I grew up on a cranberry farm in central Wisconsin. Several of the neighbors had light aircraft and a few had airstrips on their property so it was always easy to be around airplanes and airplane people. My dad was also good friends with the Ag pilot, Jim Miles, (at that time, Ag pilots were commonly called “crop dusters”) who worked with all the cranberry growers in the area and is credited as being the strongest influence on my lifelong interest in airplanes and aviation.  Jim would come over to our house often, and would sit talking about flying with my dad and me for hours at a time. His interest and enthusiasm rubbed off on me. 

Through these "hangar flying sessions", Jim introduced me to the EAA. He was EAA member 158 and he encouraged me to join. In fact, he brought me to Oshkosh for the EAA convention in 1970 where we camped under the wing of his Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser. What a wonderful experience! 

I finally joined the EAA in 1976 and when I told Jim I had joined, his first comment was “are you going to build something?” He built a beautiful Pitts Special S-1C and helped many others build experimental aircraft as well. I knew he wouldn’t rest until I was working on a project. In fact, he thought I should get going right away on building an aircraft that I could then use for my flight training!

I didn’t get started on a project right away, but finally got down to business and got my private pilot certificate in 1978. I took my primary training at Alexander Field (ISW) in Wisconsin Rapids, WI. My instructor was a fellow by the name of Ted Grunwald. Unfortunately, Ted was killed in an aircraft accident up in Alaska shortly after I got my license. He was a great guy and a good instructor. I miss him!

I bought my first airplane in 1979 – a 1955 Piper Tri-Pacer. I flew it for about a year and then decided to convert it to PA-20 Pacer (tailwheel) configuration. This was my first aircraft project. During this same time, I met other EAA members in the Wisconsin Rapids area, and we decided to form an EAA chapter. Thus, I became a charter member of EAA chapter 706.

One of the other founding members of EAA chapter 706 was Ted Strub, who was building a Hatz biplane at the time. Through Ted, I met John Hatz (EAA number 3990). John was another person who had a profound effect on my interest and involvement in aviation, and as it turned out, he was a friend of Jim Miles as well. Small world! With these fellows as close friends, there was no doubt I would end up building a homebuilt or restoring a vintage aircraft.

I finished the conversion and “sprucing up” of the Pacer in 1981, and decided to start on a homebuilt. After looking at lots of designs, I settled on the Sonerai II, and I started the project that fall. Around this same time, my wife decided to get her private license and started taking lessons from John Hatz in his J3 Cub. After she completed her training we decided we should have a Cub of our own, so the Pacer soon had a hangar mate – a 1940 Piper J5A Cub Cruiser.

The Sonerai took longer to complete than I would have liked. In fact, it took 11 years! But between flying the Pacer and the Cruiser, and upgrading my pilot certificate and ratings, I didn’t spend as much time working on it as I should have. By the time I finished the Sonerai, I was a Commercial Pilot with both Airplane Single Engine Land and Rotorcraft/Helicopter ratings.  I really enjoyed building and flying the Sonerai, but before long I met someone who really liked it and made an offer I couldn’t refuse. Sold!

I had been interested in aerobatics since before I was a licensed pilot, had joined IAC in 1980, and had attended several aerobatic competitions. I decided I’d pursue that interest next, and to that end, I purchased a Pitts Special S-1C. I really enjoyed this aircraft, and especially enjoyed its amazing performance (due to it’s power to weight ratio of less than 6 lb per horsepower). However, I discovered that I didn’t have the time to devote to the practice necessary to become competition-ready, and when I did have the time, the Wisconsin weather didn’t always cooperate. It became clear to me that competition aerobatics wasn’t going to be my calling, so I sold the Pitts, which brought my airplane “fleet” back down to the two Pipers – Pacer and Cruiser.

It was about this time that we discovered some corrosion in the Pacer’s horizontal tail surfaces, so my next airplane project was obvious. The plane was disassembled and hauled to my shop, and I started in on the restoration. But the completion of this project was not to be, as circumstances conspired to head me in a new direction.

This new direction sprang from a detailed accounting of what it was going to cost to put the Pacer back in the air in the configuration I had in mind. At about the same time that I finished adding up the numbers on the Pacer project, I found out about a Cessna 180 that a fellow EAA chapter 640 member had for sale. A quick run of the numbers made me realize that I could buy this flying Cessna 180 for about the same amount of money that I would end up having stuck in the Pacer project, and I’d end up with a lot more airplane for the money. And I could fly right away! The course was set, and I sold the Pacer project and the J5A in order to purchase the Cessna 180. Then the deal fell through!

So there I was with no airplanes, which just wasn’t right. I immediately started scouring Trade-A-Plane, looking for a Cessna 180. As things happened, I found a suitable example fairly quickly, and once again had an airplane in the hangar. I own the airplane to this day, and enjoy it more every time I fly it. Definitely a good choice!

Coming into the last half of the 1990’s, several things happened fairly quickly, all of which would have a major effect on my aviation life. In 1995 I added an Instrument Airplane rating to my pilot certificate, and in 1996 I gained my A&P mechanic certificate. Then, in 1997 I added Airplane Single Engine Sea to my pilot certificate. All these things were made even more significant by the fact that, in March of 1997 I sold the family cranberry farm in order to concentrate all my efforts on aviation.

I immediately began working on the final pieces of the puzzle, my Flight Instructor certificate, and my Inspection Authorization.  I took my initial Flight Instructor practical test for airplanes in February of 1998, and added the rotorcraft/helicopter rating to my instructor certificate in August of that same year. Then, in 1999, I gained my Inspection Authorization.

One of the main reasons I wanted to become a CFI was to fill a need for tailwheel-qualified instructors. So to help fill that need, I purchased a 1957 Piper PA-18 Super Cub. I planned to offer primary training and tailwheel checkouts in the aircraft, and did so for a couple of years. But I finally had to stop offering instruction in the Super Cub, due to rapidly rising insurance premiums. I was priced out of business.

Through all these events in my life, I stayed actively involved with EAA, as a member and officer of EAA chapter 706 in Wisconsin Rapids, as a member of chapter 640, headquartered in north central Wisconsin, and as a Technical Counselor and Flight Advisor. I had also been volunteering each year at the EAA convention in Oshkosh (soon to be known as “AirVenture”). So, when I saw a small notice posted in the “Hotline” section of Sport Aviation magazine, talking about the formation of the Homebuilt Aircraft Council at EAA headquarters, I was very interested in being involved with that program.

So that’s my story (and I’m sticking to it)! I still have the Cessna 180 and the Super Cub, and have also added a Waco UPF-7 to the “fleet”. I am also working as time allows on another homebuilt project – a replica of the Piper P2. I look forward to many more enjoyable years as part of EAA and the aviation community, both here in Oshkosh and throughout the entire EAA community.