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Coming this Saturday, Aug 25th - Rotors Over Mentone 2018!

The Lawrence D. Bell Aircraft Museum plans to holds its 9th Annual "Rotors Over Mentone" Fly-In Event on Saturday, Aug 25th. The fly-in event begins at 10:00 am with the museum's program beginning at 11:00 am. There will be a kids game area starting at 12:00. Kids who do all the games will receive a free treat. The American Huey 369 will once again be offering helicopter rides with membership. Robinson R44 helicopter rides will also be offered by pilot Gary Cleveland in "Chopper 101" from Oldies 101.1FM, WIOE and Z93.9FM, WLQZ.

The Bell Aircraft Museum is located at 210 South Oak St, Mentone, IN. Food and drink will be offered. Stop by our gift shop. See program schedule below.
Please Note: The American Red Cross Bloodmobile will not be present at the event.

Event Guest Speaker:
Our guest speaker will be Phil Marshall who will be returning for a second year. Phil is from the Dayton, OH area. He is the author of seven books. It was the late 1960's and with two years of college that Phil enlisted in the US Army Warrant Officer Flight School program to become a Warrant Officer Helicopter Pilot. Before graduating from Flight School, he received additional training at Fort Sam Huston, TX. It was then off to Southeast Asia where Phil was assigned to fly Bell UH-1 "Huey" Medevac helicopters bearing the Red Cross emblem. He went by the radio call sign "Dustoff".

Four days after being promoted to Aircraft Commander in Vietnam, he was wounded on an insecure night rescue of three seriously wounded US soldiers. Because of the nature of the wound, Phil was sent home. Six months later, he was able to return to flight status and finish his military service as a Training, Advising and Counseling (TAC) Officer at Fort Wolters, TX. There he trained new Warrant Officer Candidates in Officer Development during their Pilot training. Phil received the Purple Heart and six awards of the US Army Air Medal while serving his country.

Phil's talk will be "Flying Helicopter Rescue Missions in Vietnam", describing some of the missions flown by helicopter crews during the Vietnam War and the unarmed Huey Medevac missions in which he and his crew flew. As part of his talk, Phil will give a verbal recreation of a typical rescue mission, matched to the in-country photos. Phil will also briefly touch on the seven books that he has authored, which document the sometimes unbelievable, but true, rescue missions flown by all helicopters in Vietnam, and not just by the Huey "Dustoff' crews. There are over 140 missions that are documented in his books, mostly first hand accounts by the youthful crews themselves, many never published anywhere else.

Schedule of Events (as of 20 Aug 2018):
09:30 Food tent opens until event closes
10:00 Helicopters rides available (American Huey & Chopper 101) until 11 am
11:00 Program
- Welcome Remarks - Tim Croy, Museum President
- Invocation - Pastor Butch Troke, Beaver Dam United Methodist Church
- Placing of Colors - Warsaw American Legion Post 49 Color Guard
- National Anthem - Band Members of Tippecanoe Valley High School
- Recognition of Veterans in the Audience
- Introduction of Guest Speaker - Tim Croy
- Guest Speaker - Phil Marshall
- Closing Remarks - Tim Croy
12:00 - Helicopter rides resume until close, kids game area open

Fly-In Note:
For helicopter pilots that fly in for the event, call sign: "Bell Operations". Monitor Frequency is 123.025.
A shuttle from the Mentone Airport to the Bell Aircraft Museum will be made available for fixed wing pilots
courtesy of the Museum. Please contact us a day ahead of time of your time arrival so arrangements can be made.
Point of contact is Marsha Scott at 574-328-2034.

Pilots and crew that fly in for the event will be given a "goody bag" and a voucher for food items available at our tent.

Food Tent Menu Items:
Hamburgers & Cheeseburgers
Hot Dogs & Brats
Potato Chips
Cookies, Ice Cream (in a cup), & Watermelon
Coffee and Drinks

For additional information, please contact Marsha at mscott@frontier.com or by phone at 574-353-7460.