Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: FLS on September 06, 2017, 01:37:52 AM
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My father, Jan Cato Scott, passed away September 1. He would have been 87 September 5. His lifetime love of aviation started at age 7 in 1938 when his parents brought him to the opening of Fornebu Airport outside Oslo Norway.
After the war, when he was 15, he built a model glider that set a free flight record that stood for 15 years.
When he was 17 he flew for the first time in an SG-38, in December on a frozen lake. The SG-38 has a seat on the fuselage frame, there is no protection for the pilot. Two months later, February in Norway, different frozen lake, he made the first night glider flight in Norway, he wasn't supposed to and thought nobody saw him but apparently someone did and some years later when he wouldn't get in trouble gave him credit for it.
He joined the Royal Norwegian Air Force to become a pilot but didn't pass the physical and became an instructor at the RNAF Mechanic School. At that time the RNAF was flyng Spitfires and Mosquitos. He continued to fly gliders and for a time was assigned to maintain a Tiger Moth used as a tow plane. He started a glider group in a local flying club and was given Norwegian glider license #2.
When he moved to America he was able to pass the flight physical and get his pilot's license. It's still a mystery why he couldn't pass in Norway. He got a job as a flight engineer for American Airlines and eventually retired as a Captain flying the MD-11.
He bought a place in Virginia which became Scott Airpark where he restored and flew a Wolf glider that was the oldest glider flying in the United States if not the world. The Wolf and his Minimoa are now both in museums in Germany.
He organized the first antique glider regatta at Harris Hill and started the Vintage Sailplane Association. One of the members is Rudy Opitz, the well known test pilot who was still flying sailplanes in Connecticut. He also met Walter Horten at a glider meet in Switzerland and got an invitation to visit Reimar Horten in Argentina. There he got a master class in flying wing design and helped Reimar publish Nurflugel, Reimar's book about designing the Horten flying wings. He also researched the Horten collection for the Air and Space Museum.
For most of his life he taught people how to fly. When he was 80 years old he stopped flying and a few years ago moved back to Norway.
(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/05f1/vag5upujzv6e80w6g.jpg) (https://www.mediafire.com/view/?vag5upujzv6e80w)
Landing his Minimoa at Harris Hill.
(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/61c5/ks5ryno373pk5fv6g.jpg) (https://www.mediafire.com/view/?ks5ryno373pk5fv)
One of his classes in front of a Mosquito. He's in front in the dark shirt.
(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/5467/y5dpcdoofgffuld6g.jpg) (https://www.mediafire.com/view/?y5dpcdoofgffuld)
A Vampire he fixed, he's on the left.
(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/8350/bl3d91eacqcs2656g.jpg) (https://www.mediafire.com/view/?bl3d91eacqcs265)
Taking off at Harris Hill in his Tiger Moth after the Flying Wing Conference where he was a speaker.
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Sorry for your loss.
:salute
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Sounds like he had a fun life. Rest in peace Mr Scott.
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:salute My condolences on your loss.
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My condolences, FLS. May your father rest in peace. Sounds like he had a life well-lived.
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My condolences FLS. :salute
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<S> RIP
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Sorry FLS
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My condolences, FLS. May you father rest in peace. Sounds like he had a life well-lived.
My thoughts as well. Hang in there, FLS.
- oldman
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RIP <S>
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:salute
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:salute
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A life well lived. I envy you your memories.
:salute
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I'm sorry for your loss, as well. Your Dad sounded like another soul I'll regret having not met. My Dad passed last April.
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Probably less than meaningless from me, given our history of interaction, but I am genuinely sorry for your loss. A life well lived. :salute
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So sorry, FLS :salute
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:salute
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Sorry to hear this FLS,I lost my Dad a few years ago so I know how it can be. I just hope you had a chance to spend some time with him before he passed!
:salute
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Sorry for your loss.
My father was in the Air Force as a Russian linguist. He was declined for flight and never made a rating above master Sargent. So he paid his own ticket starting with a glider rating from the London gliding club at Dunstable Downs, to his retirement from the air force with a single engine instructor rating and multi engine rating. He eventually was grounded by the FAA due to a pace maker but, he was a commercial multi-engine instructor by that time and was grounded the day he would have taken his jet ride for that rating. Due to his time at the NSA his security clearance was useful to fly congressional members up and down the east coast and FBI on cases as a job after retirement. Your father's Moth looks great, they used them at Dunstable to pull the gliders.
Life time pilots are unique human beings.
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Sounds like an awesome guy. My condolences FLS.
Double salute for being a mosquito pilot.
:salute :salute
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:salute
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Sorry for your loss FLS, losing a parent is always hard. :salute
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It sounds like he was a wonderful man with a wonderful life.
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It's a passage no one can avoid unless they have the misfortune to be fatherless. There is no need nor reason to "get over" it. My condolences, he sounds like a good man who had a good and interesting life. I hope I am not being presumptuous but this poetry from Aeschylus has helped me with loss, take care:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God
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Thank you all for your support. It is very much appreciated. :salute
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:salute
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My condolences on the loss of your father.
He was quite a man.
<S>
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Sorry to hear of your Father's passing, FLS... The description of his life that you posted shows that he was an Adventurous Achiever of his dreams in this world.... I would think though, that you FLS are his most treasured achievement of all!
Thank you for taking time to share part of your Dad's life with us.....
~Salute~
TC/Johnny
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Here's a nice picture by Jim Short of my dad in the Minimoa after the second restoration.
(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/4ec3/fbtnqqwq2cw993j6g.jpg) (https://www.mediafire.com/view/?fbtnqqwq2cw993j)
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Sorry for your loss brother, but that man certainly knew how to live!
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An amazing life by any standards.
Blue Skies :salute
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My condolences to you and yours FLS. :pray
It sounds like your father was a remarkable man.
:salute
Sik
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My condolence FLS :salute