SAWE Wichita Chapter



SAWE Wichita Chapter

Minutes April 16, 2007

Prepared by Mary Scheulen

The Wichita chapter of SAWE met Monday evening, April 16, 2007 at the Players Bar & Grill. Ten members and eleven guests were in attendance. The only SAWE business conducted was the election of officers for 2007-2008. The current officers were re-elected: President – Mary Scheulen, Vice-President – Vic Graham, Treasurer – Doug Cekal and Secretary – Ed Chrisco. Pat Brown has another year as Chapter Director.

After we enjoyed meals from the menu the meeting was officially kicked off about 8:00 PM. After introductions were made around the room the three speakers were introduced. The first speaker and coordinator for the program was Larry Menestrina, who is a Cessna employee in Airworthiness on the Citation X. He is a long time collector of World War I and II uniforms and memorabilia from both the German and US military forces. He brought several interesting items from his collections, mostly from the German Luftwaffe era. He is in the planning stages of producing a book on battlefield experiences from World War II through letters, documents, photographs and personal interviews. He would be interested in hearing from anyone who has some stories to share. His phone number is (316) 832-1357 and his email is edelweiss@.

Another of our special guest was John Cravens, who is a native Wichitan and worked for 54 years for the Wichita Eagle as a Journeyman Print Foreman. John is a historian with specialties in World War II aviation, the German Navy and U-boats. He brought a couple of his model airplanes from the WWII era to add to the display.

Our extra special guest was Horst Petzschler, who was born in Berlin in 1921. He joined the Luftwaffe in 1941, taking his basic training in Poland. He flew in the famous German Squadron JG51 Molders and flew most of his missions on the Russian front. He was transferred to the Defense of the German Reich in April 1943 and flew missions against Allied Bombing attacks on Germany. At the end of the war, he flew (with other pilots) to Sweden to surrender. He spent about 6 months in a Swedish prison, after which the Swedes turned over their German prisoners to the Russians and he spent 3 years in Russian prisons. He came to the USA in 1967 and worked as a tooling engineer at Lockheed, Northrop and Boeing. He worked on the 747 and SST programs and completed his career at Boeing Wichita working on the 767.

Both Larry and Horst had very interesting stories to tell us about WWII. Horst told stories from his personal experience which were enjoyed by all. He also brought several items to show and some to sell. He has written an autobiography about his war experiences. He also had some pictures and some videos on WWII history to sell.

The meeting was adjourned about 9:00 pm, but people lingered to talk to Horst and Larry and buy some of the items.

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