AFA’s Teacher of the Year
At the Air Force Association’s Air and Space Conference and National Convention, Susan Rippe from Olathe, Kan., received the 21st annual Christa McAuliffe Memorial Award as AFA’s National Teacher of the Year.

The Missouri State AFA and Olathe Northwest High School nominated the aerospace and engineering teacher for the award. It is given to a public, private, or parochial school teacher in grades K-12 who promotes aerospace technologies through innovative curriculum in the classroom.

Rippe has been teaching for more than two decades and has earned several excellence-in-teaching awards in Kansas. She received AFA’s National Teacher of the Year honor for her recent work in creating the aerospace and engineering program at her high school, where she is the department chairman. She is a member of the Harry S. Truman Chapter.

Second place winner for the Teacher of the Year award was Chantelle Rose of Graham High School in St. Paris, Ohio, nominated by the Wright Memorial Chapter of Dayton. Jeri Ann Martin, an active member of the Hurlburt (Fla.) Chapter who teaches at Thomas L. Sims Middle School in Pace, Fla., received the third place award.

The National Teacher of the Year award is named for Concord, N.H., high school teacher S. Christa Corrigan McAuliffe, who was to become the first teacher in space before she died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion.

More Convention Awards
Among the awards presented at the AFA National Convention were two that recognize members of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command and their employers.

The George W. Bush Award, given to a traditional ANG officer, went to Col. Dean L. Winslow, a flight surgeon with the Delaware ANG, and his employer, Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System in San Jose, Calif. Winslow is a member of the Tennessee Ernie Ford Chapter (Calif.).

SrA. Brooke E. Gorman, assistant manager of the Retention Office, 177th Fighter Wing, Atlantic City Arpt., N.J., received the George W. Bush Award for enlisted personnel, along with her employer, Clipper Magazine of Mountville, Pa., where she is a field representative.

The 2006 AFRC Citizen Airman Award for an officer went to Capt. William C. McLeod, an aircraft maintenance officer with the 442nd Maintenance Group, Whiteman AFB, Mo., and his employer, Aquila, Inc., based in Kansas City, Mo.

CMSgt. Joe Cholopisa was the enlisted recipient of the AFRC Citizen Airman Award. He is the first sergeant for the 301st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, NAS JRB Fort Worth, Tex. Sharing his award was his employer, Deen Meats, Inc., also of Fort Worth.

William W. Spruance, an AFA national director emeritus and member of the Thunderbird Chapter in Las Vegas, funds these awards.

Full Scholarship
The first recipient of AFA’s new full scholarship to Grantham University is retired Lt. Col. Guy J. Fritchman, a professor at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

The four-year scholarship is worth $28,000 and can be used for an associate or bachelor’s degree, a master of science degree, or a master of business administration degree, completed online through Grantham University. Fritchman, who has an M.S. degree in logistics management, will pursue an MBA with an emphasis on project management.

The scholarship is open to AFA members and their dependents and to dependents of active duty service members.

Fritchman, who has been a guest lecturer at the Air War College and is president of AFIT’s Faculty Council, is a member of the Wright Memorial Chapter.

Grantham University was established in 1951 and is headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.

9/11 Remembered
With a memorial reception on Long Island, N.Y., the Iron Gate Chapter remembered the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the nearly 3,000 people who died in the terrorist attacks that day.

The chapter hosted the memorial reception at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City on Sept. 7, with some 75 guests. They included several firefighters from New York City, such as chapter member Bruce Brenner, a Manhattan fire alarm dispatcher supervisor who had the task of sending firefighters into the World Trade Center on the morning of 9/11.

Following the reception and buffet dinner, the guests—now numbering about 150—entered the museum’s IMAX theater for a presentation by chapter member Ronald Regan, traffic management officer at New York Terminal Radar Control. On 9/11, Regan had ordered the shutting down of flights from 51 New York area airports. Also presenting brief remarks with Regan was Federal Aviation Administration manager Carmine Gallo and James Ciccone, a New York City police department helicopter pilot who had circled the World Trade Center towers that morning, hoping to evacuate survivors.

Chapter President Frank Hayes said this remembrance was a way to thank the “silent heroes who performed so splendidly on the battle line of that terrible day.”

Ride for Pride
In Utah, several Ute-Rocky Mountain Chapter members—including AFA Vice Chairman of the Board L. Boyd Anderson—observed the 9/11 anniversary with their fifth annual 9/11 Memorial Ride for Pride.

On Sept. 9, 75 motorcycle, dirt bike, sport bike, and even scooter riders formed up in Layton. Although they were not all AFAers, they were led by chapter members Ed Brisley and Gerald K. Wilcox and rode north together in a three-quarter-mile-long procession, for about three hours, to Brigham City. There, they pulled up to reserved parking on Main Street and became part of the Harley Davidson motorcycle show at the city’s Peach Days festival.

