stunthanger.com
Announcements => In Memory of our friends => Topic started by: peabody on May 06, 2022, 03:06:35 PM
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I have been told that Bill left us a couple weeks ago.
Bill was primarily a carrier guy that but flew some Stunt as well.
A great guy and always willing to help.
He'll be missed.
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Pete Mazur posted this in the Carrier section last week some time I think. Bill was great carrier pilot and tried really hard at stunt. He helped me get through my very first stunt contest way back in 1987 I think it was. Here is a link to that thread;
https://stunthanger.com/smf/carrier/bill-calkins/
R.I.P Bill,
Dan McEntee
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I'm sad to hear this news. Bill was a great guy and modeler. I met and flew with him through several contest seasons in the mid-west. After I moved to the Rockies and studied CAD ,drafting, it was his suggestion to John Brodak that started my association with Brodaks company, drawing and designing plans for them.
Let me offer his family my heartfelt condolences. Save me a spot at Gods stunt circle. I hope I make it. Fair winds, and tight lines Bill.
John Miller
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Bill was one of several guys in the stunt community that I've known since I was in kindergarten. He, like many others, were very kind and supportive of me, both in the modeling realm and in my military career.
The last time I saw Bill was at the Sig Fun-Fly a few years ago. We were sitting outside the rooms at the Cozy Country Inn in town one evening, having a few beers and trading Army/Air Force stories. Right in the middle of our conversation, a guy in another room who clearly had a few too many, stumbles out of his room and projectile vomits all over the sidewalk. It freaked out dad and Bill a bit, but I've seen enough Soldiers drink more than they could handle and lose their lunch that it wasn't a big deal LL~
It is also very much worth noting that Free Flight Legend Lee Hines passed away last week as well. Anyone with any free flight experience probably knows his name. Lee was a multi Nat's winner, multi-FAI team member, designer of several popular glider designs dating back to at least the 70s, and all-around awesome guy. I had the privilege of flying with him a few times here in Colorado. There were several occasions in which myself and a few other flyers would be standing in the glider pen, waiting for a good thermal to come by. Lee would walk up, casually toss his glider, and we would watch it hook a thermal and head downrange. His ability to pick air was astounding.
Fair winds, Bill and Lee!
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I put up four flights yesterday in memory of Lou Matustik and Bill Calkins. I call them missing man flights
Bill came to St Louis a few years back and CD'd a carrier contest at Buder Park
Lou Matustik was a club member of the Lafayette Esquadrille club here in St Louis
Fred