller learned that the jacket belonged to 86year-old Guy Dority, a long-time Museum volunteer who was the radio operator
aboard the first B-17 Flying Fortress to
arrive in England in 1942. He asked to
meet Guy, and their meeting and discussion turned into a very nice feature article
in the January 9 El Paso Times.
Such publicity can only be good for the
Museum. Even better, we’ve seen some
signs that the good word finally may be
getting out. For example, we appear to be
on the “contact list” of the local press and
broadcast media for aviation-related matters. We have gained recognition from
aviation organizations such as the International Bird Dog Association. We host
more parties, anniversaries and special
events each year. Please help us spread
the word about War Eagles Air Museum!
Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 1)
aircraft on a two-mile final. Closer it
came, descending right on the glide path
as its pilot corrected for the slight crosswind. Touchdown, right on the numbers!
After a short landing rollout, the stunning
red biplane back-taxied to cross-taxiway
A2 (airport construction had closed taxiways A3 through A5) and headed for the
Museum hangar.
The latest aircraft to join the War Eagles
Air Museum’s collection had arrived.
“It’s A WACO!”
In 1920, in Lorain, Ohio, four men who
would play key roles in American aviation during the “Golden Age of Flight”
got together and formed a new company.
The men were: George “Buck” Weaver,
a flight instructor and barnstorming pilot;
Elwood “Sam” Junkin, a former Curtiss
draftsman; Clayton “Clayt” Bruckner, an
aircraft assembly foreman; and Charles
“Charlie” Meyers, another barnstormer.
Their new startup was called the Weaver
Aircraft Company, but it soon became
known as WACO (rhymes with “taco”).
Bruckner and Junkin had designed a single-engine “baby flying boat” in 1919.
Sometimes called the WACO 1, although
the company did not exist at the time, it
was extremely underpowered and did not
get airborne from Lake Erie during its
Skip Trammell
Plane Talk
Published by War Eagles Air Museum
8012 Airport Road
Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008
(505) 589-2000
Newsletter Editor: Terry Sunday
Contributing Author: Jim C. Parker
E-mail address:
[email protected]
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
First Quarter 2005
one and only flight attempt. Weaver and
Meyers had plans ready when they proposed to Bruckner and Junkin that they
join forces to build a single-seat monoplane called the Cootie. Rolled out in
1920, the plywood Cootie crash-landed
on its first flight, severely injuring pilot
Weaver—hardly an auspicious start for
the new aircraft manufacturer.
Undeterred, the men modified the Cootie
into a biplane and called it the WACO 2.
It crashed in April 1923. Then the partners built a practical-but-snug three-seat
biplane called the WACO 4. Using many
Curtiss JN-4D Jenny parts, the 4 was the
first airplane WACO offered for public
sale, the last to be of all-wood construction and the real beginning of the WACO
aircraft family. For the next 26 years, the
name WACO was associated with versatile open-cockpit and cabin biplanes that
offered exceptional performance, reliability and luxury.
In 1923, Weaver left his namesake company for greener pastures elsewhere. The
other partners moved the factory to Troy,
Ohio, near Dayton. The company became
a leading pioneer in the development of
small, reasonably priced, easy-to-fly aircraft. The WACO 6, the first Troy-built
model in the long line of WACO aircraft,
was soon developed. The company’s next
two aircraft, the WACO 7 and the WACO 8, were produced by 1924, but sales
were very slow.
Things improved
some the next year,
however, with the
introduction of the
state-of-the-art
three-place WACO
9 biplane. The 9
gained much favorable publicity
from putting on a
good showing in
the 1925 Ford Air
Tour, which translated into increased
sales. The company sold 276
Model 9s between
1925 and 1927.
S War Eagles Air Museum volunteers and staffers admire the WACO
at its new home in the hangar.
2
Featured Aircraft
(Continued on Page 3)
First Quarter 2005
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
1927 Transcontinental Air Derby,
and a Wright J-5powered version
won the 1928 National Air Tour.
