Last spring, Detroit's Gilbert A. Cargill Chapter of the Black Pilots of America selected JP's Barbeque at Columbus' Bolton Field for an April 17 fly-out destination. Dana Rogers heard about those plans, and suggested that members of the Scioto Valley Chapter might like to help welcome the group to the Columbus area. The result was an unqualified success last year, so the Detroit chapter scheduled a repeat visit for this year.
The weather cooperated nicely on this spring Saturday, giving us brilliant blue skies, with a light southeast wind. The Detroit airplanes arrived between 12:30 and 1:00 PM, although one member's airplane had last-minute engine trouble and failed to make the trip. He thought he might have suffered from some contaminated fuel. We're sure that he and his passengers were disappointed at missing out on this excursion today.
April 16, 2005
After plenty of barbequed ribs, hamburgers, and all the side dishes that go along with a barbeque lunch, our visitors lined up for photographs in front of JP's Party House. Kneeling in front is Tony Cureton, and in the main row, from left to right are Virgil Pullins, Dana Rogers, Juan Haygood, Ahmed Mukarram, Calvin A. Morrison, Jr., (Greg) Andres, and Renee Carter. Although Andres' given name is officially Greg, he let us know he really prefers answering to just "Andres".
April 16, 2005
Here's another group picture with two additional Scioto Valley members. Dana Rogers, Marilynn Miller, and Constance Copeland are in the front row, with Virgil Pullins, Juan Haygood, Ahmed Mukarram, Andres, and Calvin A. Morrison, Jr. in the back row. For some reason, we failed to get another member, Thomas Goods, Jr. included in any of these pictures. We're sorry, Tom. We simply messed up.
An unexpected special event unfolded here today, also. Dana Rogers' cousin arranged for her youth church here in Columbus to hold an aviation event for many of their youngsters. The original plan was for the church to rent a Cessna 172 with pilot, to give the young people (and some parents, too) a brief airplane ride around the local area. Unfortunately, the rented airplane had been previously scheduled by another renter for 4:00 PM, and it began to look as if there would not be enough time to give airplane rides to everyone waiting.
No problem! The Gilbert A. Cargill chapter came to the rescue, offering to fill the vacuum by offering gratis rides to all those church members who seemed to be in danger of missing a ride because of the tight schedule. That really brightened up the day for those who thought they'd missed their chance for an airplane ride. Way to go, pilots! That was awesome!
April 16, 2005
In appreciation of the kindness, the Triedstone Missionary Baptist Youth Church presented this very detailed B-24 painting by one of their members to the Gilbert A. Cargill chapter. Many signatures of today's attendees, and messages of thanks were on the back of the canvas. Showing the gift here are Charles Scott, Juan Haygood, Ahmed Mukarram, Andres, Ann Thomas (presenter of the award), and Virgil Pullins.
This was another of the many great fly-out adventures the Gilbert A. Cargill group enjoys, and so we were really pleased to hear the BPA members talking about making this trip to JP's at Bolton Field an annual event for their chapter. We'll look forward to seeing all of you again next year.