An annual celebration of the peach harvest since 1904, Peach Days attracts as many as 75,000 spectators over the course of the weekend. Funds raised by the motorcyclists go to Operation Warm Heart, a family support program run by the First Sergeants group at Hill AFB, Utah. The chapter’s public relations VP, Brandon Berrett, said the riders raised $1,500. They also filled their motorcycle saddlebags with canned goods—donations for the Peach festival’s fund-raising effort to help area families.

Winning Team
The headline in the local news the next day read, “Braves Crush Nationals, 6-1,” but for at least one group at that Washington, D.C., baseball game, the evening had been—in the words of Gabriel Chapter President Terrence J. Young—“a resounding success.”

The chapter joined the Donald W. Steele Sr. Memorial Chapter, also of Virginia, in inviting 20 military personnel to the National League game that pitted the new baseball team in the nation’s capital against the visiting Atlanta Braves. The active duty service members were patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, recovering from injuries or illnesses incurred overseas. They were accompanied to the game by a family member and 25 escorts.

Young, who was among the escorts, said that the Washington Nationals team provided the tickets and ushered the group to one of RFK Stadium’s suites, where the guests received home team baseball caps. Another giveaway: phone cards, made available through the Steele Chapter.

Gabriel Chapter’s Kenneth A. Spencer took the lead in organizing the baseball outing, with Nancy T. Cribb serving as coordinator for the AFA escorts.

Young credited the Langley Chapter (Va.) with being “the AFA leader” in inspiring the two northern Virginia chapters. The Langley Chapter hosts three to four similar events for veterans at the VA hospital in Hampton, Young said, and the chapter shared recommendations on how to carry out this morale boosting activity.

WWII Survivor’s Story
Central Indiana Chapter members learned about a famous World War II ship named for their state’s capital when a Navy veteran addressed their dinner meeting in August.

In July 1945, James E. O’Donnell was a water tender third class—a petty officer in the boiler room of USS Indianapolis. The heavy cruiser had just delivered the first operational atom bomb to Tinian island and was en route, unescorted, from Guam to the Philippines. In the Philippine Sea just after midnight on July 30, two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine hit Indianapolis, blowing away the bow and setting off an explosion that knocked out electrical power. The cruiser sank in 12 minutes.

Of the 1,196 sailors and marines aboard, 900 made it into the water. Their ship was not reported as overdue, so they spent the next four days fending off shark attacks, thirst, hunger, and exposure, waiting for rescue. Most had only a standard life jacket. By the time an anti-submarine patrol airplane chanced upon them, only 317 were still alive.

Chapter President Michael Malast said O’Donnell, now a retired firefighter, told the chapter audience his story in a humble, matter-of-fact manner. “What was really different from other dinner speakers,” said Malast, “was that people wanted to have their photo taken with him. I don’t remember this ever happening before.”

Malast added that Grissom Memorial Chapter President Brian L. Wright and VP David L. Shearer drove from Kokomo to hear O’Donnell’s presentation, and now other AFA chapters in the Hoosier State have scheduled the Indianapolis survivor as their dinner speaker.

The KC-135’s 50th
In Oklahoma City in September, the Central Oklahoma (Gerrity) Chapter helped USAF and the Tinker Heritage Foundation celebrate the golden anniversary of the KC-135.

Boeing’s Stratotanker first flew on Aug. 31, 1956, at Renton, Wash.Today, the Oklahoma Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, Okla., manages an inventory of more than 500 KC-135s, including engines, software, and avionics.

The Gerrity Chapter’s Rick Pena and John Thompson organized two golf tournaments as a kickoff for the two days of anniversary activities at Tinker. More than 270 golfers teed off. Proceeds from the tournaments—estimated to be $20,000, according to Chapter President James F. Diehl—benefited the chapter’s aerospace education endeavors.

The next day, the base offered tours of the KC-135 depot maintenance areas, a flyover, aircraft static displays, industry displays, and an interactive flight deck and boom pod simulator.

Lt. Gen. Christopher A. Kelly, Air Mobility Command vice commander, was guest speaker for the formal banquet held that evening at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

KC-135 on Canvas
The Stratotanker was the focus of an oil painting created by Columbia Gorge Chapter President Jerry Moore as a gift for Oregon’s 939th Air Refueling Wing (AFRC).

Moore, an accomplished artist who has five paintings in the Air Force Art Collection, painted a scene showing a KC-135 refueling a C-17 with Mount Hood in the background. The painting is called “Pride of the Pacific Northwest.”

In a September ceremony at Portland’s Air National Guard facility, he presented the painting to Col. William N. Flanigan, 939th commander. Joining Moore for the ceremony were Tom Stevenson, Oregon state president; Phillip A. Szymkowicz, chapter VP; Darlene M. Parrow, secretary; Thomas Traver, community affairs VP; and chapter members Mary J. Mayer and Natalie Bradshaw, an AFROTC cadet from the University of Portland. Two television stations covered the event.

