Safety first... or second.

Actually this isn't much about safety, but about equipment other than aircraft at Mineola.  Ivan kept photographs of all kinds of things which were interesting or significant about his life, and his letters indicate that he kept these scrapbooks on the fly (sorry, I did it again). There isn't really much to say about these photos from my perspective other than the above except the first photo below.

I had the good fortune of working for Lance Neibauer soon after moving to Bend, Oregon.  Lance started a company called Lancair around a handful of kitplanes and later came out with a certified version. Lance sold the company which would become Columbia, where I worked on the flight line, calibrating systems and making sure the aircraft were kept in a flight-worthy condition during flight testing for conformity.

Engine calibration was a big part of our job, so this photograph resonates with me pretty deeply. I have to laugh when I see the fuel tanks sitting right under a set of transformers, though. I feel happy that I have this in common with Ivan; we were both aircraft mechanics!

Ivan's biography notes that he did early testing in bombing and night-flying. I assume this bank of lights is in the collection for this reason. The other item behind the lights is a larger spot light covered up, probably for the snow.

I'm including the next two since Ivan was an automobile nut, and who can resist an early model Harley Davidson? Teddy Lyons is credited as the rider.

Much more to come!

kpw