January 2015 Meeting Notes

We started off the January meeting with Tolling the Boats lost in January, followed by birthday wishes for our members, officer reports, and introductions.

We also want to remind everyone that annual memberships ran out at the end of 2014 and Seattle Base and USSVI National dues for 2015 are due.

Old and New Business: 
Seattle Base Holiday Luncheon – We had a short recap of the Holiday Luncheon. Everyone seemed to enjoy the lunch and Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club. We are hoping to return there in 2015. If you have any feedback about the lunch or venue, please feel free to pass them along to any Base officers.

Meeting Venue Changes – Base Commander Dick Gonzalez told us he has been talking with members that don’t usually come to our meetings and that many said that the location of the meeting was part of the reason they did not attend. He suggested that we consider alternative locations for some of our monthly meetings. There was general agreement that we could look into this.

Seattle Base Funding – At the last meeting we talked about ways to increase the Base membership, this month we talked a little about ways to generate additional revenue for the Base. Over the past few years the Base treasury has been decreasing at a rate of around $300 per year and we want to figure out how to reverse that trend. We talked about several different ideas and it was suggested that we talk through the issue more at a future meeting instead of having a presentation. If you have suggestion of how we can increase our revenue, please contact Base Commander Dick Gonzalez or bring them up at a future meeting.

January Program:
The program for January was a presentation by Jim Lindley on the birth of the air war during World War I. Jim is docent at the Museum of Flight, he served with the US Military Command during the Vietnam War and later as a commercial airline pilot with Northwest Airlines. He started out the presentation with a discussion of the origins of World War I and the early fighting actions. He went on to talk about the stalemate on the Western Front and the development of trench warfare. Jim then talked about how aircraft became involved in the war, starting with early observation planes and early attempts to arm aircraft leading to the development of true fighter aircraft. He talked about further aircraft developments, including improvements in engines and weapons. Jim also talked about the involvement of the United States in the air war, including the American volunteers with Lafayette Escadrille. He wrapped the presentation with a short discussion of the questions regarding what to do with airpower after the war. It was an interesting presentation on the different aspects of airpower during World War I

Base Commander Dick Gonzalez presents Jim Lindley with a certificate of appreciation for his presentation

Good of the Order: 

Steve Shelton let us know that he has the dates for this year’s Smokey Point Rest Stop Event. This year we will be at the North bound rest stop on July 1 – 3. He will have sign-up sheets available at a future meeting.

Lois Mezek told us that one of the other organizations she is part of will be disposing of worn-out flags in June. If anyone has an old U.S. flag that is ready for retirement, you can bring it to a future meeting and give it to her.

Remember that efforts to move the USS Clamagore to Knoxville Tennessee are moving forward and you can follow developments on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/friendsoftheclamagore