4-25-98

Dear Senator Glen,

Learning of your forthcoming return to space - I could not resist adding to your mail, because it seems so extraordinary that only 30-some years separate the date of your birth from that of my father, Bernard L. Whelan, a pioneer aviator who learned to fly from the Wright Brothers in 1913. He held F.A.I. license #247 (I still have it) and had a long career in aviation, - a W.W. I flight instructor, subsequent test pilot for P&W (1930's) and finishing as a V.P. for United Aircraft.

I thought you might enjoy a picture of him in a Wright Model B - together with his instructor, Oscar Brindley. (Brindley was killed testing O.W.'s for W.W. I - my father pulled him out of the wreck. I think it was an even more hazardous profession in those days!)

The best of luck on your forthcoming venture - Dad would have been most interested!