AROUND TOWN
by Mary Charlesworth Shadle
We’re proud of our own Williams Valley with its progress in developing new locations for homes and businesses. Just take a ride through our streets and township and our valley and discover the new homes and renovations made on properties. It has always been pleasant to ride through our valley and try to see a few deer or little fawns, wild turkeys or anything interesting to show our out-of-town guests.
Now, when we take that lovely right we may see something more exciting in the air. Capt. Jay Seiler, an Eastern Airlines pilot, may be seen flying his Bucker Jungmeister propeller plane, at Bendigo’s Airport in Clarks Valley preparatory to stunt drills. Capt. Seiler, a son of Chester Seiler, worked with his father as an electrician after having served in the Navy in the pre-flight program and began soloing in 1946. His wartime flying was as a crew member on a torpedo bomber after pilot training was cut back near the end of World War II. He continued taking flying instructions with John Thompson at the Pine Grove Air Service and got his commercial license there in a Piper J-3 Cub. More instruction followed at Reading Aviation and a great dream was fulfilled when in 1957 Seiler was employed as a copilot with Eastern Airlines and later became Capt. Seiler. His flights now take him wherever Eastern provides service – from Washington to points east of the Mississippi, to Texas, Omaha, and Montreal.
Now his intense love of flying has taken him on journeys 4,000 miles to study the skill of what used to be called stunt flying but today is called “aerobatics.” His instructor is Albert Ruesch of Porrentruy, Switzerland. Seiler studied with this aviator in June and plans to continue lessons in October, although he is already a qualified aerobatics instructor, approved by his Swiss instructor, since the rating doesn’t even exist in the U.S. So – if you spot a red and white single-seater Bucker Jungmeister German built antique designed exclusively for aerobatic flying in the sky, don’t be surprised. As I said, we’ll not only be spotting deer in our valley, but we’ll be looking skyward as our valley aviator is aiming to find a two-seater sister ship of the one he now owns so he can give instruction in this aerobatic flying at Bendigo’s Airfield in Clarks Valley. Already our local pilots are interested and as I said, progress is coming to our valley. When we see the planes and the building in all areas, we wonder what some of our local fishermen who have long passed away, would say if they could see their happy hunting and fishing grounds today.
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Article from the West Schuylkill Herald, 25 July 1974, via Newspapers.com.
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