RE: I've been around KR's for a lot of years and hear this every Oshkosh year. What I have never heard are the particulars. Was the KR actually slighted or was it just perceived? Dan, do you know the issues?
I was there that year. Bob Muse and I tried to get out of Atlanta, but the weather formed a solid wall from around Chatanooga, so I flew back home and got in the car and drove to be at the dinner for the 20th anniversary. There was a fly by planned and the KRs were not told untill the last minute that they were to go. They were being squeezed in, between all the big money planes. We got there in time to hear the announcement that Herb Bull, the person who did the painting for Jeanette, had crashed of a heart attack during the fly by. He had to haul his plane in a hurry to get it to where they had to take off. Maybe he knew he should not fly or not. Maybe all the extra induced stress because the EAA forgot where there roots are, brought it on, who knows. The bottom line, as I understood it at the time, is that the EAA was too busy showing off the big money planes, to allow the KR to participate in an organized fly by as was planned by the KR people. This in NOT an excuse, and, on my life's list of things to do, is still to fly my own plane to Oshkosh. I will fly this plane to Oshkosh and every other place that I can. Marty and Dan Diehl were there along with a lot of the other old timers. I don't know how many KRs were there, but I do know that they all were very dissappointed in the EAA and that has stuck with me for over 10 years and until EAA does something to show that they remember where they came from, it will never go away. If you want to see KRs come to the Gathering. As many as can get there, get there. That should tell you something. "There is a time for building and a time for GOING TO THE GATHERING, and the time for building has long since expired." See you in Mt. Vernon - 2004 - KR Gathering http://KRGathering.org See N64KR at http://KR-Builder.org - Then click on the pics Daniel R. Heath - Columbia, SC
