2010 REUNION LOCATION

The Executive Council has approved the location for 40th Annual Reunion.  We will be returning to Lubbock, Texas. Our primary focus will be the Silent Wings Museum.  Doug Flynn and Otto Lyons are assisting with the negotiations and working with officials to make it a very interesting and enjoyable affair.  Many changes have been made in the museum since we last had our reunion in Lubbock.  The dates have not been established as yet.  However, October 7, 8 and 9, 2010 have been suggested as probable.  We have to avoid the home football schedule in order to obtain an adequate number of rooms and a reasonable room rate.  As soon as the dates and location have been determined, you will be notified by an update to this web page.  If you have never been to the Silent Wings Museum, you are in for a treat. Take advantage of the Video Tour of the museum by clicking on this link Virtual visit of Silent Wings Museum  and don't forget to view the complete Museum web page tab in the Contents section to the left.

The 40th Annual Reunion will be held in Lubbock, Texas. Dates and location have yet to be determined. 

          Reports from those who attended the 39th Annual Reunion in New Orleans have been very positive.  Everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves.  Except for the sudden downpour on Friday night just as we were preparing to board the cruise paddlewheel, there were not any major problems. The food was excellent - especially the bread pudding, a New Orleans specialty. 

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HOW THE GLIDER PILOT ASSOCIATION GOT ITS START

     Several attempts were made following World War II to organize a glider pilot association. The movement didn't really get started until the spring of 1965 when Earl Dust, of Champaign, Illinois, a former member of the 80th Troop Carrier Squadron of the 436th Troop Carrier Group, made a vacation trip from New York to Florida and visited many of his old buddies along the way. Earl decided to call for a reunion of those GPs he had contacted to be held in Champaign in May of 1966. Using a personal list of names, the word was put out and a total of nine GPs and wives showed up. This may not sound like a large group but at that time, it was the largest group of ex-glider pilots gathered in one place since the end of WWII.

     At this meeting it was decided that these few would initiate a movement calling for a reunion of all former glider pilots. Bickett Ellington and Virginia Randolph "volunteered" to help in locating as many ex-GPs as possible and do the awesome chore of letter writing and address list typing. A Steering Committee was formed headed by Earl Dust. Earl located and appointed ex-GP Lt. Col. Frank Moore as temporary "National Chairman" and indicated that Moore's primary responsibility would be to "search, seek out and locate former glider pilots. Moore was authorized to use all available news sources in this effort. The preliminary mailing lists started to grow.

     Finally, after months of hard work, the decision was made to call for the first national GP reunion. It would be held in Dallas, Texas on August 13,14, and 15, 1971. Since the national VFW organization was holding its annual reunion on those same dates, it was felt that this would be an ideal opportunity to attract many GPs who might also be attending that event. Sixty-five glider pilots were on hand on August 15,1971 at the Adolphus Hotel when the first annual reunion was convened in Dallas.