2026 New Year's Recovery Dinner Review
Our 2026 Antiquers New Year's Recovery Dinner is in the books! We had the best attendance (66 tickets) since resuming the annual tradition in the post-Covid years. This was our 3rd year at the Admiral Baker facility and it seems to suit us well both in capacity and central location for members to attend. We were joined this year by our guest speaker and President of the Antique Airplane Association, Mr. Brent Taylor. Â Brent departed the day before from Blakesburg, Iowa where the weather was 20 degrees, winds 20 gusting 28 and snow, arriving in San Diego where we were enjoying a winter heat wave! Â Flying conditions on Saturday here were 83 degrees, winds calm and CAVU. Â I am guessing he boarded his flight home on Sunday with some reluctance ;-)
One of our annual traditions is honoring our members who have Gone West. Â This year Bob Simon delivered a thoughtful eulogy for his long time friend, Chris Reilly, himself a member of the chapter for many years.Â
Another annual tradition is a quick review of how we are doing financially and we were pleased to report that the chapter is healthy, funded well by Fran Bera's generosity (which we carefully cultivate for use in our scholarship awards) and operating within our planned budget forecast (including scholarship set asides) for 2026.
John Collins gave Brent the "Tour de Gillespie" on Saturday afternoon, making stops at his hangar to see his Fairchild and PT-13 and no trip would be complete without a stop at the Bucker Kingdom at Classics Hangars. Â John Hickman, Chris Overson and Wheeler North et al, loaded Brent in one of their pristine Bucker biplanes (this one a Jungmann) for a scenic flight around San Diego and then followed that up with a visit to Allen Airways Museum where Bill met him to tour the facility. Several of our members, including Bill and John Hickman, have known Brent and his father Robert Taylor for many years and have visited the Taylors in Blakesburg. Â No doubt, our team of AAASDC "ambassadors" were appreciated by Brent during his brief stay in San Diego!
Brent Taylor presented us with a great video highlighting the numerous Blakesburg hangars, facilities and activities ongoing including their signature fly-in which occurs every year in September. Â There was a good deal of history of our parent organization (remembering that we are a chapter along with 11 others) that many may not have known. Â Our chapter was formed in 1960, seven (7) years after Robert Taylor started the Antique Airplane Association in Ohtuma, Iowa. Â For those who looked closely at Brent's video, they would have observed that he was wearing our new chapter tee shirt (designed by Aaron Whalen). Â We will make the video available to members for viewing at a later date.
We surprised John Collins with our annual Volunteer of the Year Award. Â John's tireless dedication to running our chapter events and ensuring "anything that needs doing gets done" is the motive force that we all see during event planning, set up, execution, takedown and wrap up. Â You'll not likely ever see John sitting still!
Wes Ramos opened the Scholarship segment of the evening with a presentation that reflected on how his aviator career has developed over the last few years and how his membership in our Antiquer community has impacted him personally. Â Wes won an Antiquers scholarship 2024 and spoke about the positive impact of that award and perhaps most rewarding to all of us is his "pay it forward" outlook on life. He has my vote as future candidate for President of the AAASDC!
Winners of this year's Scholarship Awards ($1500 each) were Sabrina Knauss and Esmerelda Soliz. Â Both awards were in the Flight Training category. Â Sabrina was away attending UC Davis and was represented by her father who read Sabrina's speech (while we had her on the phone). Â Esmerelda was accompanied by her Mother and also gave a captivating recap of how her passion for flying had evolved from her first flight in a commercial jet (I think we can all recall such an influence on our own aviator passions).
We finished the evening with a lively auction to kick off this year's scholarship fundraising effort. Â Concorde Battery donated a 12/24V battery, Gibson Barnes Flight Suits donated an aviator jacket, Aircraft Spruce donated gift certificates, Instrument Overhaul donated a Transponder Check. Members Todd Bohlman (Yak-52 and Citabria), John Flippen (T-34), Pat Falley (T-6) and Karl Johanson (Beechcraft) all donated rides. Â
In total, we raised $3100 for the scholarship fund! Â We are most thankful to those who donated prizes and rides in their immaculate aircraft and equally thankful to the winners of each auctioned item.
We look forward to seeing you in 2026 at another Antique Airplane Association event!
