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Marilyn Millsap (Thompson) (1961)

Woodland's first racetrack was at Brown's Corner.  The next one was on Kentucky Avenue.  It was used for horse racing and was the site of the county fair starting in 1893 until WWII.  It then moved to the present location and car racing took over.  You can get all this information at the Yolo County Archives, 226 Buckeye St., Woodland.

Bill Means (1961)

Craig,

Well, now I have another one for you.

There is only ONE F-100 Super Sabre FAA certified to fly in the USA and in the third week of June 2018 I am number 9 on the list to fly it. It is located in Ft. Wayne Indiana owned by a Subdivision Contractor and there are 12 old F-100 AF crew chiefs to maintain the plane when it flies. I have all my original flight suit, boots, form fitting helmet, dog tags, LABS screwdriver and I'm currently certified by my FAA Flight Surgeon to fly - with glasses!

Light the fire, hit the afterburner, rotate at 170 knots, 10 degrees nose high, gear up, flaps up and out of burner at 300 knots. ( For you pilots, yes there is a do not exceed 250 knot restriction below 10,000 feet, but the local airport ignores it for us ) .

Loops, aileron rolls, immelmans, cuban eights, barrel rolls - anything but straight and level flight! No one can go supersonic in the continental USA unless it is in restricted airspace and they don't have any in Indiana. They won't let us go to the local gunnery range for 50 foot level skip bombing, 20 MM gun targets or 45 degree bombing. The flight lasts about 50 minutes and burns a lot of fuel in afterburner, but not in mil power.

Now to get a GoPro type camera and attach it to the side of my helmet as I'm too tall to put it on top. Anyone use one or a similar one? I need to get one that can do a one hour movie and I'd like any input you have to help me.

On the car vein, my 1969 Jaguar XK-E had an electrical fire behind the dash board on a trip around Tahoe this year and I'm getting the wiring looms rearranged and new switches installed. Glad I was able to get the dash open and pour water and ice tea on the looms to kill the fire. Drove it home to Hermosa the next day with the dash open and the bare wires staring at me the whole trip. My car has a differential which only allows a max speed of 130 MPH, but I've only gotten up to 128 on back country roads where no one was around. With the fast differential the top speed is suppose to be 150. Still not fast enough to rotate the F-100 for takeoff.

Bill

Donald Urain (1964)

Sorry about Mike passing,he was a friend through high school snd I used to see hom in Chester while on vacation. prayers for his family. Rest easy old friend.

Betty Ciemny (Gastineau) (1964)

Don Urain! Hello from Betty and Howard!

Tony Moddesette (1963)

Don Urain!  Hello from Tony and Barb!

Bill Means (1961)

The poem was written by a American, who joined the Canadian AF at the begining of WWII, John Gilispie McGee who flew Spitfires and later lost his life at the age of 19 in the war.

It was quoted during the tribute to the Challenger Crew with only the first and last lines:

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

The TV flying signoffs were great at what 10:00PM? Channel 3 was the first TV channel in the valley begining in July 1955 and most of the day was dedicated to test patterns. It was only 14 years later that we landed a man on the moon - July 1969. Electronice really changed and FAST. But then they continue to change even faster today. OH, gotta sign off now, I hear my cell phone ringing, now where did I last see it?? I can't find it. OK, it stopped ringing.  Humm. Voice mail? I can't hear it either.

Don Ree (1966)

Hello Dan, long time no see.  How are things going?  We have been hearing that you were on this site from different classmates.  Thought we would get in touch.  Has it been as hot there, as here?  What a hot summer we have had.  Don is still working on cars.  Its in his blood, always tinkering.  If you want we can send you pics.  Give us your email, if you have one.  Hope all is going well.

                                                                              Shirley

Donald Urain (1964)

Betty and Howard, great to hear from you, please drop me a line letting me know where you are living now. Tony and Barb I was coming to Woodland last month dut I only made it to Reno. Iwill try again soon. I will keep in touch.   don323@gmail.com

Marilyn Millsap (Thompson) (1961)

Jim Crandall - Your posting got me to thinking about my MG so I watched the movie "Two For the Road" again..  In my memory, the whole movie is about Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney driving all over Europe in their MG.  I was shocked to see that in the middle of the movie the MG catches fire and burns up.  Hard to watch!  There is a scene where they try to drive up a hill but the MG can't make it so they back all the way up.  Hard to do on a highway!   Guess I'll stick with my minivan.  Thanks for the memories.

