30 Gone

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I've been waiting for an "official" note. But absent that, I'm saddened to pass long the news that we lost another one a week or so back: Johnny Byrd, "30", left us after a long illness.

I wish I could recount the contest wins, the stories, the good times so many of us shared around the country but especially in the southeast where I met him at the first Cordele regional in 1971. His partner was flying the Standard Cirrus that time but Johnny flew it for years after that, usually at or near the top of the score card. He later piloted an LS-3, a Libelle 301 that he modified, and a Discus, that I recall, all with similar success.

Johnny used to do a handstand on the grid every day before launch, often wearing the same ratty polo shirt day after day. We all have our little routines but his seemed to work better than most. I know he had some big wins, including multiple national championships, and also ended up on the U.S. Team multiple times (including Hobbs, 1983, mentioned in this month's Soaring mag). I wish I could recall the specifics but his career spanned many decades. He was a superb pilot, a craftsman, and a worthy competitor who could always be relied upon to brighten up your day.

In the absence of specifics, I'm left with the sense that my life over many years of soaring was richer for having been in the skies for so many hours with "30".

The last time I saw him and Ann was at a Hobbs Nats about 10 years ago where he was towing. I believe he'd stopped flying gliders by then. We had dinner one night, just the three of us, and laughed and reminisced about old times, the stories, the pilots and crews and officials we'd known. Johnny had been around during the days when the single-class U.S. Nationals were fought at Marfa, TX. He built a house not far away in the Davis Mountains where he and Ann moved from Delray Beach, FL. I believe they had been back in Florida for a while after his health began to deteriorate.

One notable memory that's very personal: the generous way he and Ann reached out to my mother after my dad crashed at the Springfield 15M Nats in 1980.. They invited her down to their vacation home in the mountains of North Carolina that summer and I know they talked to her frequently on the phone for a long time thereafter. I talked to my Mom a few days ago and she continues to feel grateful. Good people.

I know it's been a long trial for Ann but if you have contact info, I suspect she'd enjoy hearing from you. It's sad when we lose a man like Johnny but we're left with a lot of great memories.

JB

[Michael Opitz]

At 18:29 19 September 2016, wrote:
>I've been waiting for an "official" note. But absent that, I'm saddened
to
>=
>pass long the news that we lost another one a week or so back:
Johnny
>Byrd,=
> "30", left us after a long illness.=20
>
RIP 30... Johnny was a real nice guy, a wonderful pilot and a great
WGC teammate. I will always fondly remember the contests that we
flew together..... He was a hard competitor, but also an unselfish
teammate, which combined to make the WGC experience so much
better for the both us us....

So sorry to hear this news...

RO

[Burt Compton - Marfa Gliders, west Texas]

Johnny "Mac" Byrd, as he was known in South Florida, earned his Commercial Glider Pilot certificate at Sebring, FL in the sixties during one of our camps. He asked me to be his first passenger in Lou Rehr's SGS 2-32. His first visit to Marfa, Texas, was at the Nationals in 1969 with the BG-12 he built. That was the first contest where the majority of the sailplanes were glass and he usually came up short on the speed triangles because the sun went down. On the free distance day, he outflew many pilots with his flight to Childress, TX, landing by the light of the rotating beacon. In "The Sun Ship Game" movie filmed at that 1969 contest, that's his funky VW bus with the surfboard on top and the shower head on the back. The odd red rectangular figure painted on the side of the bus he told me was "his state of mind." Always witty and more than willing to help anyone understand reading the sky, efficient thermaling and his cross country soaring techniques. Based on his accomplishments and generosity, he was voted into the Soaring Hall of Fame. I got to make the presentation speech.

Johnny Byrd almost lost a day at a national contest when, on the way to turn in his log of his contest task to the scorer, he stopped to help a young pilot disassemble a sailplane as the one hour time-limt nearly ran out. Later, after being declared the winner of a contest, he reviewed the scores with the scorer and pointed out that he actually came in second and immediately relinquished the trophy! He was a well-loved high school shop teacher, later an electrician. Johnny would custom build sailplane trailers "to pay for next summer's contest."

So many stories. When his Discus A was delivered by mistake to a California port, instead of to Florida, he decided which model rental car he would rent, flew airline to California with a complete trailer hitch in his baggage, installed it on the rental car and drove his new Discus back to Florida. He removed the hitch, plugged the holes that he drilled in the trunk before returning the rental car. I've been privileged to know Johnny and Ann (high-school sweethearts) in Florida and later when we all moved to Marfa, near the Davis Mountains of southwest Texas. I suppose that would be all of my adult life, over 50 years. A fine example of true gentleman, we're all going to miss him.