Warbird Information Exchange

At 9:30am, yesterday, 25 January, 2007, there was a special gathering in the Parts Building at CAF HQ in Midland to honor one of our WWII veterans who had "Gone West" last November. The ceremony was in the shop section of the parts building because that's where Charles "Chuck" Borchert spent most early mornings for the last 15+ years as a volunteer. Chuck came in early and worked on or built most anything made out of metal to support the CAF and its planes, as well as the Museum. You needed a tow-bar modified or built, Chuck did it. You needed a special table, no problem. Help repair a tug or other piece of ground support gear, it would be done.


Chuck after receiving an award for his work in support of the American Airpower Heritage Museum in 2005.

Chuck served in the USAAF from 1942-45 in the 91st Bomb Group and was a waist gunner on the B-17G named "Shoo Shoo Baby", which is now on display at the Air Force Museum. He was a quiet but very determined man, so did not tolerate not doing things right the first time. If you bent or broke something he built, he would fix it but you knew you had better treat it with more care after that.


Left to right: William Borchert (Chuck's brother), Peggy Vaught (Chuck's sister), Keith Lawrence (CAF VP of Administration and good friend), Steve Borchert (Chuck's son) and Ray Vaught (Chuck's nephew). Keith Lawrence presided over the ceremonies and was a close friend of Chuck's as well as a retired Senior Master Sergeant in the USAF.

Local members of the CAF plus some of the CAF HQ staff donated to have a special plaque made which will hang in the parts building shop from now on, in honor of Chuck.



All of us who work or live around CAF HQ will miss Chuck. I thought some of you might want to know about him.

Randy

Nicely said, Randy.

Like I mentioned in the ceremony yesterday, I go over to Chuck's warehouse nearly every morning, and I still talk to him when I'm over there. He's still watching over us, I can assure you of that.

Gary

As Gary noted, he was present at the ceremony and told a bit about meeting Chuck early one morning when he first started working with the B-29/24. Chuck asked who Gary was and when Gary replied that he was replacing the former B-29/24 crew chief, Rodney, who had passed away suddenly, Chuck's only reply was "I liked Rodney!". We all had a good laugh at that, as it was pure Chuck.

Randy

What a great tribute! Thanks for posting it.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!