LA GRANDE — Jim Bieker was 6 years old when he boarded a Cessna aircraft for a flight around the Grande Ronde Valley about four decades ago with his family.
LA GRANDE — Jim Bieker was 6 years old when he boarded a Cessna aircraft for a flight around the Grande Ronde Valley about four decades ago with his family.
Bonney Lake crash and UFO mystery reveal hidden history LISTEN: UFO mystery in Bonney Lake Your browser does not support the audio element.
On the evening of Wednesday, April 1, 1959, an Air Force C-118 – that’s the military version of a DC-6 airliner – was on a training exercise. It was doing “touch and go” landings at McChord Air Force Base, or what’s now JBLM, taking off and landing, and then flying around the nearby countryside.
At about 8:12 p.m. that night, the tower at McChord asked the pilots of the C-118 to delay their next return to the runway because several fighter planes were landing. The C-118 headed east toward Bonney Lake to fly in a holding pattern.
6 In the 143rd Cyberspace Operations Squadron, Senior Master Sgt. Bill Farrer is known as “Stealth,” according the unit’s First Sergeant, Master Sgt. Wes Salinas. Farrer doesn’t seek the limelight, but he is “a man of action,” said Salinas. On April 10, Farrer retired from the Washington Air National Guard after more than 41 years of service.
Farrer grew up on the north side of Spokane. His father was a technician in the Air National Guard in a Spokane unit, and Farrer followed him into the Guard by enlisting in the 242nd Combat Communications Squadron in November 1979. Farrer worked in air traffic control radar maintenance. He often worked with air traffic controllers who came out to practice on radar technology. “Combat comm was rewarding but a lot of work,” he said. Transporting radars was particularly challenging, he said.
“This is my area,” the friendly New York native said Thursday.
And that is when the Washington Officials Association’s oldest active game referee said goodbye.
Hassan, 89, was the home-plate umpire for one inning at the White River-Washington softball game, then retired – effective immediately. He was given a bouquet of flowers from a player on both teams, and congratulated for his service.
If it was up to his mind and spirit, Hassan – who is seven months from his 90th birthday – said he would have continued on. But he admitted because of his physical health, he just could not umpire anymore, ending nearly 77 years of enforcing the rules of sports.