Moore painted the KC-135 to commemorate a milestone in the 939th ARW’s history. In August, the last four of eight KC-135s assigned to the unit left Portland Airport as part of a base closure and realignment action that split the tankers between March ARB, Calif., and Tinker AFB, Okla.

Tentative plans are for the 939th ARW to be relocated at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. For now, the unit’s executive staff and mission support group remain in Portland until October 2010, along with Moore’s painting. Chapter Secretary Parrow said that the artist is arranging for unit members to be able to have prints made of this artwork.

Trio of Events
The Alamo Chapter joined USAF and Air Education and Training Command in sponsoring a convention at a Hyatt Regency hotel in San Antonio, combining a technology exposition, the Retired General Officers’ Summit, and the Air Force Birthday Ball. The three-in-one event on Sept. 8 was billed as the beginning of a year-long celebration of USAF’s 60th anniversary.

Among the AFA representatives taking part was L. Boyd Anderson, Vice Chairman of the Board.

One major focus of the day—which organizers hope will become an annual gathering—was an indoor-outdoor exposition, where Air Force and industry representatives displayed the latest technology and products.

When he invited the retired general officers to the convention, the AETC commander, Gen. William R. Looney III, said this expo would serve as “an Air Force education day … for the local community and schools,” helping to tell “the Air Force story.” Alamo Chapter Secretary Kaye H. Biggar reported that expo visitors included cadets from 16 AFJROTC and several AFROTC units. He said special seminars were held for them.

The retired general officers, meanwhile, received briefings from Air Staff and other senior leaders. USAF Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley delivered the keynote address at the conclusion of this 33rd annual summit.

The black-tie Air Force Ball that evening brought together more than 900 military and civilian guests, with Moseley serving as guest speaker. The Air Force Band of the West, from Lackland, performed a musical tribute to USAF and to San Antonio, often called the birthplace of military aviation.

Proceeds from this ball support the Alamo Chapter’s aerospace education projects.

Talent on the Team
Three hours beforehand, the guest speaker for the Col. H.M. “Bud” West (Fla.) Chapter meeting bowed out because of an emergency. This might have caused the chapter president to panic—except that John E. Schmidt Jr. turned out to have a couple of well-qualified relief pitchers in his bullpen.

The first one offering to take to the mound was John G. Brennan, a former chapter president. The second was William Webb, another former chapter president.

In the end, Brennan received the call to the bullpen and quickly organized a presentation on the Civil Air Patrol. As the state’s CAP liaison to 1st Air Force at Tyndall AFB, Fla., he already had comprehensive knowledge of the topic. He covered CAP’s history, going back to World War II, spoke about its new capabilities for providing the Department of Homeland Security with real-time assessments of disasters, and described CAP’s homeland security role in relation to 1st Air Force. He used PowerPoint slides to show some of CAP’s Cessna 182 and Cessna 172 aircraft.

Thanks to having a talent pool already on the team, “48 members of the Bud West Chapter had another ‘well-planned’ and successful meeting,” Schmidt said afterward. The retired chief master sergeant has served five years as president and at this meeting was re-elected for another term.

E.F. Faust, 1925-2006
Retired Col. E.F. “Sandy” Faust, an AFA national director emeritus and veteran of three wars, died Sept. 16 in San Antonio. He was 80 years old.

Born in Shawnee, Okla., Colonel Faust joined the US Navy in 1943, serving in the Pacific. He returned to civilian life after World War II but resumed military service in 1949, joining the US Army as a sergeant. He was commissioned out of Officer Candidate School later that year and went on to serve in the Korean War and in the Vietnam War. He completed his college degree at McNeese State University, Lake Charles, La.

Colonel Faust retired from the military in 1972, after 27 years of service, and became an executive with the National Bank of Fort Sam Houston. He retired from his second career in 1994.

He was a member of the Alamo Chapter (Tex.) and had served as its president, as well as Texas state president and an AFA region president.

More Chapter News

In Lewistown, Pa., a charter member of an AFA charter chapter helped present a donation to fix up a veterans memorial only a decade older than he is. Mifflin County Chapter Vice President Anthony Sinitski, who turns 91 next month, joined Chapter President George Rheam and Treasurer David R. Pletcher in giving $1,500 from the chapter to a county association, to update the lighting of Mifflin County’s 100-year-old Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial. The county celebrated the monument’s centennial in June, with the chapter not only making the donation but also providing the commemorative programs for the event.

Members of the Columbia Gorge Chapter—another AFA charter chapter—visited the Oregon Veterans’ Home in The Dalles, Ore., in August, to help staff members carry out an ice cream social for residents of the long-term care facility. Darlene M. Parrow, secretary, reported that the chapter members also donated CD players, microwavable popcorn, bird feeders, and other items that the veterans had put on their wish lists.

Grace M. Lizzio, an editorial associate at Air Force Magazine from 1971 to 1993, died Sept. 2 at the age of 77. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., she was a longtime resident of the Washington, D.C., area and after retiring from the magazine lived in Dunkirk, Md.