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Secretary's Corner

First, I wish to thank you all for having confidence in my to be your secretary. I will try to do a good job for you. 
Secondly, I want to thank the personel of the Gorrell & Son Press of Winamac for the wonderful help and co-operation extended me in putting out this issue of "Chirp." We still strive to improve it for you, suggestions appreciated. When sending in photos for the Chirp, they should be in black and white.

I have been advised that some of our newly elected members have not received their E.B certificates. If you will drop me a line, with the date you were elected to membership, I will get the certificate out to you. Help of all E.B members will be appreciated.  

Secretary's Expense
Printing Envelopes and Returns
 Cards for Reunion and Ballots ..$29.65
Postage for Mailing Same ........ 24.00
Phone and Telegram .............. 18.35
Printing of "CHIRP" .............246.27
Mailing Envelopes for "CHIRP" ... 21.40
Dues Notices .................... 17.60
                      CHARLES ARENS


The Past Year
  (Continued from Page 10)

the condition that resulted in their loss of interest.

Everything that was done this year was initiated in a sincere effort to run the organization with the greatest satisfaction to each and every one of our members. Maybe that is impossible but we tried.

I'm sure you all appreciate that being President of an organization such as ours isn't fraught solely with banquets and bouquets, however, -

The harmony that has been so evident during this reunion, the happy spirit of everyone in attendance and the outstanding success of our cocktail party and banquet last night is to me full and complete compensation for any of the less pleasant experiences coincident with the job.

And now, with my term of office terminated, I want to thank every member of the Board, every Chairman of our committees, and each and every member of the organization for the sympathetic and wholehearted cooperation you have so graciously given me.

It has been a pleasure to serve and I thank you all for the opportunity you have given me to participate in the affairs of the Early Birds.


Capt. H. C. Richardson

 Capt. Holden Chester Richardson, 13th naval officer to win his wings and one of a team of pilots who tried to cross the Atlantic in 1919, died Sep. 1,1960 at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. He was 81.


 A native of Shamokin, Pa., he was graduated from Annapolis in the class of 1901. After serving two years at sea, he was commissioned ensign in 1903.

 His naval career before becoming an aviator was studded with adventurous experiences. He was aboard the USS Massachusetts when it struck bottom near Bar Harbor, Me., and was placed in charge of the divers who were to check on the damage. He promptly donned a diving suit for the first time in his life and went down to see for himself.

 In 1907 he received a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was designated Naval Constructor, Lieutenant, in May, 1908.

Served at Gun Factory
 
He served in Washington at the Naval Gun Factory (now the Naval Weapons Plant) and at the Model Basin before the United States entered World War I. It was during this time that he constructed the first plane-launching catapult to operate successfully in the United States Navy. 
 
While still officially assigned to Washington he received his pilot's wings in Pensacola in 1915 and became one of the first 20 aviators of the United States Navy - a score of name regarded as close to deity by every carrier pilot.

At Pensacola he did inspection work at the Wright aircraft factory there and served as first secretary of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics between 1915 and 1917.

In 1918 he became superintending constructor of aircraft at the Curtiss Airplane Co. in Buffalo, N. Y. There he supervised the construction of the Flying boats, (NCs) which were being built to make first transatlantic crossing from east to west.

Capt. Richardson was aboard one of the three NCs which took off on the historical flight in May, 1919. One of the planes went down in the heavy seas. The NC with Capt. Richardson aboard made an emergency landing near the Azores, too damaged to continue. The third plane landed in Plymouth, England, on May 31.

Capt. Richardson was awarded the Navy Cross for the flight. He resigned from active service in 1929, but returned in 1934 to serve with the Bureau of Aeronautics here until 1946.

Since World War II Capt. Richardson has been recalled to active service intermittently to serve with the Smithsonian.

In Memoriam 
  H. FERGUSON
  ORTON HOOVER
  COL. B. Q. JONES
  W. A. MATTERY
  CAPT. H. C. RICHARDSON
  L. L. WALKER SR.
  ROD M. WRIGHT

(Sorry we do not have biographies of some of the above departed members. Hope to have them for the next issue. - Editor.)

William A. Mattery

William A. Mattery, on of our oldest members, passed away on October 1, 1960. He was born in Hornell, N. Y., and engaged himself in building or flying balloons, airships and airplanes more or less since 1906, one or the other. On Sunday, April 1, 1906, Mattery made an ascent in a spherical balloon from Hands Ball Park on the Chicago South Side (solo), then parachuted to earth. Shortly, after this balloon ascension, he piloted the dirigible "Columbia" for the Great Gordon Shows for two years. Later he built a dirigible and finally he bought one from Captain Tom Baldwin. In 1909, he started building a Curtiss-type aeroplane on which he taught himself to fly at Clearing, Illinois, in 1910.

Donna A. Wehrle

Donna A. Marsh Wehrle, 1900-1960, wife of Early Bird Major Howard F. Wehrle, died in Bethesda Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio, July 12, 1960. Hardening of the arteries and heart decompensation was the immediate cause.

She attended many Early Bird meetings, the last at Oklahoma City in 1956.

Institution, the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Aircraft Factory.

He also was named a consultant to the Bureau of Aeronautics when the National Air Museum in Chatham, Va., was established. He was the first treasurer of the Early Birds.

In addition to the Navy Cross and many foreign decorations, he held the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the World War I and II Victory Medals.

He was a member of the Society of Naval Architects and the Marine Engineers and the Army and Navy club of Washington.

He leaves his wife, Diana, of 820 Connecticut avenue N. W., and one daughter, Mrs. John Newport of Philadelphia.