Contact: Phil Hearn
In ceremonies tomorrow [Nov. 1], Mississippi State's Raspet Flight Research Laboratory will be designated as a National Landmark of Soaring. The event recognizes a half-century of motorless flight history and some of the gliding pioneers who made it possible. The university facility will become the only such site in the Southeast to carry the honor.
Glider pilots and builders from the university and across the country are gathering at 9 a.m. at Starkville's Bryan Field airport for the 1 p.m. ceremony, which will designate the flight lab as one of only 13 such sites established nationwide since 1980 by the National Soaring Museum.
Morning activities will be highlighted by a 10:30 a.m. take-off of a vintage sailplane piloted by Bob Ball, with Katherine Wood of the U.S. Postal Service as a passenger. The plane will land 30 minutes later carrying special postmarked mail.
Raspet director David Lawrence will serve as master of ceremonies for the afternoon dedication, which also will feature remarks by MSU Interim Vice President for Research Jonathon Pote and Bagley College of Engineering Dean A. Wayne Bennett. A plaque officially marking the soaring landmark will pay homage to the late August Raspet, founding director of the MSU flight research program in 1947.
Soaring luminaries, including former Raspet director George Bennett, will participate in a 2:30 p.m. round-table discussion of Gus Raspet's contributions with flight lab faculty, staff and students.
Paul MacCready of Pasadena, Calif., internationally known as the "father of human-powered flight," will keynote a 7 p.m. banquet. While not a public event, the evening program is open to all interested members of the news media. Reporters interested in attending should contact Lawrence as soon as possible at (662) 325-3274.
All events take place at the lab's Honda Annex, located adjacent to the lab at 114 Airport Road. Bryan Field is located in West Starkville, just south of Highway 12 near the Wal-Mart Supercenter.