Gary Wegener (Wegener) (1966)

yo,,,   a moment of silence in memory of September 11, 2001.   The American Legion has lined Main Street with American flags, from West to Sixth.  A poignant reminder of a tragic day in our history.

Frances Handley (Jones) (1964)

I am glad the American Legion did that. As I live in Arlington , Virginia and worked for Arlington county it is not something we will ever forget here or any place else in the United States either. 

Elvis Kelley (1962)

Thank you Gary. 

Betty Ciemny (Gastineau) (1964)

Thanks, Gary.

Hi, Frances

Paul Schattauer (1961)

I wanted to tell the story of my 9/11 experience on 9/11 but Irma decided I did not need electricty.  Power is back now and other then lots of leaves and stricks and a blown over butterfly bush, the 70 mph winds did no damage.  My day on 9/11 began in Paris at our hotel as my crew gathered at pickup time to take our bus to Charles DeGaule airport.  Everything was normal, pretty day, full airplane, destination Atlanta.  My cockpit and cabin crew consisted of two copilots and 11 flight attendants.  I conducted the standard security briefing on the bus, password, cockpit acess, acountability (mine) problem solving, general stuff, see something say something.  Flight time, weather, to be announced on the airplane before boarding.  Take off climb and cruise uneventful til we were about 100 miles West of Ireland and things started to go sideways. A United Airlines flight called ATC (airtraffic control) and said they needed to return to Dublin because their company had requested that they do so.  That is unheard of.  I sent a satellite message to Delta flight control asking for information and got no response, again, unheard of.   A few minutes later ATC broadcast "all flights are required to return to point of origin due to terrorist activity in the United States".  I was stunned.   Every morning about 600 flights leave Europe (and that part of the world) for the US  and that part of the world just as every evening in the West 600 flights go back.  You don't just break out of the pack and turn around.  I called ATC and said we need a clearance as to direction of turn and and coast (back in) fix.  They began issuing clearances and fixes.  We turned and began evaluating what was happening.  We tried contacting Delta and got no response, I found out later that was deliberate.  We had a SAT phone, one of only 5 airplanes in the fleet that had one, so we tried calling our wives.  The circuits were busy (really?) but one of my copilots got his wife and she said "the towers are down and Washington is smoking" and he lost the connection.  I made an announcement to the passengers giving them all the information I had at that time (without the towers and the smoking stuff).  I then told the senior flight attendant to reassign the male flight attendants to work the area closest to the cockpit and briefed them to protect the cockpit and advise me of any threat.  I ordered a drink cart to be placed in the cockpit and shoved up against the cockpit door.  My second copilot was now in the cockpit.  I told him to get the crash axe (a very nasty weapon) and disable anyone who breached the cockpit over the drink cart.  The flight back to Paris was uneventful, no flight plan but we were handed off from one radar facility to the next.  The station manager had tears in his eyes when we arrived at the gate, he had no idea we were safe until we showed up.  Getting back to our hotel and watching those airplanes hitting the buildings again and again was a truly awful day.  There are worse places than Paris to spend three days in limbo.  The flight home went over New York and was eerie. Normally the radio goes constantly, that day we were the only flight in the air.....and you could still see the smoke.

Jean Wright (Johnson) (1960)

Paul that was a sad but great story.  I am so glad all of you landed safely.  I have never even wondered what the other planes where doing.  Thank you again   Jeanne

Theresa Eve (1964)

September 11th:  Thank you Paul, what a day that was for our Country!  I was working for the State in Sacramento and they told us to all go home, not knowing what would happen next.  All those lives lost!  All our great brave Firemen and Women; and Police, along with dogs; all did a great job.  My flag went out on this date, prayers to all.  May we never forget, and may we remain strong, United State of America.  