With the onset of
the Great Depression in 1929, aircraft sales plummeted overnight,
and many companies went out of
business. Thanks
to the popularity of
its designs, and its
ability to adapt to
customers’
S The WACO’s magnificent wood-and-leather interior is reminiscent of its
changing
needs,
a classic luxury automobile.
WACO was able
to survive, albeit
Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 2)
with a greatly reduced production rate.
By the early 1930s, the company had beReplacing the 9 in 1927, the WACO 10
gun to concentrate on producing a series
was a big improvement in nearly every
of stable and forgiving cabin biplanes for
respect and soon became the most poputhe business aircraft market, a move that
lar small aircraft in the United States.
put it in competition with established
That year more than 40 percent of the
manufacturers like Bellanca and Stinson.
small aircraft sold in the country were
WACO kept the quality of its aircraft
WACOs—a market share that almost any
high and their prices stable by refining its
company would envy today. It stickered
designs (leading to a complicated and
out at $2,460 with a 90-horsepower Curconfusing model numbering system), but
tiss OX-5 engine. It soon earned an exleaving the basic configuration—wooden
cellent reputation as an air racer. A standwings, steel-tube fuselage and fabric covard model won the Class B trophy in the
ering—unchanged. Renowned aviator
Jacqueline Cochran and industrialist Henry DuPont
were two 1930s luminaries who favored WACO cabin biplanes.
When the U.S. entered World War
II, WACO stopped
building civil aircraft and used its
facilities to manufacture the CG-4A
troop-carrying gliders that played a
key role in the Allied D-Day invasion at Normandy.
S Donor Dr. Joe Nelson (l.) and Museum Director Skip Trammell consummate the donation of the beautiful WACO EGC-8.
3
WACO EGC-8 Characteristics
Powerplant
400-hp Pratt &
Whitney R-98533 Wasp Junior
Cruising Speed
195 mph
Service Ceiling
23,200 feet
Weight (max.)
4,000 pounds
Length
27' 9.75"
Wingspan
34' 9"
But the company did not survive the
post-War general-aviation bust, and
ceased building aircraft entirely in 1946.
Today, almost 60 years after the last
WACO rolled out of the factory, the
brand still enjoys enormous popularity.
The aircraft donated to War Eagles Air
Museum is a 1937 WACO EGC-8 cabin
biplane. Donor Dr. Joseph Nelson found
it in pieces in a barn in Belvidere, Illinois, in late 1990. He bought it and shipped it to El Paso in April 1991. It spent
the next seven years being lovingly restored by dedicated enthusiasts Martin
Engler (Chief Engineer), Dean Moon
(Chief Metal and Woodworker), Bill Zalesak (Master Mechanic), Alfredo Olivas
(Master Painter) and Dr. Nelson himself,
who deprecatingly said he was the “General Flunky.” After restoration, the aircraft won the Grand Champion award at
the 42nd Annual Arizona Mid-Winter
Cactus Fly-In in 2000. Thanks to Dr.
Nelson’s generosity, Museum visitors
can now see for themselves an exceptional example of a magnificent aircraft
from aviation’s “Golden Age.”
War Eagles Air Museum
On The Web
C
heck War Eagles’ website for
more information on the Museum’s aircraft and automobile collections, special event schedules, “fun and games” and more. We
thank Bruce Quackenbush and Joe
Jones of Artwork Studios in Denver
for designing and maintaining our
highly acclaimed website.
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
Tailspins
with
Parker
T
he other day, I was talking to my
old friend Geronimo about religion. “Sometimes religions can
make people nervous,” he said, “scarin’
’em instead of providin’ comfort. I’ve
observed that to be the case mostly when
different faiths collide. People tend to go
all skittish and jump around like wildeyed colts with their ears laid back.”
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of asking him what he meant.
“Well,” he said, “let me tell you about
Billy. ‘Course, that’s not his real name,
but I’m protectin’ his privacy.
“I first met Billy in flight school. He was
a real party animal. He hailed from the
coalfields of West Virginia, and nobody
could out-drink, out-fight or out-anythin’
ol’ Billy. He never missed a chance to
get in trouble. One night at the Officer’s
Club someone dared him to jump from
the second floor balcony onto the dance
floor. Bein’ more than a little drunk, ol’
Billy did it. He didn’t break anythin’, not
even his legs. He was just as enthusiastic
about his flyin’ too. He loved it.
