The Minnesota 99s are working on a logbook project – returning old logbooks to the people that took flying lessons. I have been helping out a little here and there and the first person I looked for when I started was Dr. Bob as I knew he had taken lessons at the University of Minnesota and yes his logbook was there. So the 99s sent Dr. Bob his logbook a few months ago and I had not had a chance to see it until now and it was wonderful to see it in Dr. Bob’s hands after all these years. It was so much fun looking through it and seeing the old logbook format and talking about his flying. Dr. Bob was training in a Cub and Piper and he even did an emergency landing on the snow at the airport when his oil pressure died after takeoff. Sadly he never got his pilots license. I also learned that had WWII not ended when it did, he would have become a Navy pilot. While he loves airplanes, he did take a helicopter from the USS Valley Forge to the USS Iowa during the Korean War. And interestingly he shared a room on the USS Iowa with the first African American to become a Admiral in the US Navy, Vice Admiral Samuel Gravely who was also a communications officer at the time.
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