My brother Bob

Bob built and flew R/C planes...they were

exact replicas of existing planes....they were

made of fiberglass and must do whatever

the plane was designed to do. He won many

awards at national events building and flying.

His "Best" effort was a plane designed and flown

by a stunt flyer named Wayne Handley...who

lives close to Santa Cruz so Bob was able to make

a great replica of his plane. Bob also had to learn

and fly Waynes "Routine" exactly the way that

Wayne did when doing his air shows.

Wayne crashed his plane at one of the shows and

nearly died...he ended up a few inches shorter from

the compression of his vertibrae after the crash

and a long recovery. He told his wife that he would

never fly that routine again so she OK'd him getting

back into a plane.

After Bob passed away (6 years ago) Wayne

called Darlene from Australia and asked if her and

the boys would be at the upcoming airshow at Travis

AFB that was being dedicated to Bob...she said that

they were going to the show and he said that he'd see

them there.

The show started with the Air Force "Thunderbirds"

flying in formation...as they approached the crowd

they noticed that Wayne was flying his back-up

stunt plane in the formation...as they got overhead

Wayne flew out of the formation into the "Missing

Man" manuver flying straight up in tribute to Bob.

Reaching the top of his climb everyone was shocked

to see him go into the routine that nearly took his life

as he honored his friend Bob.

I couldn't make it to the show but would dearly have

loved to...funny thing...I can't talk about this without

"Tearing up"...I miss that "Grumpy Ol' guy"!!

(Video of Wayne Handley crashing his "RAVEN" stunt plane.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJoSnfcEU68&feature=related