12/07/2021
Chapter 400 member Allen Sell has sent in the following, reminiscences from his youth, growing up with his father Robert Sell, and Uncles Ed and Richard Sell, around the Baker-Sell Airport. The Sell brothers and Ed Layton the spark plugs for the formation of Chapter 400, 50 years ago:
50 Years of Memories
When I received the most recent email meeting announcement specifically discussing Chapter elections it dawned on me that EAA Chapter 400 must be nearing an historic milestone. I checked with EAA and confirmed the founding date for the Chapter is November 1, 1972. One year from now will be a momentous anniversary for this organization. I am working on trying to identify the charter members and any help in doing so would be greatly appreciated. I, of course, know all three Sell brothers would be charter members and I have a few more guesses, but any history would be welcomed. Over the next few months I plan to write a few memories as I have them. I expect they are far from perfect and corrections will be celebrated not resented.
I have such good memories of early EAA activities and even though I haven’t been PIC for almost 30 years, my heart and soul is still deeply connected to aviation and the impact it had on me and my family. Many of you contributed to those times. When I was a young kid in school, when a classmate mentioned going on vacation, I would think, “Huh, I didn’t see you at Rockford (Oshkosh before Oshkosh) or Fredrick (Baltimore before Baltimore and now I don’t know where honestly).” That’s all I knew. My Dad didn’t fly much after I was a little older for a variety of reasons. Some I know like shoes, braces, hotdogs, college, cars and all the other things a family needs. Some I don’t know and don’t need to know, but he loved airplanes. My uncles and cousins kept the family aviation presence alive quite well. It is hard to describe how amazing it was growing up when many of the inhabitants of 7G4 and AOO would make their way to the rumbling sod of Baker-Sell on calm summer evenings just to fly and talk. I will share more memories of those evenings later.
The first memory I want to share really isn’t a memory, but I could title it – How I Got This Way – but outdoor writer Patrick McManus beat me to that title. So I’ll just call it – Why Airplanes. When I was rummaging through my Dads logbooks I made a discovery. Besides his official logs of flights including instruction, he kept immaculate records of every passenger he carried in the memorandum section of the log. Many past and passed Chapter 400 members are listed. I found this page.
As you can see, my first airplane ride recorded as 3 months, 11 days. I’m sure there are millions younger, but it set the tone. I’m pretty sure the model of choice then was a Champ and occasional straight tail 150, but cross reference of this memo with the official log entry reveals it was in a 172. I am sure there was not a car seat involved. You can also see in the memos how much of a family activity aviation was then. I was blessed by that closeness in many ways besides aviation.
So if you will, as the 50th anniversary approaches indulge an old man a few imperfect memories and maybe even a rant or two about the good old days. (Who remembers red avgas?) I hope the rest will be less personal and possibly more interesting.
Taildraggers and Sod Forever:
Allen Sell
Thanks, Allen! We await your follow-on reminiscences! -Paul Nuss
