Date: July 6, 1989
Location: St. Louis, MO
By: —
Newspaper: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Page: 7A
“No plane I ever flew for McDonnell Douglas was going to lead as primitive a life as the ones we’re rebuilding here at Wings of Hope.
They’re all small, single-engine planes, most of them donated to the organization. After we rebuild the engines and refit the interiors, we turn them over to missions for medical work in remote areas of the world. They operate far from civilization, often over jungles areas and other unfriendly terrain, so we have to make sure they’re in first-rate working order.
Edgar, Ed and I, plus quite a few others, volunteer our help to get them ready. There was a satisfaction in the way we worked at McDonnell Douglas that we didn’t want to give up when we retired. At Wings, we’re working as a team again.
We’ll always be proud of building the world’s finest fighter aircraft, but now we’re helping give the world something else – little planes that can help relieve pain and save lives, too.”
– Joe Dobronski (left), McDonnell Douglas, Director of Flight Test & Operations, Retired, with Edgar Applegate (center), Experimental Aircraft Mechanic, Retired, Ed Leriche (right), Flight Line Quality Assurance Inspector, Retired