EXCLUSIVE COMPANY IN PILOTS REUNION GROUP COMING TO NKY
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Betty Burns
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Pat Frew, Director of Communications
859-655-4163
E-Mail: Pressroom@nkycvb.com | www.nkycvb.com
EXCLUSIVE COMPANY IN PILOTS REUNION GROUP COMING TO NKY
Hebron, KY/August 28, 2006—Former President Bush, late politician Barry Goldwater and actor Arthur Godfrey were part of the exclusive club named the Silver Wings. The group of military pilots that soloed a powered aircraft at least 25 years prior to becoming a member meet in different parts of the country every year. This year the group will meet September 7-10 at the Sheraton Airport Hotel.
No luminaries are expected to attend this year’s reunion but organizer Don Fairbanks says of the 50 or so comrades who will come together this particular weekend, all are considered important for their contributions.
Fairbanks, who lives in Cincinnati became a board member of the group in the 1980s. He serves as secretary today. Silverwings has grown to 19 chapters around the country with several thousand active members around the United States and the world.
The men will be joined by a “ladies only” group. The Power Puff Derby or the All-Women Transcontinental Air Race (AWTAR) was run from 1947 to 1977. It was a handicap race flown coast to coast with specified stops 300-350 miles apart. The race was a symbol of achievement of women pilots over wind and weather. Only flying time between official stops was counted. The plane with the best speed for its handicap was declared the winner. Some contestants would do anything to reduce air resistance—washing/waxing planes, carrying little to no luggage, going without a navigator and pre-racing dieting.
The Power Puff Derby was the oldest, longest and largest air speed race for women in the world. Some races over the three decades had up to 200 planes. There was never a fatality.
The mission of the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau is that of an aggressive sales, marketing, service and informational organization whose primary responsibility is to positively impact the Northern Kentucky economy through conventions, meetings and visitor expenditures. The direct economic impact of visitors’ spending in Campbell, Kenton and Boone Counties in 2005 was $255 million.