Call signs at Uncontrolled Airports.

WacoFan said:
They still doing anything? Are the Tulsa guys involved with the guys who sell them in SC? Same company name, but there are a lot of "Premier Banks" too.
Click to expand...

IMS, They parted ways long before I was there. They were at one point in some way "entangled", but they weren't hatched from the same egg, so to speak. Air 1st (TUL) was totally the baby of the same guy who ran Intercontinental Jet. "George" was his name, and though he was gone before I arrived, he's an absolute Legend. I should append that the guy who owned it when I was there was cut from the same cloth...badass cowboy. Very soft spoken, obviously part-Cherokee, almost certainly had a knife in his boot. Nice guy...didn't talk much. Don't think you'd want to insult him.

Regarding George, though. Caught up (on one of those other forums) with a guy who worked for him when Men were Men, and this is part of what he had to say.

Old Freight Hardass said:
George had 2 very large qounset huts near Spartan A&P school, full of spares he bought up from San Angelo when the factory shut down, and had enough new major components to complete 10 airframes.

It was a vast complex that was spilt between Air 1St and I-jet on his death.

I don't remember that, I recall we hit a flock of mallards on descent into DFW took out Comm 1 Antenna, the L/h Gear Pod fairing, R/H tip light, both landing lights and a bird through the L/H engine. He came out and said Harley Davidson finance Corp. & the insurance co were gonna love his bill for the repairs. He might have depending on how full his red dixie cup was.

All spares owned by Sidney #1 Corp. (his cat) and sold to IBA. So the usual route was out the hangar loading bay a short trip across the road to the warehouse and since the warehouse was technically not a part of the shop. The mechanic just issued a 8130 for the new part he pulled out of storage and walked it across the road into service. He bought, sold and brokered by the parts manager's count 340 Mu-2 over the years.

I can remember sitting in his office, listening to him haggling with a seller about an airplane, finally he said " look you SOB i have owned that airplane about 8 times now and i'm not going to offer you more than X for it, you can keep it cause it needs a major inspection and i got all the parts here, all the other service centers are going to have to call me for the parts so its either sell it to me or take it to Dodson's or White's and part it out either way, I'll still own pieces of it in the end"

He reopened IBA in 1992 as living the retired life in Destin, Fl was getting to him and real estate wasn't his thing ( they developed condos on 200 acres of beachfront, his wife had a lovely little place on the beach with a 2000 sq ft master bedroom suite with elevator, he always down played it and the few of us that saw the place,he swore us to never mention it at work, and that was the least he could do after the fortune he had lost in the bankruptcy) He ended up going from 2 airplanes to 38 by his death in 2002.
Click to expand...

He was referring to a story I heard about George touring a Mitsi that had been through a level 5 and had the paint screwed up and a couple of lights busted out. The story goes that he walked around the thing busting out the remaining lights with his cane because he knew that the insurance would be buying the parts from...HIM.

American Original.
 
Boris Badenov said:
IMS, They parted ways long before I was there. They were at one point in some way "entangled", but they weren't hatched from the same egg, so to speak. Air 1st (TUL) was totally the baby of the same guy who ran Intercontinental Jet. "George" was his name, and though he was gone before I arrived, he's an absolute Legend. I should append that the guy who owned it when I was there was cut from the same cloth...badass cowboy. Very soft spoken, obviously part-Cherokee, almost certainly had a knife in his boot. Nice guy...didn't talk much. Don't think you'd want to insult him.

Regarding George, though. Caught up (on one of those other forums) with a guy who worked for him when Men were Men, and this is part of what he had to say.



He was referring to a story I heard about George touring a Mitsi that had been through a level 5 and had the paint screwed up and a couple of lights busted out. The story goes that he walked around the thing busting out the remaining lights with his cane because he knew that the insurance would be buying the parts from...HIM.

American Original.
Click to expand...

That's the book we write - about heroes like this.
 
WacoFan said:
That's the book we write - about heroes like this.
Click to expand...

I'd give dollars to donuts that George would fill a book, his own damn self.

PS. To answer your other question: Yes, they're still out there. I heard the DO on KC Center the other night. The second I heard "Rough Rider", I said "Hi, Mike!". Not sure he figured out who I was. Thank God someone is still out there being RUF.
 
Boris Badenov said:
I'd give dollars to donuts that George would fill a book, his own damn self.

PS. To answer your other question: Yes, they're still out there. I heard the DO on KC Center the other night. The second I heard "Rough Rider", I said "Hi, Mike!". Not sure he figured out who I was. Thank God someone is still out there being RUF.
Click to expand...

And as an aside - am I sick that I've always loved wandering around Dodson's and White's? Ottawa for Dodson's and Bates City for White's. We used to travel from KC to both sometimes to find parts and such. I'd absolutely love to own either of them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top