Gordon L. Bocher served 11 1/2 years in the U.S. Air Force where he flew 127 combat rides as a Fire Control Officer (FCO) aboard the AC-130A Gunship and served as a rescue navigator for three years. He also taught celestial navigation for four years as a platform instructor. His last major active duty mission was the abortive attempt to rescue the 53 hostages held in Iran. He was awarded two Distinguished Flying Cross medals including one for valor, eight Air Medals, the Purple Heart, the Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Conspicuous Service Award from Gov. Mario Cuomo (NY). He also received two nominations for The Silver Star. The VFW Monthly Magazine listed the 10 most dangerous missions of the last three years of the Viet Nam War…He flew in three of them. His book, Ghostrider in the Sky, provides an accurate history of the end stages of the Viet Nam War and why our attempt to rescue our hostages in Iran failed so miserably.

Howard Leach (Chapter President) poses with Gordon Bocher next to his book Ghostrider in the Sky and 40 mm shells from his AC-130A gunship located on the table below the copy of Air Force Magazine.

Henry (L to R) Toby Terranova, Susan Loricchio, Bill Fosina at the Air Force Association Chapter 195 table in Building 332. 

Henry’s talk was about American women in aviation from the early day when they faced challenges, discrimination and the glass ceiling. They succeeded because of their dreams, positive attitude, dedication to their dream, and sometimes refusing to take NO for an answer. It was based on his books “Ladybirds – the Untold Story of Women Pilots in America” and “Ladybirds II – The Continuing Story of American Women in Aviation.”

Part 2 will highlight the flight of current spaceplanes including the the North American X-15 rocket plane, Scaled Composites commercial White Knight / SpaceShipOne, the US Space Shuttle, the USSR Buran, and the Air Force Boeing X-37B. Russia considers the X-37B an “orbital bomb”. China says it’s designed to spy on their Tiangong 1 space station and will be used to attack Chinese targets in or from outer space. Is their conjecture realistic?

Toby Terranova (Chapter Secretary) is thanked by Howard Leach (Chapter President) for the presentation. He receives a 2013 Air & Space Conference tote bag.

The X-37B is the Air Force’s newest Orbital Test Vehicle. It is currently undergoing developent flights and some classified missions. But the Air Force has a history of Spaceplane development since the end of World War II. Starting with the 1949 Tsien rocket transport plane through the X-15 and onto the Dyna-Soar, the Air Force has been pursuing “man in space” before NASA took it over in the 1960’s. In the age of unmanned vehicles, the Air Force has developed the ultimate unmanned Spaceplane, the X-37B. It is not remotely guided, but autonomously piloted. Come hear the Air Force’s history of spaceplane development, man in space attempts, and now the ultimate in automated spaceflight, the X-37B. (Part 2 is tentatively scheduled for the September meeting.)

Toby Terranova (Chapter Secretary) is thanked by Howard Leach (Chapter President) for the presentation. He receives “The Man and His Wings” by William A. Wellman and a Mini-jotter leather bound Notepad from Gus Manz of the American Welding Society – New Jersey Section.

Keith Ferris, America’s Dean of Aviation Art, recently enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame, Dayton, Ohio, gave a presentation, in the Library of the Chathams, on how he painted the “Fortresses Under Fire” mural in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, in Washington, DC. It depicts Eighth Air Force B-17G, “Thunder Bird” on a WWII daylight bombing mission to Wiesbaden, Germany, on 15 Aug 1944. A framed print of his B-17 ‘Slow Timing, Bonnie B’ painting was presented by Eric Taylor, NE Region President, and Howard Leach, NJ and 195 President, to Debra Fitzgerald for display in The Library of the Chathams in memory of Col Amos Chalif, founding member of the NJ and Chapter 195 AFA (see picture below).

Left to Right: Keith and Peggy Ferris, Debra Fitzgerald, Cadet/1st Lt Steven F. Kiss, CAP, Capt Steven S. Kiss, CAP, Peggy Chalif holding a miniature copy of the print with historical background, Howard Leach, NJ &195 President, and Eric Taylor, NER President.

Currently, NASA and Boeing are conducting research on the X-47, a blended wing aircraft that radically changes the current notion of what a plane is in ways that improve performance and fuel efficiency. This design will be the future of commercial aircraft and tankers. Our design group will build a scale model in order to explore the design, capabilities and characteristics of such an aircraft. In particular the design group will focus on the potential role of this type aircraft as a tanker and its future role in aerial refueling.