“Years went by and I’d long since lost
track of Billy. One day in 1967, at Ton
Son Nhut airbase in Saigon, I was drivin’
to my office at the helipad. Just before I
got there, I saw a familiar-lookin’ figure
walkin’ on the shoulder of the road. Sure
enough, it was ol’ Billy. With his light
blue eyes and red hair, graying now at
the temples, he looked almost the same
as he did in flight school. He wore the
gold leaf rank of a Major on his collar. I
stopped and offered him a ride.
“I asked him what he was doin’. He told
me he’d been flyin’ with ‘Capital Flight,’
the unit that flew American and Vietnam-
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
First Quarter 2005
ese VIPs around the country. But he’d
just been reassigned to the Americal Division up near the DMZ.
on their foreheads. They must’ve thought
Billy was going to introduce them to Jesus right then and there.
“That was all we had time to talk about
before I dropped him off at his gate. As
we parted, he looked at me and said,
‘God bless you,’ before turnin’ away.
“Anyway, the flight ended fine. Soon afterwards, Billy went up to Americal Division for the rest of his tour.”
“Later, in a little bar in downtown Saigon, I talked with the pilot who had
flown with Billy and he told me why Billy was sent up to Americal Division.
“It seems Billy had become a born-again
Christian just before he went to Vietnam.
Now, everybody is welcome to his or her
own religious beliefs in the American
military, so no one thought much about
it. At least not until Billy got assigned to
fly Nguyen Van Thieu, the President of
South Vietnam, somewhere in one of
Capital Flight’s big twin-turbine Beechrafts. After they got to altitude, Billy left
his pilot’s seat, ducked through the hatch
into the passenger cabin and looked at
the President and his party. They all paid
close attention to him ‘cause they figgered he was gonna make some sort of
an in-flight announcement. He eyeballed
them all very seriously. Then he took a
little bible out of his pocket. Starin’ the
President straight in the eyes, Billy asked
him, ‘Have you been saved? Have you
found your Jesus?’
“The pilot in the
bar told me that
Thieu didn’t even
blink, although his
eyebrows rose up a
bit. The President
had been born a
Buddhist, but he’d
converted to Catholicism when he’d
got married. But
some of his staff
were Buddhists.
Man, were they
startled. They took
furtive glances out
the windows to see
how high up they
were, their eyes
squintin’ and drops
of sweat beadin’
Geronimo finished his tale. “I saw him
when he came back through TSN. We
talked for a while and he told me he was
gettin’ out of the Army and goin’ back to
West Virginia to be a preacher. He’d
really found his callin’. He said, ‘I can’t
wait to get back and start saving souls.’
“God bless you, Billy, wherever you
are,” Geronimo ended.
I told Geronimo I understood what he
meant and added, “Amen.”
Rent the Museum for
Special Occasions
R
emember, War Eagles Air
Museum is available to rent
for business meetings, anniversaries, parties or other occasions.
The “Party Zone” can hold up to 700
people. Call (505) 589-2000 for rates
or to make a reservation.
S A recent inspection of the 1943 Stearman revealed a cracked spar
and some bad ribs in the upper wing. Fortunately, master craftsman Bill
Whitney is a Stearman expert. Here he works on the upper wing center
section in the Museum restoration shop.
4
First Quarter 2005
Historical
Perspectives
by Robert Haynes
W
ar Eagles Air Museum is fortunate to have a fine example
of America’s first jet trainer.
The Lockheed T-33 is a two-seat variant
of the XP-80 Shooting Star, the first U.S.
jet fighter that flew on June 10, 1944
(Bell’s twin-jet XP-59 actually flew earlier but did not become operational). Although the P-80 (later F-80) first flew
nearly a year before World War II ended,
it was not ready in time to see combat. Instead, it got its baptism of fire in
Korea. This article examines the uses of
F-80s in Korea and draws some comparisons with circumstances facing the U.S.
military in Iraq today.
