Farewell Tony Benson

Oliver Anthony (Tony) Benson died May 3 after a series of complications related to surgery. The official notice is he

http://normandean.com/online-obituar...enson/10082116

The obit hardly does justice to describing one of the truly great characters in soaring from our area. Tony was funny, engaging, wickedly smart, a keen judge of human character, and tremendously giving to our club and commercial operations at Blairstown. He, along with several of the other Old Timers pioneered long ridge missions and badge attempts from our site. Despite his interest in cross country soaring, he frequently missed out on big days, offering up his time giving rides and instruction to literally hundreds of pilots. He was generous with his aircraft as well, handing over the keys to his beloved ASW-20 and his restored K6 to give others a chance experience these classic machines.

Tony campaigned on the racing circuit for many years in his K6 and later his ASW-20 under the competition number P4. Tony's approach to soaring competitions could only be described as refreshing. In his view, the perfect competition featured at least a few days of rain - allowing more time for beer drinking and hangar flying. He was often seen flying his RC gliders or calibrating his potato cannon on these non-flying days. His knowledge of the rules was charitably described as "vague" by Charlie Spratt back in the day. It didn't matter to Tony - it was all about the camaraderie and time with "the lads."

I'm working up a compendium of some of his most outstanding writings from our club email group. Be forewarned - they will be R-Rated at minimum. If anyone has any stories or anecdotes that need to be included, please write me directly.

Erik Mann (P3)
SSA State Governor for NJ