Featured Supporters

It’s hard to believe that Ron Normandeau’s aircraft started out as a box of airplane parts. Ron, of Polson, Montana built a beautiful 1947 Aeronca Chief and now enjoys flying his own plane. He began flying in 1962 between junior and senior high school years, and earned his license. Ron’s wife Kathi earned her private…

Three things stand out among RAF supporter Bob Martin’s passions: aviation, his devotion to Havana Regional Airport, and the newspapers his family started in 1855. Bob is the fourth continuous generation to publish these Illinois community newspapers.Very few people can talk about how their family members were contemporaries of Abraham Lincoln long before he became…

Pete cut his teeth on light metal fabrication in the business his father started in northern Virginia 50 years ago. They moved it to the central Montana town of Lewistown 32 years ago, and are now a substantial employer, with over 40 employees in the town of 6,000 folks. Called “HCR” (for Horizontal Curvilinear Re-circulator), their…

For a pilot who has flown all over the world, first as a Navy pilot in Sikorsky H3 helicopters, then flying logistic support in the Beechcraft C12, and the DC9, civilian regional in the Jetstream 4100, and freight for Atlas Air in the B747, Tim Kaseno’s roots run deep in Cornucopia, Wisconsin, a place that draws…

During the summer of 1964 while on a 3,600-mile Canadian kayak trip, Gordon Rock of Mercer Island, WA learned that he could hire a floatplane to view two falls on the Hay River. “It turned into quite an experience that included landing between the two closely spaced falls. It was that experience that convinced me that I wanted…

“I’ve had a lot of good fortune,” RAF Supporter Bob Rose says of his career path. Rather than be drafted and sent to Vietnam, Bob applied for pilot training in his hometown of Syracuse Air National Guard unit and was selected for a year of active duty at Laughlin AFB in Texas for Undergraduate Pilot…

A breakfast when Kevin Johnson was in high school determined his future as a pilot. “My dad had served in the US Air Force Reserve as load master on the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, then got his private pilot license when I was five, so we were around flying. But when he flew me to…

When Scott Newpower came on board as an RAF volunteer and Montana Liaison, the organization gained a real bonus with his wife Mary. Her contributions to the RAF are many, from enthusiastically spreading the word about the organization’s mission to cooking feasts for airfield work party volunteers. The couple bonded through aviation, he as an ATC…

As a kid living in Minnesota, Troy Tirrell was introduced to aviation by his father, a Northwest Airlines pilot. They vacationed in Alaska when Troy was a kid. Troy’s own experience included glider lessons in Australia and Hawaii.  His father’s form of recreation included cruising his motor sailboat throughout the Caribbean, Florida’s Keys, and the…

A person doesn’t forget Rachel Thompson. Wife of RAF Oklahoma Liaison Steve Thompson, she steps out of his gleaming Cessna 180 in the middle of the backcountry, unloads all the fixin’s for a week’s worth of baking, and gets to work. Within an hour, the aroma of something wonderful baking is in the air. If…