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  • Kerch

    I had a couple of long phone conversations with Bill Kerchenfaut over the last couple of days. I thought his admirers here would like to know that he's doing OK. He's almost certainly not going to Reno this year as he'd have nothing to do and says he'd probably just get more depressed. This will be the first Reno he's not been at since he started crewing for Conquest 1 and Darryl back in the 1960s.

    Bill's stories are wonderful -- a conversation with him is always a delight. We talked about how much Crocker loved his airplane and refused to ever change it, and Bill's ideas about ways it could have been made faster. We talked about how Kerch would spend every weekend working on Strega in the early 1990s, and how on Mondays Tiger would be secretly selling Kerch's ideas and innovations to Price's Dago guys. There was an awful lot of Bill Kerchenfaut in Dago long before he ever touched that airplane. We talked about Darryl, and Bruce Boland, and Pete Law, and Ray Poe, and Kenny Burstine, and Skip Holm, and Wiley Sanders. We talked about the great Jim Larsen, who also goes back to Reno's beginning, and how Jim has stopped going to Reno. We wondered about who in RARA might have pissed Jim off enough to drive him away. We talked about the conversation with Dwight Thorn after Dwight found Bill a job in California when Bill left Minnesota, where the two of them had the Eureka moment when they realized that an Allison connecting rod could work in a Merlin. Dwight thought it was an unlikely idea, and Bill said "Well, do you have an Allison rod? Go get it!" They laid the rods side by side on the kitchen table and saw that this really could be done. It took 10 years, but that moment in the 1970s is when it all started.

    Kerch is a National Treasure. Fifty years of memories of life on the inside of the Sport.

    I wish him well in his life without Air Racing.

    Neal
    Last edited by wingman; 09-06-2016, 11:41 AM.

  • #2
    Re: Kerch

    Now there's a man worthy of a book. So much history.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Kerch

      Hello Neal, many thanks for this insight!
      Do you know what Kerch is doing in future - any chance to work for race teams?

      thx
      Gibbs

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Kerch

        Originally posted by wingman View Post
        I had a couple of long phone conversations with Bill Kerchenfaut over the last couple of days. I thought his admirers here would like to know that he's doing OK. He's almost certainly not going to Reno this year as he'd have nothing to do and says he'd probably just get more depressed. This will be the first Reno he's not been at since he started crewing for Conquest 1 and Darryl back in the 1960s.

        Bill's stories are wonderful -- a conversation with him is always a delight. We talked about how much Crocker loved his airplane and refused to ever change it, and Bill's ideas about ways it could have been made faster. We talked about how Kerch would spend every weekend working on Strega in the early 1990s, and how on Mondays Tiger would be secretly selling Kerch's ideas and innovations to Price's Dago guys. There was an awful lot of Bill Kerchenfaut in Dago long before he ever touched that airplane. We talked about Darryl, and Bruce Boland, and Pete Law, and Ray Poe, and Kenny Burstine, and Skip Holm, and Wiley Sanders. We talked about the great Jim Larsen, who also goes back to Reno's beginning, and how Jim has stopped going to Reno. We wondered about who in RARA might have pissed Jim off enough to drive him away. We talked about the conversation with Dwight Thorn after Dwight found Bill a job in California when Bill left Minnesota, where the two of them had the Eureka moment when they realized that an Allison connecting rod could work in a Merlin. Dwight thought it was an unlikely idea, and Bill said "Well, do you have an Allison rod? Go get it!" They laid the rods side by side on the kitchen table and saw that this really could be done. It took 10 years, but that moment in the 1970s is when it all started.

        Kerch is a National Treasure. Fifty years of memories of life on the inside of the Sport.

        I wish him well in his life without Air Racing.

        Neal
        Thanks for the update Neal!

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Kerch

          Nobody is expressing any interest. There are not many race teams these days! His friends all call --Darryl Greenamyer called last week to talk racing and the old days. Mike Wilton travelled in to have dinner and talk. But no interest that Bill talked about to me in any new racing projects.

          Neal

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Kerch

            Originally posted by wingman View Post
            There was an awful lot of Bill Kerchenfaut in Dago
            There is an awful lot of Kerch in all of us here. A lot of our most treasured memories of this thing we call air racing would never have happened without him.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Kerch

              Thank you Neal for the word that he is still alive and is as disappointed and hurt as we his friends for missing his first Reno. I feel like Colin Kapernick and am about ready to take a knee and miss Reno in support of his absence.

              As I remember it, he was working those weekends for Tiger in the early 80's. My wife and I had been recently married when we had him over for dinner and he reciprocated with a tour of an HP executive Jet Starr cockpit. It inspired the Misses to get involved and become John Crocker's publicist one year. We love Bill as a person and respect him as the bright guy that he is.

              No, it will not be the same without that little skid lidded chain smoker guy looking up and greeting with his ever present smile and warm greetings.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Kerch

                Reno's loss.....

                I spoke with him briefly a couple of years ago: what a great guy! Very personable and a true legend of the sport. He's one of the bricks in the foundation of this sport we all love, sad to say, but when a "brick" is missing, the whole structure is weaker for it.

                Glad to know he's ok. and, just for giggles.......who knows WHAT he's working on? Probably some skunk-works unlimited project that'll blow EVERYBODY's canopies off

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                • #9
                  Re: Kerch

                  Somebody needs to pour Kerch's brains out into a book!
                  remember the Oogahonk!

                  old school enthusiast of Civiltary Warbirds and Air Racers

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Kerch

                    It was actually attempted last year, but for many reasons it did not work out, as far as I know.

                    Any volunteers to give it a try? Writing a book is a Hell of a lot harder than it looks...

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Kerch

                      Sneak peek....
                      Attached Files

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                      • #12
                        Re: Kerch

                        Wow...

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                        • #13
                          Re: Kerch

                          Reno 1982 -- the Monday after...Click image for larger version

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                          • #14
                            Re: Kerch

                            Great photo..that's Gold for the air race history buffs..

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                            • #15
                              Re: Kerch

                              Being the World's Greatest Crew Chief does not mean you don't have to do the sh#t work when things go south...

                              Neal

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