Plane sent to Belize

Lander’s B.T. McManus heard word recently about what happened to the airplane he had donated to the “Wings of Hope” program.

That plane, which was valued at about $50,000, had been painted up with “Spirit of Wyoming” on its tail and was donated last fall B.T. received a letter recently which said the ‘plane is headed for Belmopan, Belize, a country in Central America, formerly known as British Honduras.

While there, the plane will be used by three missions, two Protestant and one Catholic.

William Edwards, vice president of Wings of Hope, wrote the following letter to the Belize mission explaining the program and sent a copy to McManus. We reprint part of it here:

“Our volunteer pilot and administrator for Belize, Mr. Wayne Erickson, will depart St. Louis on or about next Friday, Sept. 16, 1983, for the ferry flight from St. Louis to Belize. He will be accompanied by our good friend and veteran pilot, Capt. Pierre Swick (AAL) who will make the trip and assist Wayne to get the bird ‘in-position’ in Belize for volunteer service …

“It is our policy to assist more than one user in a service area because the capability of the aircraft is normally sufficient to meet the needs of at least several users. Wayne Erickson will be properly informed concerning our policy and he will be instructed to favor your program with priority assistance. We will lean on you heavily for direction ‘in-country’ so that this bird can be a blessing to a number of worthy ‘users. …

“Wings of Hope, Inc.; is charging nothing for the value of the aircraft, annual insurance, or the services of the pilot. Wayne Erickson will probably return to his home in California for Christmas of this year – at which time we will send down another qualified professional pilot and mechanical help as needed.”