Shooting Stars saw combat in Korea on
the second day of the war. On November
8, 1950, an F-80 made history by shooting down a Communist MiG-15 in the
world’s first jet-vs.-jet aerial combat engagement. However, despite this initial
victory, the F-80, designed near the end
of WWII, was clearly outdated as a dogfighter barely five years later. But until
North American F-86 Sabres began to arrive in the combat zone, the F-80s would
have to do. F-80s shot down six MiGs
during the war at a cost of 15 of their
own number—a highly unfavorable loss
ratio. When the Sabres became available,
the Air Force used the F-80s for groundattack missions, at which they excelled.
Some Shooting Stars had their armament
removed and were fitted to carry cameras. Designated RF-80s, these aircraft
provided much valuable intelligence during the war. Penetrating beyond the Yalu
River to overfly North Korean airfields,
they shot only film while running the
gauntlet of anti-aircraft fire and aggressive Communist pilots who wanted nothing more than to shoot them down. In
spite of the extreme dangers facing these
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
unarmed solo flights
into the maelstrom of
“MiG Alley,” only
one RF-80 failed to
return from its reconnaissance mission—
by any standard, an
enviable combat record.
deployment time commitments. As in
Korea (amazingly still a hot spot today),
the negative effect on military morale has
been severe. Even the most dedicated
soldiers can lose patience when their orders to rotate home are countermanded.
Recent controversies have arisen over the
quality of the equipment our soldiers are
provided with in Iraq. The effectiveness
of our armored vehicles has been especially subject to debate. It is right to raise
such issues. However, as this column has
illustrated, such controversies are nothing
new.
Although the T-33 stayed in service with
the Air Force until the 1970s, its career
as a front-line fighter ended almost as
soon as it began. Their rapid technical
obsolescence in the air combat role, howWar Eagles’ T-33, built under license by
ever, did not prevent Shooting Stars from
Canadair, represents a triumph of operaperforming superbly at other missions,
tional necessity and ingenuity in the conthanks in large part to the quality, experitext of the Cold War “arms race.” The
ence and dedication of the personnel who
flew and maintained them. U.S.
troops in Korea
often had to do
impossible things
with WWII surplus weapons and
equipment. Fortunately, many of
them were veterans who had used
the same weapons
and equipment in
WWII. The speed
and ferocity of the
Communist invasion led to callups
of many reserve S War Eagles Air Museum’s Canadian-built T-33 jet trainer thunders
units. Thus quite a over the West Texas desert, piloted by Museum founder the late John
few WWII warri- MacGuire with Skip Trammell, Museum Director, in the back seat.
ors were suddenly
back in combat after a five-year hiatus.
Shooting Star excelled at missions for
They had had just long enough to estabwhich it was never designed while falling
lish solid civilian identities and to start or
short in those it was intended to perform.
expand families that would, once again,
There are surely valuable lessons in the
have to “keep the home fires burning.”
history of this venerable aircraft.
The nation faces a similar situation today. The war in Iraq is forcing the military to send what it can to the theatre of
operations for an undetermined length of
time. As in 1950, the military must station units in locations around the world
while trying to maintain adequate forces
in hot spots. The response, again, is a
massive call-up of reserve forces and an
involuntary extension of the reservists’
I conclude this article on a personal note.
As some of you may know, for the last
year I have been writing these columns
from my temporary home in southeast
Texas, about 800 miles from the Museum. I am happy to report that my transfer
to El Paso has been approved, and I will
return on February 15. I look forward to
the opportunity to again work personally
with everyone at the Museum.
5
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
Formation Flight of
Volunteer Profile
F
oseph Russo was born in Oakland,
California, on June 15, 1922. He
graduated from Oakland Technical
High School in 1939 and joined the U.S.
Army in 1940. When America entered
World War II in 1941, Private Russo, at
the time on guard duty at Fort Winfield
Scott’s 25th Avenue gate, applied for admission to the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point. He was number 29 on the entrance exam. He was admitted in 1942
along with the other top 50 applicants.
