Earl Hoffman passed away last month in Santa Rosa, California. The
following was written by his friend Ed Solenberger.
Earl Hoffman 1912-2009
Earl Grew up in Detroit and spent much of his younger years in
several interesting activities. One of which was Ice Boat Racing. He
had a narrow escape when his boat plunged through the ice. He was
rescued from what would have been death by freezing. He had many
other stories to tell.
During WW2, he served the Government as a meteorologist. He was
stationed in the area of Devil's Lake in North Dakota until the end
of the war.
Earl was very active model flying, both outdoor and later indoor. He
set several records and is one of less than 100 people, worldwide,
who flew over 40 minutes. There have been flights of 1 hour, but very
few! Most of these flights were done in very high ceilings, some in
foreign countries.
Earl has four sisters and a son, plus a number of grandchildren, of
whom he was very proud.
Ed Solenberger - Santa Rosa
I have a couple of highlights of Earl's career to share. In 1988, 75
year old Earl drove by himself to the Nationals at East Tennessee
State and won both EZB and Intermediate Stick. To top off this feat,
in September of that year at Santa Ana, he flew to a new Int. Stick
record of 31:19. This design, which he called the "Symphony" was then
named indoor model of the year in 1989 and the plans of which are
featured in all the plans books.
After Moffett Field was closed to indoor (and everything else),
Earl's daughter began driving him to Moscow, Idaho for the annual
Kibbee Dome Meet where on into his 90's he had a wonderful time
competing. One year, now into his 90"s, Earl's daughter couldn't go
so he took the train by himself, to Spokane, Washington and then a
bus to Moscow and then got on the phone to the Dome, "Come and get
me". His models had been carried up in John Pratt's car. Ed
Solenberger told me that he was still building up to the end. We can
only hope that we will be still be around and functioning at that age!
Goodbye Earl - - - Chris Borland - Sacramento
Received on Fri Jun 05 2009 - 17:05:53 CEST
This archive was generated by Yannick on Sat Dec 14 2019 - 19:13:45 CET