Larry Dale

LAWRENCE P. "LARRY" DALE

Larry Dale was born in 1924 in Island Pond, Vermont.  Island Pond is still a small community in northeastern Vermont and one does not have an opportunity to see many airplanes flying overhead.  This was especially true in the late 1920s. But it was the over flight of those aircraft that stirred Larry Dale's heart and eventually led to a love of everything with wings.  

His education was interrupted by World War II when he was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1942 where he served as a cameraman assigned to duties as a mapmaker.  He later served at the Nuremberg Trials reproducing copies of evidence for participants from many countries. 

He returned to civilian life in 1946, completed his education and accepted a job at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory where he worked on analyzing ship signatures to be used for identification and targeting purposes.  He also worked in the warhead development section.

AEROCOUPE
   

Larry had accumulated very little flight time as a youngster, but it was enough to get him firmly entrenched in aviation.  In 1949 he bought an Aerocoupe and was soon checked out in it. A year later, Larry and Shirley celebrated the birth of their first child and the Aerocoupe had to go.

 Working for the Navy until 1960, Larry accepted a better position with NORAD in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Larry's heart was still set on aviation and he joined the Ent Aero Club at Peterson Field, Colorado Springs. He was soon checked out in every type of aircraft that they had and received his Private Pilot's License in 1962.