Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

September 2002

Western Washington Sate Fair - NAE's Debut

September 7th - Today was TeamNAE's first full day at the fair. Our location, on the in-field near the rodeo behind a locking gate, gets most of its traffic from two groups; families bring their children into the pig race next to our display, or those who happen to look through the fencing to notice our vehicle and get curious by the strange sight they see. In our team flight suits of viper red to match the vehicle's paint job and our white baseball hats with gold stitched lettering, our five members stand between the vehicle and our 4'x2' display boards of information about the project, laying close to the ground, to answer questions from the visiting public just beyond the rope which keeps them back. The high point of the day occurred about 4 p.m. when an elderly man was wheeled in on his wheelchair and we learned that he was a "zipper" pilot. He was delighted to be able to see an F-104 Starfighter up close again.

September 11th - One of the team member's family visited the NAE at the Puyallup Fair today. Jon's mother-in-law, Marlene, and her husband, Dean, came while he was back at his school teaching in the classroom. This picture was taken of them by Bill E. who was putting in time fielding questions from the thousands of daily visitors.

September 14th - Last Saturday the crowds were wall-to-wal because the weather was fantastic. Some folks continue to come and gauk, some quietly read the display boards with information, and others ask questions; lots of them. For the average working person, this type of project is far beyond their usual realm. Hopefully, we're making it a bit more understandable as to what we hope to accomplish and what it takes to achieve such a goal.

September 21st - As we begin the last of three weekends at the Western Washington State Fair here at Puyallup, we've had tens of thousands of people who have noticed the North American Eagle from the walkway beyond the gated area and come in out of curiosity and interest in such a unique and bizare sight. After asking the usual questions, many leave with an encouraging word of support. The greatest delight for the crew, however, is when we meet those individuals who have either piloted, or worked on, the F-104. We have also been fortunate to acquire a couple more small, but very important, sponsors who will be providing the project with much needed items to help us get closer to our ultimate goal; breaking the land speed record to bring it back to America.

September 23rd - With the close of the Western Washington State Fair this past weekend, the North American Eagle vehicle was loaded into the semi-trailer today and taken back to the hangar. Now the team looks ahead once again to move the project forward. This winter engine work will be done - especially with the help of our newest addition to our team, jet engine mechanic, Sean - to prepare it for a test cell run and, if all goes well, installation next spring into the vehicle. We also plan on acquiring an eight foot model of an F-104, modify it to match the vehicle's configuration, and put it through wind tunnel tests at the University of Washington in Seattle. We hope to be running low speed test runs - up to around 300mph - at Moses Lake's 18,000 foot runway in eastern Washington about this time next year. For those of you who are regular visitors to our web site, be sure to watch for future updates announcing the actual date, and if you live in the state, you may be able to make it there to watch us.

We invite you to add a comment, or remark, about our program or the site.

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