Topeka Daily Capital
Oct.14, 1959

Football weekend…

We met at the airport and Charlie Howes rolled his new Comanche out of the hangar. While he was closing the hangar doors, he turned and saw Frenn working on the fuselage with his fingernail file.

“What are you doing?” Charlie asked. “Seeing if I can find any loose bolts to tighten.” He looked up then to the radio antenna, a single wire stretching from the cabin to the tail section. “What’s that?” he asked.

“That,” said Charlie, “holds the tail on. Get in.”

Frenn and Pritchard got in the back seat, and we were off the ground before three o’clock. A little after five, Charlie was calling Dallas Approach Control on the radio and the man on the other end warned, “Traffic is extremely heavy.”

Frenn looked up from the gin game long enough to tell Charlie, “You heard what the man said.” Charlie replied: “I’ve got on my light fall suit, in case we hit anything.”

Frenn paled. . . .

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