Flying

When I was a Senior in High School, I (finally) ran out of English courses I liked and had to (grudgingly) take Mrs. Inez McIntire's Folklore class.

Mrs. McIntire was an older lady who was familiar with this corner of Licking County, and for a grade, I had to write a paper on a local landmark and talk about the importance of it. As an Aviation Enthusiast and having done radio navigation while flying an airplane (I first piloted an airplane before I was in Junior High...), I decided to write about the Appleton VOR. To pilots and to me, this is a local landmark rich in history.

 

What a VOR looks like from the ground

At the corner of Northridge Road (CR 21) and Sportsmans Club Road (CR16) - an intersection all too familiar to anyone at my High School with a driver's license - stood a tall 'TV Tower.' In fact, this tower, located on the highest available patch of land in Licking County, was a Microwave Relay that formed the backbone of our Nation's Cold War Defense communications network. (Shhh! Don't tell the Commies!) Located in a nearby grove across the street, hidden by trees and brush stands the Appleton VOR.

 

What a Microwave Tower looks like.

Mrs. McIntire confused the two because she could never see the VOR, only the tower. The tower is obvious for miles around. Despite my offer to take her flying over the VOR, she said she would take my word for it. I do not believe she ever believed me, or the existence of the VOR.

What is a VOR? VORs are located, unobtrusively, across the country, happily sending out a radio signal that specially equipped aircraft can receive and use for aerial navigation. Technically, they are a VHF Omnidirectional Radio Range. Now you understand why everyone believes VOR is a better term - although locals shorten it to 'Appleton Omni.'

What a pilot sees on the instrument panel.

Appleton Omni was established long before GPS (Global Positioning System). The national FAA Radar System (Air Route Traffic Control Centers - ARTCCs) allowed pilots to navigate over long distances using practical, applied trigonometry. They marked Flight Routes (freeways in the sky) and helped pilots find airports. Even better, weather was no longer a factor to the business of aerial navigation. In fact, Appleton Omni was and is still used by civilian pilots to locate Port Columbus and by military and civilian pilots to locate Rickenbacker (then Lockbourne) AFB. To a pilot, Appleton Omni was very important.

So, why am I telling you this? Well, one would never suspect that Appleton Omni would be SO important in my life.

What a VOR looks like on an aeronautical map. Airports are the purple circles.

If you ever wondered what I was daydreaming about in Geometry while Mr. Wren was explaining right triangles to us, I was visioning how to fly the triangle and calculating turn radii to complete the problem. I was also just thinking of flying in general, airborne, the commander of the skies...

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules.

About the same time, I was daydreaming of flying in Geometry class, an Air Force Colonel and C-130 pilot based at Rickenbacker was using Appleton Omni to practice cargo drops. One day, as he was lining up on Appleton Omni, he saw a FOR SALE sign on a pasture. He had his navigator mark the position and later drove out to it, looked at it, and decided to buy it. When he retired, he moved his wife and youngest daughter to that old pasture, which now had a house on it that he built, and they began attending the Alexandria Baptist Church. This is where I met his youngest daughter for the first time and this is where we were married over 33 years ago.

Now I live here, in the house that pilot built. I know Appleton VOR is a couple of miles away, as the plane flies. I occasionally look up to the sky and remember all those years ago, flying over this old pasture. I still see aircraft using Appleton Omni. In fact, Medivac uses it to fly towards the more rural parts of Ohio. Army National Guard helicopters use it to practice maneuvers, which is, by the way, how I know President Obama is making yet another trip to Columbus. Other aircraft use it to navigate to Port Columbus, Lockbourne, and Newark Airport.

So, there you have it. Mrs. McIntire, here is the second part of my paper - there really is some folklore here. Mr. Wren, now you know too. For the rest of you, I hope you found this an interesting insight... you see, that in the inter-connectedness of things, without Appleton VOR, Deb and I would have lived entirely different lives... all because of Appleton Omni.