PORT TOWNSEND — Seventeen years ago, George Capriotti made a historic flight.
Taking off on the old runway at Jefferson County International Airport, Capriotti circled his plane, then landed on the new runway.
“He was the last pilot to take off on the grass strip, and the first to land on the new
He also used to land his Cessna 180 with floats on Kah Tai Lagoon.
“He flew by the seat of his pants,” Wiley said, “but he certainly knew the airplane.”
Thompson learned to fly from a friend, Al Mosley, whose brother, Wayne, was also a pilot.
Wayne’s daughter, Meg Anderson, said she doesn’t have a memory of her father that doesn’t include the smell of fuel.
He owned a succession of planes — Anderson remembers two hot pink, black and white Cessnas, a CB float plane, and his last aircraft, an orange, red and white Bonanza.
“One of the coolest things Dad did during his years of piloting was drop eggs for the Port Townsend Yacht Club,” Anderson said.
“Actually, the eggs were floats, which were dropped into the bay in Port Townsend on Easter, and the boats in the harbor would take children out to pick up the floats.
“Certain floats were worth more than others, and it was a huge event which was loads of fun.”
Her father and a pilot friend, Fran Willard, also built the “Port Hadlock airport,” a short runway in Port Hadlock that is still used today, Anderson said.
Links to the early days
Another Jefferson County pilot, Don Dorrell, was a link to the early days of flight — the pilot license of his father, Vernon Dorrell, was signed by Orville Wright.
Don was 15 when his father, who flew for Mid-Continent Airlines and its successor, Braniff, died in a crash.
According to Joy Dorrell, Don Dorrell took flying lessons on his own, working summers painting airplane engines at Santa Monica Airport.
Her husband also taught flying, owned a charter business and flew airplanes for the movies before becoming a pilot for TWA.
“He soloed at 16 and went on to fly for over 50 years,” Joy said.
“He never lost his passion for flying.”
Her husband also competed in aerobatics and national glider competitions, Joy said, and once flew her in a J-3 Cub from South Carolina to California, never going over 700 feet in altitude.
For the last eight years of his life, Dorrell owned a Pacer.
“He flew it on his final flight from Port Townsend airport shortly before he died of cancer on May 3, 2003,” Joy said.
“He truly loved the Port Townsend airport and all the wonderful people who shared it with him.”
Bob Davis was also a link to aviation history.
His uncle was one of the first pilots hired by United Airlines.
Bob David learned to fly in San Jose before he entered the Air Force, where he flew the Albatross and B-29s, said his son, John.
After a 30-year career flying for United, Bob Davis retired to Port Townsend, where his son, John, now a corporate pilot, ran Port Townsend Airways at the Jefferson County International Airport.
Cartoonist
Bob Davis not only flew his Cessna 310 out of the county airport, he captured it and its pilots in cartoons.
“Most everybody out at the airport had a cartoon that he had done,” said Jenny Davis, Bob Davis’ daughter-in-law.
“When people remember him, they always refer to the cartoons he had done of them.”
Other pilots learned to fly when they were older.
Wes Johnson, who graduated from Quilcene High School in 1940, took up flying when his son got an airplane.
“He wanted to learn enough to go with John, so he took lessons from Ken McMillen out at the airport,” Marjorie Johnson said.
“They cut the shirt off your back and write the date in black ink when you solo.
“He added the date he got his pilot’s license.”
Sometimes medical conditions prevented older residents from getting licenses to fly planes.
Kay Miner, Matt Capriotti’s stepfather, went up in gliders during the last years of his life, after flying 46 missions in Korea with the 98th Bomb Wing.
Ted Belgard flew his Challenger ultra-light out of Jefferson County’s airport, but in the 1950s, he was a radar technician for Lockheed on hurricane hunters, planes flown into hurricanes to gather information.
After working on the Polaris Poseidon Missile Program, Ted Belgard retired from Lockheed and moved to Port Townsend, where he and his wife, Claudia, started Belgard Electronics and a Radio Shack franchise.
When they retired from business, her husband was able to take up flying again.
“He really enjoyed his time out there,” Claudia Belgard said of the airport.
“I’m so glad he had that time to do what he really wanted to do — get up there and fly.”
Another pilot who spent his last years flying out of the Jefferson county airport was Bert Freeman.
Only 16 years old when he started taking flying lessons, he had 11 hours of instruction when he made his first solo flight, according to Jan Freeman.
After her husband retired from Pacific Power and they moved to Port Townsend, he flew for Port Townsend Airways and then was a corporate pilot for Alaska Power and Light.
He also liked to teach flying, Jan Freeman said, especially to young people.
“He said they were the best students,” she said.
Third generation
The memorial also honors the memory of a third generation of American pilots.
Brad Brown, who died in 2002, learned to fly after he graduated from Chimacum High School in 1974.
He often flew to Lynden to pick up parts for machinery for their dairy, the Chimacum Dairy, his wife Renee said.
Donald Fauth of Port Townsend was a fisherman who learned to fly small planes because he was afraid of flying, according to friend Deja Webster.
He was learning aerobatic flying when he died in 2002 at the age of 59.
The names of Vicki Escene (1949-1996) and Cliff Larrance (1946-2000), are also on the plaque.
As the county’s oldest active pilot and the only remaining pre-war one, George Capriotti was chosen to be the first to take off from the old grass strip at Jefferson County’s airport and land on the new one.
According to newspaper reports, the 74-year-old requested permission to do a few snap rolls and other stunts while he was in the air.
His request was denied.
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Port Townsend/Jefferson County reporter/columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at 360-379-5688 or jjackson@olypen.com.
