Beth accurately describes as “a love for
the airplane.”
Flying with Beth to Oshkosh was the
ribald Tom Travis. Tom started his avi-
ation career with zero assets: he has
spent his last eight cents on a bar of
soap just before he started a job work-
ing on drilling rigs in the swamps. (He
hates snakes to this day.) He used the
money from that job to pay for flying
lessons. He is now retired from Ameri-
can Airlines. He also has nearly every
aviation rating known to mankind but
you won’t hear about it from him be-
cause he also is not the bragging type.
I asked Beth what it was like to fly with
Tom. She said, “I wish I could clone
him.” Tom had to leave mid-AirVenture
so that he could spend his 43rd wedding
anniversary with the high school sweet-
heart he married. Another Devil Dog
Squadron pilot came to Oshkosh to fly
back to Georgetown with Beth.
Beth is quick to acknowledge all the
other Devil Dog Squadron members and
volunteers. There’s serious maintenance
and there’s just polishing. All contrib-
ute. All are important and all love the
airplane. I didn’t get the names of the
other crew members with Beth that
year at AirVenture, but in the hangar at
the squadron back in Texas she works
with Bill Adams, Richard Sutton and co-
chairs finances with Jim Ivanhoff.
dered off topic from time to time, talk-
ing about the airplane and such. That’s
because Beth wanders off topic, too.
She doesn’t just talk about Beth. She
talks about flight, not about gender.
She talks about the passion of flight,
not about the money. The money is
the means, not the end. And she talks
about her fellow volunteers. It’s “love
for the airplane,” pure and simple. As
human emotions go, she and her squad-
ron mates are on high ground.
Knowing what you now know, you
can well imagine that learning to fly at
Pilot’s Choice Aviation in Georgetown,
Texas (Georgetown is near of Austin,
Texas) would not be a rote experience,
but a fun and passionate one. And that,
my friends, is as it should be. You’ll
probably get to fly with Beth and, if
you’re really lucky, somebody will hand
you a rag and you can wipe oil from un-
derneath a cowl of Devil Dog. That’s liv-
in’ large! ✈
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lauran Paine Jr. is the author of three
aviation books and countless magazine
articles. He lives in Salem, Oregon.
WE MAY NEED A BIGGER TROPHY CASE.
We’re very proud of our students’ accomplishments. Le Tourneau University is the 2009 recipient of the Loening Trophy,
the oldest and most prestigious award for collegiate aviation programs. This award comes after our own Emily Brown,
LETU ‘08, brought home for the second time the Candi Kubeck Award (top scoring female contestant) at the National
Intercollegiate Flying Association’s SAFECON National Competition.
— Interdenominational Christian University located in Longview, Texas
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and Professional Flight.
— Incredible Fleet of DA- 42 Twin Stars, G1000-eqipped C172s, and Citabrias
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P.O. Box 7001, Longview, TX 75607, Admissions@letu.edu
