Graduates, school officials lauded for efforts during challenging school year effinghamherald.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from effinghamherald.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Valley Made, Local Strong: McCreery Aviation
Valley Made, Local Strong: McCreery Aviation
4 hours 11 minutes 50 seconds ago
Friday, April 23 2021
Apr 23, 2021
April 23, 2021 5:35 PM
April 23, 2021
in
News - Local
Share:
Aviation in the Rio Grande Valley used to be a small business, but it had a helping hand in taking off with McCreery Aviation in McAllen.
The business was started 75 years ago by “Mac” McCreery. Aviation was really young after the war, there were a lot of pilots coming out of the military so general aviation was prime to grow during that time,” Bob McCreery, president and owner of McCreery Aviation said of his father, Mac. “So he saw the opportunities and gave it a shot and worked out good for them.”
Mr. Paul Cicci was a Technical Instructor for Purdue University’s Department of Aviation Technology. The Confederate Air Force (now Commemorative Air Force) had contacted Purdue University in 1980 offering student A&P mechanics the chance to work on their museum aircraft. Mr. Cicci, having family near Harlingen International Airport, requested to work for the CAF and was accepted. This is his story.
It is hard to believe 40 years have passed since I worked for the Commemorative Air Force during the summer of 1980. I packed up my family and we spent the summer in Brownsville, Texas with members of my wife’s family. I commuted to the Commemorative Air Force headquarters at the Harlingen International Airport, otherwise known as Rebel Field. The CAF had a small museum, a large WWII era hangar for maintenance of aircraft and two smaller hangars for storage of aircraft and numerous parts. Back shops and store rooms were packed with donated WWII fighter and bomber aircraft parts a