THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of 3 August 2001
President Lee Hindenach opened the business meeting at 10:00 on a cloudy morning,
with 131 members present. We now have 500 members and 23 on the waiting list.
Membership Concerns: Chair Dick DePatie said that Joe Sweet was hale and hearty,
in spite of rumors to the contrary. Others are less well. After gall bladder
problems, George Herhold is in Waveny. So is Harry Caesar. Bob Connor is resting
at home following an aneurysm. George Walsh is also at home, after heart surgery.
And Chet Hanson is at Norwalk hospital getting over a broken ankle; when he gets
out, he will move immediately and permanently to North Carolina.
Activities: Until September, bridge will meet weekly at the Lapham Community Center.
Phil Toll's 4F's will gather the 17th at Woodway Beach Club, $12.75 per. The next golf
outing is at Whitney Farms in Monroe, on August 23rd. A racquetball foursome this
morning. Craig Wright announced the resurfacing of the hard tennis court at Mead Park
and reminded all players that the fee is $0.50 per day. Trailblazers head for Farmington
on the 13th, leaving St. Marks at 8:30.
Couth: Bob Wosahla reported that two bus loads of SMCers at last week's jazz festival
proved to be wine enthusiasts as well as music aficionados. The roster for the
August 11's trip to Caramoor has 27 signees but only 6 payees; your management does
not consider this an outstanding ratio. We race at Belmont September 12th, followed
by Mystic Seaport October 3rd for a clambake, and then a Broadway show "42nd Street"
probable for November.
Frank McGarey brought more news of the proposed
Bermuda trip
next May 4th through 1lth.
Price looks like $2,940, with the first $50 needed in September.
Other News: Bob Troup has donated again, this time 12 tickets to the Pilot Pen tennis tourney.
Jester: John Berg described a great and revolutionary transportation concept which he
once partnered with our president, but which foundered on their choice of a name: the
Hindenberg Dirigible Company. Then, using dental props, he told the sad tale of an
overconfident fighter ace who landed at the wrong place at a bad time.
Speaker: VP Bert Liebelt introduced our New Canaan neighbor Dan Taylor, by avocation a
radio announcer for WCBS FM and other stations, but by obsession a flyer of old aircraft,
very old aircraft. To satisfy his addiction Dan flies out of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome,
home of many vintage planes and supporting paraphernalia. Using videos, Dan took us on three flights:
- A 1909 Bleriot 11 (the first ten crashed), designed by a maker of motorcycle lamps.
- A 1910 Hanrim, featuring a canoe-like mahogany fuselage.
- A 1911-12 Curtiss Model D pusher, spruce and bamboo and a water cooled V-8 engine.
Each plane differs in controls and propulsion and in basic aerodynamic theory. It is
therefore a challenge to fly all three. Mr. Taylor is one of two persons so qualified.
Flights are measured in hundreds of feet, not thousands of miles, and maximum altitudes
might just clear the roofs of New Canaan's starter castles. As a concession to the "modern"
world, Dan also took us barnstorming in a 1931 Curtiss Jenny, and showed pictures of a 1929
Pietenpol Air-Camper, powered by a Ford Model A auto engine and home built from plans
supplied by Popular Mechanics.
Dan is now building a 1910 Avro Tri-plane, and he invited us all to Rhinebeck to
see this and other artifacts, and for a further look at some magnificent men in their
flying machines.
Peter Schurman, Assistant Secretary