Historic Warbirds
our War Eagles Air Museum volunteers got the rides of their lives
last October in conjunction with
the Amigo Airsho in El Paso. The Museum sent to the show the PT-17 Stearman
and the North American AT-6 Texan, piloted respectively by Bill Whitney and
Jack Bell. Volunteers Ray Davis, Manny
Papadakis, Roy Sinclair and Ed Murray
were offered chances to ride along in the
extra seats to and from the Airsho. Needless to say, they all enthusiastically accepted the opportunity.
J
His first assignment was in Coast Artillery and anti-aircraft weapons. But he
really wanted to
fly, so he signed
up for pilot training. He took his
primary training at
Grieder Field, Arkansas, in a PT-17
Stearman and finished up at Stewart Field, New
York, in the Vultee BT-13 Valiant
and North American AT-6 Texan.
By then, with the
war almost over,
the Army didn’t
need any more piS The Commemorative Air Force’s Sentimental Journey, a Boeing
B-17G Flying Fortress, flies in close formation with War Eagles Air
lots, so Joe did not
Museum’s North American AT-6 Texan en route from El Paso back to
get his wings deits base at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona. Photo by Roy Sinclair.
spite having qualified for them.
On the return flight to Santa Teresa, Jack
As a second lieutenant in 1945, Joe was
and Roy in the AT-6 were able to fly in
sent to San Marcilino airfield in the Philformation for a short time with Sentimenippines. “The Japanese used San Marcital Journey, the Commemorative Air
lino as a fighter base during the war,” he
Force’s Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress.
related. “We would often find Japanese
Although the weather was overcast and
soldiers in the Battery mess line, they
drizzling rain, the brief formation flight
were so hungry.” Joe flew as often as he
of these two classic warbirds from Biggs
could in L-19s and L-10s “on milk runs
Field through Anthony Gap to the west
over Bataan Pass and Manila Bay.”
side of the Franklin Mountains, where
In 1947, LT Russo got his first assignSentimental Journey banked to the north
ment to Fort Bliss, Texas. The next year
to avoid looming storms in the west, was
the Army sent him to the University of
a truly thrilling experience. We hope to
Virginia to earn his Masters Degree in
forge a better relationship with the CAF
Nuclear Physics. Returning to Fort Bliss
and undertake more joint flights or aerial
displays in the future.
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
First Quarter 2005
6
S This 1944 photo of Cadet Joseph Russo at
the age of 22 was taken while he was in primary flight training at Grieder Field in Pine
Bluff, Arkansas.
after graduating, he taught classes for
maintenance technicians on the SCR-784
counter-mortar radar system.
“This system tracked incoming enemy
mortar fire to its source and gave our
troops precise enemy locations for counter-mortar fire,” Joe recalled. “The techs
we trained kept these systems operational. Unfortunately, while the SCR-784s
were hardened, the operators and techs
were not. The North Koreans knew how
capable our units were. They zeroed in
on them with mortars and artillery. The
techs were getting killed faster than we
could train them.” Joe volunteered to go
to Korea, but the Army needed stateside
instructors more urgently than troops in
the field, so he stayed at Fort Bliss.
Among the many highlights of his military career, LTC Russo took the first Army HAWK (Homing All-the-Way Killer)
Battalion to Vietnam in 1966. “I’d already been commanding the unit for
three years,” Joe said. “I was pulled out
of my Battalion and assigned as the Artillery Officer at MACV (Military AssisVolunteer Profile
(Continued on page 8)
First Quarter 2005
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
Membership Application
War Eagles Air Museum
The War Eagles Air Museum collects, restores and displays historic aircraft, mainly from the World War II and Korean War time
periods, to encourage awareness and appreciation of military aviation history through exhibits, educational programs and special
events. The Museum is a nonprofit organization as defined by the United States Internal Revenue Code. Operated by staff and
volunteers, the Museum is supported by funds obtained from admissions, memberships and contributions. All dues and contributions
are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.
War Eagles Air Museum memberships are available in six categories. All memberships include the following privileges:
Free admission to the Museum and all exhibits.
Free admission to all special events.
10% general admission discounts for all guests of a current Member.
10% discount on all Member purchases in the Gift Shop.
In addition, a Family Membership includes free admission for spouses and all children under 18 living at home.