Marian Flores (Walker) (1962)

My husband's uncle had passed away several days before and his funeral was on 9/11.  We were in Wheeling, W Va, and my son living in Virginia, drove to Wheeling, also to attend the funeral.  We were in a motel room, just got up and getting ready for the funeral, TV on GMA, and saw the first plane crash into the Twin Tower, then the second plane.  We attended the funeral and family gathering that day, watching what we could on TV.  That evening people were lining up at the gas stations with rumors of gas going up to $5 a gallon.  We knew that there would be no flights out of W Va, so we rode back to Charlottesville, VA, with our son.  It was very strange to not see one plane in the sky.  It was a week before we could get a plane out of Richmond, VA, to Cali. A very scary time in our history.

Allene Abbott (Prall) (1962)

Paul, glad to hear you made it back o.k. after 9/11.  I belong to the Savannah Writer's Group and have a friend named Ian who had a job in one of the twin towers.  He had been out "celebrating" the night before 9/11 with a group of friends and was late for work on 9/11.  As he approached the elevator to go up to his floor, the elevator was full, so he had to wait for another.  He and 3 or 4 others entered the elevator and didn't get very far when he heard a loud bang.  He then felt things coming down the elevator shaft, which he though were the a/c units which were on top of the building.  Of course, by this time the elevator had stopped completely.  He and the others tried for about an hour to get out of the elevator, but couldn't budge the doors.  A guard finally managed to get the doors open and told them that a plane had just hit the building.  He told them to run as fast as they could outside and to keep on running.  They were astonished to learn that they were still on the main floor and did what the guard had told them.  As he ran outside he saw bodies of people he knew who had jumped.  If he had been in the other elevator he wouldn't have made it out alive.  He said that this was one time when he discovered that drinking didn't endanger one's health.  If he hadn't been frinking the night before, he wouldn't have been late for work.  If you watch any of the documentaries on 9/11 and see people coming out of the elevator, one of them is Ian.  He moved to Savannah shortly after that happened, and now is living in his home country of England.  As far as my own experience is concerned, I was at home on a rare day when I didn't have to work at my part-time job, or have classes to attend towards my Master's degree.  I was out on the front porch drinking coffee.  My son was inside watching the Today show.  When I came in to get another cup of coffee, my son told me that a plane had just hit one of the twin towers.  At first we thought it was just a crazy pilot who didn't know how to fly, but then a second plane hit and we knew something wasn't right.  

Paul Schattauer (1961)

That day changed all our lives and the world.

Paul Schattauer (1961)

Please STFU Craig

Don Murdoch (1962)

Paul,   I'm with you.

Tom Stewart (1969)

Craig Mayfield...you are really hard to figure out.  Not sure if you have all your mental capability these days.  You have been posting hundreds of political and religious targeted comments for years now, and you say it is a High School, pre-High School blog?  It appears you are pouting since so many have taken you to task concerning your continued sarcasm, personal attacks, and political bias.

Your last post is filled with sarcasm...WWII?  Nuclear proliferation?  All because someone gave some personal testimony concerning the twin towers?  Go figure!  If you can't rule the sandbox no one else can play there!

Allene Abbott (Prall) (1962)

O.K. Craig, I will play your game, although I would love to hear some other personal accounts of what people were doing when 911 occurred.  I love to hear about Woodland in the "good ole days" but I believe that variety is the spice of life.  Anyway, keeping within your boundaries, does anyone remember Peggy's Kitchen?  Or who owned it?  It was at the SE corner of East St. and Beamer St.   During the early 50's, my father used to take us there on a weekend morning to get breakfast - usually pancakes, as I recall.  The place was always packed.  I suppose the truckers traveling down the highway (East St.) used to stop there.  It closed sometime during the 50's and succeeding owners tried to make a go of it, but I think it eventually remained closed permanently.  I haven't been back to Woodland since 2007, so I don't know what, if anything, is there now.

Paul Schattauer (1961)

Craig.  Thats my dog Katy, she was almost 13, I've had her since she was a puppy, sweetest gentilist dog I ever knew.  She recently started being disorented with other symtoms and Wednesday she started having serial grand mal siezures and we had to put her down.

Linda Lopez (1967)

Paul, sorry to hear about Katy. I too had to put my MinChi down before moving back to Woodland. She had cancer. Loss of an unconditional true friend.

Any pilots out there that could say if Watts Airport has any fly-ins happening during the year? I see Clear Lake has a Splash-in this weekend. Would be great if our area would do something like that. Brings in aircraft from all over the USA.