| Brother Steve's Stories |
| Flying Stories Written By Steve Hensley |
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Brother Steve's Stories
Steve Hensley was born on November 20th, 1942 and enjoyed all aspects of flying until his untimely death with a brain tumor on March 11, 2000. Steve's first airplane ride was in a 4-seater when he was maybe 2 years old. Mom and Dad had gotten jobs helping build C-54's (DC-4) at the Douglas plant near Chicago during the War. Dad says that Steve just looked out the window exclaiming, "Looky, Looky!" the whole time they were in the air. Steve spent the rest of his life trying to figure out how to afford to stay in the air. He started flying clubs in college, joined the Air Force (where they made him a navigator), washed private planes for free rides at local airport, bought an old PT-26 which he flew out of the fields there in Chuckey, became an instructor, got his A & E, befriended everyone who owned a plane (usually performed their annuals for little or no cost in exchange for a set of keys and the promise that he could 'borrow' it occasionally), bought and 'fixed up' planes for resale, became proficient in all types aircraft and was certified to instruct in most anything, wrote a history book about a local aviation pioneer, E.C. Huffaker, took whole classes of kids up for free rides for his children's birthday parties, would drop whatever he was doing at any time if someone said they would like to go flying, could just sit and look at the sky for hours, did a little parachuting - in short, was involved with every aspect of flying and contributed mightily to the local and regional promotion of aviation. Importantly for me, he is the one who looked at the farm there were the Airpark is now located and said, "Looks like a great place to build an airstrip. Maybe you could sell a lot or two here to pilots who might want to live in East Tennessee." That was in about 1997. One year after his death, our sister, Sherry, contacted everyone she could think of and asked that they write remembrances of his life. As a result, many folks took time to put down a page or two. Many stories concern their flying experiences but all are enjoyable reading experiences. Whether you knew Steve or not, you should find some pleasure in reading these stories.
Steve's Story written by Dave Ellison (August 2009) About Steve Hensley, written by Tom Flaglor (8/24/09) Rich Andresen - College Buddy
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Contact Information:
Ted Hensley
502 E. Jackson Blvd.
Jonesborough, TN 37659
Office 423-788-0111
Cell: (423) 620-1614
Email: ted.hensley@century21.com