AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2022 - 40

BRIEFING
PEOPLE /
Jim Stevens delivered Phil
Harrison's solo shirt-tail
to him (left). Laura
Barnett, who soloed at
South Norfolk Airport,
now serves in the
U.S. Air Force.
Shirt-tail legacy
Preserving precious memories
BY JILL W. TALLMAN
CHR IS FL OWERS. GL ENN Kingery. L. Mike Hollenback. Jack
Earnest. Wayne Richards. Larry Higgerson. All these names
have one thing in common: They soloed in 1977, and their solo
shirt-tail was tacked onto the wall of their flight school, a proud
memento of an unforgettable moment. The airport has since
closed and the flight school with it, but the shirt-tails remain.
A Virginia pilot would like to reunite them with their owners.
Jim Stevens of Norfolk, Virginia, recalls that the former South
Norfolk Airport in Chesapeake, Virginia, owned by H.D. and
Hattie Todd, was an aviator's paradise in its heyday, and the little
flight school was part of the excitement. The airport's two turf
runways buzzed with taildraggers and trainers.
" There were days when not just one person would solo but
several, " said Stevens, a retired airline pilot. In the 1970s and 1980s,
his father, A.M. Stevens, ran the airport and the flight school, and
Stevens and his four brothers worked there mornings, evenings,
and weekends.
Keeping with a long-held tradition, flight instructors would
cut students' shirt-tails after a first solo, and these shirt-tails
would be labeled, decorated, and posted on the wall at the airport.
Another tradition was that whoever witnessed a solo would
buy a Coke from a machine in the building.
The airport and the flight school were labors of love for
Stevens' father, A.M. Stevens. " He just loved it. He reinvested
every penny he had in the flight school. "
South Norfolk Airport closed in 1985, and the only traces that
remain are photos and chart snippets found on the " Abandoned
and Little-Known Airfields " website. A. M. Stevens died in August
2019. While cleaning out his dad's house, Stevens discovered two
garbage bags full of solo shirt-tails. He couldn't bring himself to
throw them away, and ever since, he's been using social media
to make connections, posting the names on groups in the region.
40
AOPA PILOT / March 2022
Nancy Duncan happened to be scrolling through Facebook
one day when she spied a familiar name posted in a group called
I Grew Up in Norfolk. The name was Laura Punte. Laura Punte
is now Laura Punte Barnett, and she is married to Duncan's son,
Scott Barnett.
Duncan contacted Stevens and retrieved the shirt-tail-this
one was in a frame. She wrapped it as a gift and surprised her
daughter-in-law. " I wish I had taken a picture. She was just totally
amazed, " Duncan said.
Russ Porter III found out from a Facebook friend that his name
was on that list of solo students. Porter soloed on his sixteenth
birthday in a Cessna 150 in 1975.
" I was going [to the airport] with my dad every other weekend, "
Porter said. He did the requisite three takeoffs and landings,
and after one of the landings he forgot to take out the carburetor
heat before the next takeoff. The airplane's anemic performance
startled him, but he remembered to adjust the carb heat and all
went well after that. Porter's dad, Russ Porter Jr., was sitting on
the fence watching and waiting. " I saw a big grin on his face, "
Porter said.
Porter got as far as the solo cross-country-admitting that
pilotage and dead reckoning got him a little lost until he spotted
a water tower-but his father died in 1977 and there was no more
money for flight lessons. He cherishes memories of spending time
with his father at South Norfolk Airport, and is happy to have a
token of those days.
Stevens continues to track down long-ago pilots. He'll keep
putting the names out there in the hopes that he can deliver the
sacred scraps of cloth (and some framed certificates) to their
owners. If you soloed at South Norfolk Airport in the 1970s or
1980s and would like to see if your name is on the list, contact
jimstevensmail@gmail.com. jill.tallman@aopa.org
AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2022

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