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P.O. Box 5344, Petaluma, CA. 94955
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SAH General Meetings and Educational Programs
Our December 6, 2025 meeting
"Life and Times of Howard Hughes"
Our meeting was held at at Ristorante Don Giovanni in Mountain View for a captivating lecture by SAH member Ryann Willis as she explored the extraordinary life and legacy of Howard Hughes,
with a special focus on his groundbreaking work in aviation and engineering.
The lecture covered his work on the record-setting Hughes H-1 Racer, the Lockheed 14 Super Electra, the Hughes H-4 Hercules - the largest flying boat
ever built, better known as the "Spruce Goose," and the XF-11 experimental plane.
Her lecture included a look at the many female loves in Hughes' life, his surprising transformation into Las Vegas' largest real estate holder, and the truth behind his controversial final
years. Ryann's presentation was supported by an excellent collection of slide photos that helped bring to life the experiences of this extraordinary man.
Our October 4, 2025 meeting
"The Thunderbolts - Ramrod to Emden"
SAH member Andrew Melomet presented the World War II documentary "The Thunderbolts-Ramrod to Emden," with an examination of the visual information using modern
research and access to archives. "The Thunderbolts" covers the October 2, 1943, Eighth Air Force, 56th Fighter Group's bomber escort mission to Emden, Germany,
where P-47C and D "Razorbacks" flew cover for B-17s and B-24s.
The 56th Fighter Group was the only 8th Army Air Force fighter group to retain the P-47 Thunderbolt through its combat tour in the European Theater.
The 56th Fighter Group is credited by the Air Force Historical Research Agency with the destruction of 665.5 enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat.
The group had more air-to-air kills than any other in the 8th Air Force and was the top-scoring Republic P-47 Thunderbolt group during the war.
This documentary focused on a mission early in their storied history.
Melomet is a graduate of Fordham University, Rose Hill Campus with a B.A. in Communications. He subsequently attended the Graduate School of the Arts
at New York University for Film Production and worked for many years in the film and video industries in distribution, sales, and marketing.
Our lunch and meeting was held at the Moffett Field Museum which also included full access to the museum.
Our June 7, 2025 meeting
BC Thomas: Highest Time SR-71 Pilot
BC Thomas attended U.S. Air Force pilot training. He began his Air Force career flying the KC-135 tanker over Europe, Vietnam, and Thailand, and then flew
the C-130 in Vietnam. Returning stateside, Thomas transitioned to the B-57 and RB-57F, and subsequently attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at
Edwards AFB, Calif., where he flew the F-104, A-7, T-33, and T-38. From there he joined the U-2 test program, and in 1976 was assigned to the 9th Strategic
Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, Calif., to fly the SR-71. In 1984, Thomas was again assigned to Edwards to serve as an operational test pilot on the SR-71.
He retired as a Lt. Colonel in 1988, and has the most time in the SR-71 (1,217.3 hours), and is the only pilot to have flown all three of the Air Force's
high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft (the U-2, RB-57F, and the SR-71).
Upon retirement he joined Northrop's B-2 test program as a civilian flight test engineer/pilot, where he served until joining United Air Lines at the end of 1989.
He served as a test pilot for the airline flying its Boeing 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, and 777, as well as the Douglas DC-8 and DC-10.
In addition to Thomas' presentation, there were the usual activities including Al Ludlow's trivia contest with prizes and door prizes curated by Lee Scales and his Prize Patrol Assistants.
Lunch was enjoyed at Restaurante Don Giovanni in Mountain View.
Our April 5, 2025 meeting
REPEAT Aircraft: Building the Classic Air Racers of the 1930s
Speaker Willie Turner and Byron May, our SAH President.
Willie Turner is the Vice President of Operations for the Hiller Aviation Museum at the San Carlos Airport since 1995.
Willie's flying career started when he would sit on his fathers lap and fly the plane. He earned his pilot's license in 1984 and has flown across the country
twice in an airplane that his mother built. His father was president of Repeat Aircraft that built and restored Golden Age Race Planes.
Willie will spoke about the Golden Age of Air Racing which lasted from 1929 to 1939, and was a testing and proving ground for new aviation technology. Willie
described this era and the story of his father, Bill Turner, who attended the air races as a young boy and in the early 1970s founded REPEAT Aircraft thereby
fulfilling a childhood dream by building eight Golden Age racers and one restoration of an original.
Our luncheon and meeting was held at Pinstripes in San Mateo.
Meeting photographs by Ron close.
Our Feb. 1, 2025 meeting
Cal Fire Pilot Jimmy Ferreira
Speaker Jimmy Ferreira and Byron May, our new President.
The Society for Aviation History started 2025 with a great luncheon at Wagon Wheel BBQ in Mountain View, on Saturday, February 1st. Byron May, the Society's new
president, conducted a packed agenda with announcements, tasty food, challenges, and an engaging guest speaker.
This next year will be Jimmy Ferreira's 24th fire season, and he will brought his view from the cockpit to share with us. He got his start in aviation
flying pipeline patrol in Citabrias, Super Cubs, and the Bellanca Scout. He also gave tail wheel instruction at Blue Ridge Aeronautics at Nut Tree
Airport, before moving on to fly air attack lead planes with Redding Aero in the Cessna 337 and 340.
From flying lead attack, Ferreira joined Neptune Aviation and flew 700 hours as copilot in the company's P2V air tankers. Ferreira then joined Cal Fire flying the
S-2 turbo Tracker. He's flown more than 2,500 hours in the type and is one of the state fire agency's instructor pilots. He also flew Cal Fire's lead attack OV-10
Bronco for more than 1,000 hours. Part of Ferreira's talk included the new C-130s coming on line with Cal Fire in the coming seasons.
Your 2025 board members as shown here are: Dave Osgood - V.P., Dan Morgan - Treasurer, Nick Veronico, Alice Hendricks, Roger Cain, Ron Close - Secretary,
John Jenkins, Michael Stein, and Byron May, our new President.
To see some more of
our past meetings, click below
2024 meetings
2023 meetings
2020-2022 meetings
2019 meetings
2018 meetings
2017 meetings
2016 meetings
2015 meetings
2014 meetings
2013 meetings
2012 meetings
2011 meetings
2010 meetings
2009 meetings
2008 meetings
2007 meetings
2006 meetings
2005 meetings
2004 meetings
2003 and earlier
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