Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

June 9, 2007

Ladies and Gentlemen:

This has been a busy week and it ended on a sad note.  This morning, Earl Stemerick  a 20 year employee at McVay’s Mobile Welding lost his battle to lung cancer.  Over the years Earl probably had a hand into just about every facet of our infrastructure that was either custom made out of aluminum or steel.  If he wasn’t welding at the hangar, Bernard and Bill McVay had him welding at the shop.  He was a talented craftsman and he will be missed.

In the beginning of the week, longtime friend of the project Col. Joe Kittinger celebrated the 50th anniversary of Project Man High on June 2nd.   Col. Joe became the first astronaut as he traveled to 96,760 feet.  The late Ed Drumheller II introduced us to Col. Joe at the Arlington Air Show.  He has been a NAE™ fan ever since.

In the past week, many of the team members have been very busy.  Jon Higley gave a presentation to the students of Clover Park Technical College in Tacoma, WA.   His topic was on goal setting and we can’t think of a better example than the North American Eagle™ project.

Bernard McVay was in front of the classroom also, as he gave a presentation to 450 elementary students at Fairmont Elementary School.  Located near Paine Field, in Everett WA, the 4th and 5th graders were treated to videos and hands on demonstration of the cut away J-79 trailer.

Over the years thousands of people have learned how jet engines work with the aid of this unique tool.  S&S Turbines provided the engine for the project's educational program.  LevX® provided the custom wheels and McVay Mobile welding built the sturdy trailer to haul it on.

This weekend Rich Pengelley, Von Armstrong and Keith Zanghi spent nearly all day sorting, sweeping and standardizing our fasteners stock.  The three went through thousands of rivets, bolts, nuts, washer and nut plates and putting them in our new holding area.

Bill Eckberg started the assembly of our front wheel box.  Steve Green of Eagle Machine, Inc. has been modifying the original design.  The new unit will be stronger and easier to maintain in the field.

Rex Walter and Mike Thoe stopped by the hangar and gathered more measurements.  Mike, Rex and Ron Doll are performing structural and aerodynamic analysis on the vehicle.

John Winchester was on hand to do some parachute work.  Since the passing of Ed Drumheller II, John has stepped in and done a great job filling those large shoes.

Steve Wallace continued refining the data acquisition system.  His work provides important data that tells us the attitude of the vehicle.

Finally, we would like to thank the folks at Caveman Coffee.  They just delivered a 2nd bus to the team and we will use it to transport people and equipment to our test sessions.  If you live in the Spanaway, Frederickson, or So. Hill Puyallup area, stop by any of the three Caveman Coffee houses and thank them for supporting the North American Eagle™ project.  Here are three locations. They make the best coffee!

• 13003 Canyon Road East    253 536-3707
• 20027  Mountain Hwy East  253 847-7004
• 17535  66th Ave East          253 846-8944

Finally, Ed Shadle was absent this weekend.  He is back in Chattanooga, TN getting prepared to fly in a F-104!.  The Starfighters Air Exhibition Team will be at Riverbend ‘07 in Chattanooga, TN  performing one of their spectacular air shows.   Ed will be riding in the back seat of the two seater and will capture the entire ride with his helmet camera supplied by longtime sponsor, MotoCam 360.  Look for the exciting video in a future update.  Show times are Thursday and Friday, June 14th and 15th.  Stop by and talk to Ed Shadle and Rick Svetkoff.

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