Yesterday my little hometown of 1500 people renamed the Hartington Municipal Airport (0B4) "Bud Becker Field" in honor of the man who has done more to establish and improve the airport than anyone else.
Bud soloed at 16 and later entered the service. He started out flying various liquid cooled aircraft at Aberdeen Proving Ground and later was sent to Fairbanks and Point Barrow, Alaska, involved in cold-weather operations there for a good bit of WWII. He separated from the service in 1946 and came home to farm with his dad, where he gave flying lessons on the home place. In 1948 he and his wife, Esther, started Becker Flying Service at the brand new Hartington airport. His son Tom still runs the operation and Bud is the Chairman of the airport board.
Here are a few photos of the festivities yesterday. One of the local schools held their annual fly-in/drive-in pancake breakfast, the airport celebrated its 60th anniversary, and the airport was renamed in honor of Bud.
Here is part of the crowd gathered for the presentation ceremony--as is normal with most small towns in northeast Nebraska, most everyone in this shot is related in some way!
Here is a poor-quality photo of Bud and Esther during the pancake breakfast. (They're the two in the dark blue shirts. About half the people in this photo are my cousins with an uncle thrown in for good measure.)
All the speeches are over and Bud is being presented with his plaque by the Airport Board. The Cub is a '46, the same year as the first machine Bud used as a duster way back when.
And the man himself after the ceremony.
I got my first two airplane rides with cousin Bud, one when my mom was five months pregnant with me, and the next when I was on the outside. If it weren't for Bud I doubt I would ever have gotten involved in aviation.
Thanks for your hard work, Bud!
Scott
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