Edward Schertz pilots mission plane

Joseph Fabick president of Wings of Hope of St. Louis, presents key to new aircraft for mission duty in New Guinea to pilot Edward Schertz of Lowpoint as Wings of Hope secretary-treasurer. William Edwards and E.A. DaRosa, faculty chairman of the Southern Illinois University Aviation Technology program near Carbondale, smile approval. Schertz, a graduate of both pilot and maintenance training in the SIU program, flew the plane from Southern Illinois Airport, where Wings of Hope delivered the craft, to New Orleans, where is was crated for shipment by boat to New Guinea. There it will be used as a mission plane at Wewak to fly food and medicines to remote areas, and move out persons who need hospitalization. Planes cut the time from one week to 20 minutes. Wings of Hope is a non-profit group that obtains donations to buy planes, pay salaries of the combination pilot-maintenance people, and provide transportation of the planes to their destinations. Schertz will leave in December to fly a Wings of Hope mission plane into remote areas of Preu, South America.