Gramps mans recrument booth at Chino POF. L-R: Tim Brown, Fran
Pieri, Peter Cherbak, Ray LeCompte. Center, front: Robert “Jack”
Cocks, VB-11 WWII
We were back at Chino with a membership recruiting booth for the first time in many years. Ray LeCompte and I set up our canopy and booth on Friday, May 1st . We returned on Saturday and Sunday to pass out magazines, to talk to potential members, to visit with current members who stopped by the booth and to enjoy a fine airshow when possible. Thanks to members, Fran Pieri, Doc Helton and Peter Cherbak for stopping by to visit. Also, Chuck Strong, a longtime member who moved to Las Vegas, stopped by to renew his membership in ANA. He can’t make the meetings but enjoys the OpPlan that is delivered electronically.
We had a pleasant surprise when Jack Cocks, who flew with my father in WWII, came by the booth on Sunday morning and set up a table with his memorabilia to display to the public. He drew a number of people to our booth who would probably have never stopped by but for the fact that he is a WWII veteran with stories to tell. The day before, he was at a special booth hosted by POF with a number of veterans including Fred “Buck” Dungan and Bob Friend. It was quite a group of guys!
All and all, it was a very good airshow, with lots of warbirds making lots of noise as they passed over. John Collver and Sean Tucker were there and thrilled the crowd with their awesome aerobatics. The highlights of the show were the flight demonstrations of a Canadian CF-18 and the USAF F-22. The Raptor is everything that you have heard and more. What an exciting aircraft to watch! A very entertaining show and Ray and I enjoyed talking to our many visitors.
