Some sad news to share
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2023 12:58 am
Hi all,
Just wanted to share with you the sudden passing of my father , norman radtke , on jan 12, at the U of A Banner hospital
in Tucson. Many of you had met him , sonex open house, sonex workshop, sonex hangar party, sbpf bbq, and on the flightline.
He enjoyed talking to the early fliers, michael, kip, jeff, john about building tips.
We built three planes together, his beloved varieze N267NM, sonex waiex N143NM, zenith cruzer N144NM.
He was past president of the oshkosh and fond du lac eaa chapters. He was involved in flightline operations parking planes in oshkosh and fond du lac during airventure. Was a hangar owner in fond du lac , ontonogan mi.,
and tucson ryan field. He was a korean war vet and a patriot.
His brother john and him as teenagers bought a piper cub and taught themselves how to fly.
After the Army, he went to northrup in LA , got a degree in aircraft maint. Then on to rocketdyne to work on the third stage of the apollo saturn V rocket. After that fun it was on to McDonnell Douglas and DC-10 design.
Finally on to Mercury Marine in fond du lac and mgr of fuel systems.
He had a heart of gold and was very giving of his time, offering to help people on their plane projects.
He owned many factory built planes over the years, PA-14 vagabond, C-150, 2 C172’s, a C-177, 2 BE-35 bonanza’s, 2 PA-30 twin commanches,
2. PA-22 TriPacers, and a BE-19 beech skipper.
He instilled a love of aviation to me taking me to the hawthorne ca. airport for rides in his vagabond when i was a toddler.
He gave many young eagles rides over the years, served as a volunteer for the eaa B-17 and ford trimotor ground crew.
There will be a bench and name plate in his honor installed at the fond du lac airport terminal , thanks to the airport mgr. The ontonogan mi. airport will have a plaque installed at the flagpole.
i will purchase a tile at the brown arch oshkosh flightline, and have his name on the memorial wall pioneer airport next
to fergus chapel.
A celebration of his life will be held jul 15 in ontonogan mi at his beloved cabin, fishouse, and hangar.
with full military honors.
An obituary was posted in the fond du lac reporter paper. jan21.
Our hangar row at ryan field tucson is hurting, weve lost 4 great souls the last 4 months.
If anyone would like to donate in his memory please consider the eaa young eagles program.
go to http://www.eaa.org. look for the young eagles donation page. You can annotate his name.
added: he had always been in good health. he was 89 , about to turn 90. we had been going to the tucson VA and U of A hosp for heart work. he got a stent 2 weeks ago, and was scheduled for his tvar aortic valve the day after he died. he got covid about 2 mo ago. when i checked him into the er wed nite jan 11 , they found pneumonia in his lungs, hence his difficulty breathing. i believe a holdover of covid. On thur jan 12 he called me at 7am, texted at 8:30 said he was ok. Mom and i told him coming at 11am to spend the day with him.
at 10am U of A banner health called, the nurse was in distress. dad went into cardiac arrest, cpr iniatiated,
time of death 10:27 am
RIP.
Irionically the cruzer wing kit shipped out the day he died.
In Memory,
his son
Michael
EAA Lifetime
Retired FAA.
Just wanted to share with you the sudden passing of my father , norman radtke , on jan 12, at the U of A Banner hospital
in Tucson. Many of you had met him , sonex open house, sonex workshop, sonex hangar party, sbpf bbq, and on the flightline.
He enjoyed talking to the early fliers, michael, kip, jeff, john about building tips.
We built three planes together, his beloved varieze N267NM, sonex waiex N143NM, zenith cruzer N144NM.
He was past president of the oshkosh and fond du lac eaa chapters. He was involved in flightline operations parking planes in oshkosh and fond du lac during airventure. Was a hangar owner in fond du lac , ontonogan mi.,
and tucson ryan field. He was a korean war vet and a patriot.
His brother john and him as teenagers bought a piper cub and taught themselves how to fly.
After the Army, he went to northrup in LA , got a degree in aircraft maint. Then on to rocketdyne to work on the third stage of the apollo saturn V rocket. After that fun it was on to McDonnell Douglas and DC-10 design.
Finally on to Mercury Marine in fond du lac and mgr of fuel systems.
He had a heart of gold and was very giving of his time, offering to help people on their plane projects.
He owned many factory built planes over the years, PA-14 vagabond, C-150, 2 C172’s, a C-177, 2 BE-35 bonanza’s, 2 PA-30 twin commanches,
2. PA-22 TriPacers, and a BE-19 beech skipper.
He instilled a love of aviation to me taking me to the hawthorne ca. airport for rides in his vagabond when i was a toddler.
He gave many young eagles rides over the years, served as a volunteer for the eaa B-17 and ford trimotor ground crew.
There will be a bench and name plate in his honor installed at the fond du lac airport terminal , thanks to the airport mgr. The ontonogan mi. airport will have a plaque installed at the flagpole.
i will purchase a tile at the brown arch oshkosh flightline, and have his name on the memorial wall pioneer airport next
to fergus chapel.
A celebration of his life will be held jul 15 in ontonogan mi at his beloved cabin, fishouse, and hangar.
with full military honors.
An obituary was posted in the fond du lac reporter paper. jan21.
Our hangar row at ryan field tucson is hurting, weve lost 4 great souls the last 4 months.
If anyone would like to donate in his memory please consider the eaa young eagles program.
go to http://www.eaa.org. look for the young eagles donation page. You can annotate his name.
added: he had always been in good health. he was 89 , about to turn 90. we had been going to the tucson VA and U of A hosp for heart work. he got a stent 2 weeks ago, and was scheduled for his tvar aortic valve the day after he died. he got covid about 2 mo ago. when i checked him into the er wed nite jan 11 , they found pneumonia in his lungs, hence his difficulty breathing. i believe a holdover of covid. On thur jan 12 he called me at 7am, texted at 8:30 said he was ok. Mom and i told him coming at 11am to spend the day with him.
at 10am U of A banner health called, the nurse was in distress. dad went into cardiac arrest, cpr iniatiated,
time of death 10:27 am
RIP.
Irionically the cruzer wing kit shipped out the day he died.
In Memory,
his son
Michael
EAA Lifetime
Retired FAA.