Airport Equipment To “Wings of Hope”

LYONS – Obsolete radio beacon equipment from the Lyons – Rice county airport is going to “Wings of Hope”, an international non-denominational interfaith tax-exempt group specializing in the gratis operations of air transportation for medical missionaries in remote parts of the globe.

During the past few years the equipment was in use at the local facility it was infrequently out of operation. Recently it has been replaced by new beacon equipment that is considerably more reliable.

The equipment has been made obsolete by Federal Communication commission regulations.

The Lyons units and some from the airport at Pratt make up various components that are going to Wings of Hope.

The fact that the units are obsolete by standards here does not mean they are useless, and George Chandler of Pratt, who has a tie here through the Chandler National Bank, has been instrumental in getting the equipment into the right hands.

As the Pratt Tribune report puts it, “The equipment will one day again serve pilots making instrument weather landings because of interest in the international organization, and the wartime memory of a South Pacific Army Air base by a Pratt banker and businessman who still flies in pursuit of business interests.

Chandler was a leader in getting beacon equipment for Pratt’s airport more than a decade ago, which became obsolete and was replaced, and also knew of the idle equipment here. This led to the arrangement with Wings of Hope.

One of the transmitters perhaps will be installed near the old South Pacific air base from which Chandler’s squadron operated during World War Two. This is near Goroka, New Guinea.