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UNDERWOOD, COLLINGE & ASSOCIATES
HERITAGE PRESS

BOX 167
GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA 91209
TELEPHONE (213) 762-4618

12 December 1967

Mrs. Hattie M. Junkin
4 So. Whitehall Blvd
Garden City, L.I. 11530

Dear Mrs. Junkin:

Many thanks for your note of 17 June. I would have responded sooner, but "Air Progress" only forwards my mail about four times a year and I just received it this afternoon. 

Actually, the Matty Laird piece was written about four years ago, before I got to know Mattie. "Air Progress" sat on it all that time, waiting for available space for a book-length feature. Finally they had to break it up into four or five pieces, consequently losing some of the continuity. 

I spent a day with Matty long afterward and learned something of Walter Beech's character. I know what you mean by the Beech myth. I understand he died during a particularly bad case of the DT's in 1950 or thereabouts. 

You will no doubt be interested to know that I have feature article in the works on Charlie Meyers. I also have a Waco story underway which will be part of a book on the U.S. lightplane industry. Can you suggest someone at the Waco company who might be able to furnish pertinent facts and figures? I have had absolutely no luck with Mr. Brukner. 

I would certainly enjoy taking a peek into that trunk full of pictures you mention. Finding suitable illustrations for my stories is 90% of the battle. Alas, I don't expect to make another trip east for a year or two.

PS. The "Buck" Weaver story interests me greatly and I would like to pursue this further.