by Melvin B.
Circa 1940, I helped a pilot get to Floyd Bennett
Field during a very overcast summer's eve. He circled several times until I got
my father's 3D or 4D flashlight and signaled him. I pointed the flashlight up, turned
it on and swung it down to point toward FB, then shut it off (the approximate
heading of 220 degree from my corner in Canarsie, Brooklyn, New York.) I
repeated this five or six times, and the engine droned off in the direction of
FB. Since I didn't read or hear of a crash, I assumed he made it. I felt good!
And that was just the beginning. I was a mechanical
engineer for 40 years with Republic Aviation Corporation. The last program I
worked on was the manual flight control system for the A-10.
