AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2020 - 33

PEOPLE |

HEADLINES THAT
AFFECT YOU

Recent news from the aviation world
ANTIQUE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION FOUNDER
DIES AT 95
The vintage aircraft community is mourning
the loss of Antique Airplane Association
founder Robert L. "Bob" Taylor, who died
June 20 at age 95. He established the organization in 1953 to unite a diverse group of
antique aircraft enthusiasts celebrating the
care, feeding, and flying of older aircraft.

Bryan Douglass
Pilot, author pens D-Day story

KEELY FLATOW

B Y J U L I E S U M M E R S WA L K E R

THE MISSION seemed simple enough,
says Bryan Douglass: Completely
restore a 75-year-old historic DC-3
and fly it from Montana to France
for the seventy-fifth anniversary of
the D-Day invasion, with no volunteers and no money, in less than a
year, with a crew that had only a few
hours of experience flying one.
Ride along with author and
pilot Bryan Douglass, the rest of the
flight crew, the volunteers, paratroopers, World War II veterans,
and others in Every Reason to Fail:
The Unlikely Story of Miss Montana
and the D-Day Squadron, an inspirational story of an impossible dream
that almost didn't come true.
Miss Montana was the underdog of the D-Day Squadron and her
crew faced insurmountable odds,
constant delays, and a shortage of
nearly everything except determination. The idea of crossing the North
Atlantic in a 75-year-old, newly
restored airplane only a few hours
after her first flight would terrify
most, but Douglass introduces you

to the people who believed it could
be done. "The transatlantic journey
of the D-Day Squadron's 'Mighty
Fifteen' was an incredible feat, but
the story of Miss Montana is the best
of them all," says Douglass.
Douglass did not begin flight
training until later in life and was so
enamored he quickly moved from
private pilot rating to instrument and
built his own Van's RV-10. With the
Miss Montana project his learning
accelerated even faster. "I knew that if
I wanted to go along on the trip itself-
and boy, did I-I would need to get my
multiengine, tailwheel, commercial,
and DC-3 type rating in a year. I finished the SIC DC-3 type rating two
days before we left. I was the newest
DC-3 pilot in the world, I'm fairly certain. It was the trip of a lifetime and I
just had to tell the story."
Every Reason to Fail: The Unlikely
Story of Miss Montana and the D-Day
Squadron is available on Amazon and
barnesandnoble.com.
EMAIL julie.walker@aopa.org

WORKFORCE REDUCTION AT TEXTRON
Textron Aviation announced its largest
workforce reduction since the beginning of
the COVID-19 pandemic, with plans to lay
off 800 employees, most of whom are in
Wichita. The action comes as the airframer
"continues to adjust to the evolving global
economic uncertainty and existing market
conditions," Textron said. It follows the
layoff of 80 salaried employees in Wichita
on July 1 and 250 employees on June 23,
the majority of whom were located outside
Wichita.
ERAU ALUMNUS CONFIRMED AS
USAF CHIEF OF STAFF
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University master's graduate Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. was
unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate
to become the first black U.S. Air Force
chief of staff. Brown is a 1995 aeronautical
science program graduate and a military
pilot with more than 2,900 flying hours,
including 130 combat hours. His recent post
as commander of the Pacific Air Forces
topped a career that includes directing the
Pacific Air Combat Operations staff at Joint
Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
AIR RACES LATEST COVID-19 CASUALTY
The 2020 Stihl National Championship Air
Races, scheduled for September 16 to 20 at
Reno/Stead Airport in Nevada, have joined
the long list of aviation events canceled
this year because of the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic.
NBAA CANCELS BIZAV CONFERENCE
The National Business Aviation Association
has canceled its 2020 Business Aviation
Convention and Exhibition scheduled for
October in Orlando, Florida, based on
health concerns and travel restrictions in
place because of the coronavirus pandemic.
aopa.org
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2020
