Poberezny The Story Begins...

[Bob Axsom]

I organized a Fly-in for EAA Chapter 732 to Bowling Green, Kentucky this week where we had a tour of the Corvette assembly line and the National Corvette Museum. We had a good and educational time in Bowling Green but a surprizing treat for me was reading the EAA book "Poberezny The Story Begins...". I saw the $40 book was being offered for $15 by EAA and I always kinda wanted one so I finally broke down and bought it. I have been very busy since I retired but I figured if I have it I can read it at my leisure. Well, the weather forecast over this part of the country was not looking good so as a good fly-in organizer, I saw a break in the weather a day before the scheduled start and took advantage of it. I also took my book to read in my quiet time at the motel. I am now on page 230 and I think it is one of the best books I have read. Charles A. Lindbergh's book "Spirit of St. Louis" is probably my favorite book but this one provides the same kind of insight. I feel like I have looked through the eyes of Paul and Audrey Poberezny who were there in a time before me, telling me what they saw and what they did within aviation and what aviation did to them. It is not just another well researched and reported summary of a period in aviation history - it is like sitting down and being told the story first hand by those who lived it. I don't know either of the principles in the book but I felt I knew something about Paul (my rationalized biography was all wrong by the way) but I had no clue that Audrey would have any intesting contributions to make. I really got that wrong! Anyway, I wanted to share that with you. The Bowling Green Fly-in was great too by the way.