"In the early '50s, shortly after our move to Colorado, my parents of-fered to pay my bus fare to the Nats at a Naval Air Station between Ft. Worth and Dallas. So I was on my way with a 'B' Speed model and a 1/2A Freeflight and support equipment, all in a cardboard box, aboard a Greyhound. It took me several years to figure out what the segregated water fountains and rest rooms were about, that I saw in bus stations on the way. I also learned what it was like to be 'really on my own'! "Once at the Nats, everything went smoothly until my time came to put in official flights for the speed event. You can't fly speed without a partner and this square-jawed fellow, smoking a pipe, came up and offered to help me. I'm sure that he could tell that I needed a lot. I accepted and we spent most of the morning getting in just one official flight, which was slow. It wasn't until later that afternoon that I learned that the fellow who had helped me so much was none other than 'Pappy' deBolt, a renowned speed champion.
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