To become a Member of the War Eagles Air Museum, please fill in the information requested below and note the category of membership you desire. Mail this form, along with a check payable to “War Eagles Air Museum” for the annual fee shown, to:
War Eagles Air Museum
8012 Airport Road
Santa Teresa, NM 88008
Membership Categories
NAME (Please print)___________________________________________________
STREET ____________________________________________________________
CITY ______________________________ STATE _____ ZIP _________—______
TELEPHONE (Optional) _____—_____—____________
E-MAIL ADDRESS (Optional) ___________________________________________
Individual
$15
Family
$25
Participating
$50
Supporting
$100
Benefactor
$1,000
Life
$5,000
Will be kept private and used only for War Eagles Air Museum mailings.
W
ar Eagles Air Museum sincerely thanks the following organizations for their
2004 support of the Corporate Youth
Sponsors Program. Because of their
support, student groups in the El Paso/
Juarez area can learn about the contributions of military aviation to America’s history. For many students, visits
to the Museum made possible by donations from these sponsors kindle interest in aviation and related fields as
possible career choices.
War Eagles Air Museum Corporate Youth Sponsors
Bronze
Alamo Industries, Inc.
Silver
Gold
Platinum
Baker Glass
Jon T. Hansen
Jobe Concrete
Products
C. F. Jordan, L.P.
Robert F. Foster, Inc.
William Gardner
El Paso Southwest
Aircraft Sales
El Paso Electric Co.
Frank and Susan
Borman
7
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
War Eagles Air Museum
Santa Teresa Airport
8012 Airport Road
Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008
(505) 589-2000
Volunteer Profile
(Continued from page 6)
tance Command—Vietnam) Headquarters, J32 Section, Special Operations.”
In 1971 Joe was the Chief of Complaints
in the Office of the Inspector General in
Vietnam for six months. He then became
the Deputy Inspector General under General Creighton Abrams. Returning to Fort
Bliss as a full Colonel, he was President
of the Air Defense Board, Director of
Missile Control and Electronics, and Director of Combat Development. He retired from the Army in 1975 and then
taught Computer Science at the University of Texas in El Paso for seven years.
Joe first volunteered at War Eagles Air
Museum in 1996. He recalled the good
old days: “I started volunteering at about
the same time they stopped flying the
warbirds regularly. I worked on aircraft
with Dan Taylor, doing whatever he
needed. Bill Swartout and I helped assemble the MiG-21PFM. We installed
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
the wings and rocket pods. I touched up
the insignia by hand.” (NOTE: This same
aircraft recently got a full restoration—
see the last Plane Talk). “I also helped
take care of the cars until 2003, when I
had my heart attack,” Joe said.
Joe married his first wife, Margaret Sanford Russo, in 1949. She passed away in
1987. They had three children. Son Joseph works for Mustang Caterpillar and
David is a GS-15 in the Department of
the Army. Daughter Mary is in Wellington, New Zealand, working to open a
Montessori School. Joe remarried in
1989 to Angeline Dorsey Russo.
Joe recalled with great pride driving the
Museum’s ¾-ton Dodge truck in the Las
Cruces Fourth of July parade last year.
“Carl Wright sat right along side of me,”
he said, “just in case anything happened.”
Colonel Joe Russo, for all your enthusiastic volunteer work at the War Eagles
Air Museum and for your many years of
outstanding service to the country, we
salute and thank you.
8
Museum Volunteer
is Published Novelist
N
ext time you’re in the mood to
read a good book, check out The
Guevara Legacy, an exciting, action-packed thriller authored by Museum
volunteer and newsletter contributor Jim
Parker. A review in the Austin American
Statesman said Jim’s novel about nuclear
terrorism “take[s] the reader for a wild
and fearful ride through the jungles of
South America and Vietnam... [it’s] a
good read on a provocative topic.”
You can get the book at amazon.com or
at www.theguevaralegacy.com, or you
can order it at your local Barnes & Noble
or Borders bookstore. Rumor has it that
Jim is thinking about writing a sequel.
Way to go, Jim!
For more information, visit:
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com