November 2005 Newsletter
	On October 22, 2005 EAA Chapter 1232 held its final meeting of the year. Happy Holidays for November and December as we will not meet again until 2006. The October event was very successful and I will share the highlights with you. Ken Mercer started off the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance followed with a recap of our successful Youth Aviation day on September 24th. On that day 106 Young Eagles were flown in a variety of aircraft. Check our web page at www.1232.echapters.com for more information and pictures. At this point Ken was presented with a plaque of appreciation from the EAA headquarters for his fine work in organizing this event. Thanks Ken. As scheduled, we had our annual election of officers. This did not take much effort as the incumbents volunteered for another year of service. So again we have Carl von Doymi, President; Ken Mercer, Vice President and Jim Swanson, Secretary/Treasurer. Our speaker, SR-71 pilot Al Cirino, was to have been picked up at Half Moon Bay by Gordon Danielson and flown back to Gnoss by 10:30 or so. The fog, behaving as fog does, made this impractical so the plan was revised so that Gordon would pick Al up at San Carlos. It was believed that Gordon launched into the soup around 9:00 and there was some concern about his well being as time marched on. On to plan B. Since we had a Bar-B-Que all prepared we lit the charcoal, heated up the chili, opened up the potato salad and had a fine meal enjoyed by all. Thank you Phil Simon organizing the food and for the grilling such fine burgers. Meanwhile, someone got a hold of Bay Tracon and learned that Gordon had made a missed approach at San Carlos and was going around for another try. Shortly thereafter Gordon called that he had met Al and was on his way. About then the sun came out at Gnoss and we had another helping of the fine food. Word of Al Cirino’s presentation had gotten around as our chapter invited one and all to come to our meeting. Therefore, in addition to us EAA-ers there were an assortment of ex-military, Sheriff, CAP and other good ole boys and gals present. This made the wait for Al and Gordon an enjoyable one as there were plenty of airplane stories, war stories, etc. bandied about. Finally, Gordon squeaked down with Al and we assembled in the CAP headquarters for the presentation. Al Cirino was introduced by retired United Captain and USAF General Norm DeBach. Norm gave an eloquent introduction with many revelations of his and Al’s shared experiences. As to Al Cirino’s presentation I can only summarize that he spoke extensively of the development, technical specifications, history, and personal flight experiences in flying the SR-71. This was replete with a well prepared slide show and concluded with a comprehensive question and answer period. Thank you Al, your generosity with your time is much appreciated by our chapter. For those who missed Al’s talk it would be well worth your while to find where he may be speaking again and try to attend one of his presentations. As mentioned, there are no chapter meetings for November or December so let’s use the time to work on our projects. I hope to see at least a couple of “first flights” next spring.
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