Lafayette Foundation Honors WWI Aviation Historian
by Rich Lane

SEPTEMBER 2000

Platte Valley Airport hosted the Lafayette Foundation's August 5 Pancake Breakfast Fly-In, which was held in honor of James L. Parks, MD, Ph.D.

After the pancake breakfast, his son, Andy Parks, gave a touching tribute to Dr. Parks, who was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame in 1989, mostly for his dedication in preserving World War I aviation history.

Dr. Parks built "Aquarius," a reproduction of the Fokker D-VII, in 1971. This plane, based at Platte Valley, was on display, as well as two other Platte Valley based vintage WWI aircraft - a Fokker DR-1 tri-plane (like the Red Baron's) and a British SE-5, which performed formation flying and a fly by. The vintage aircraft belong to the Lafayette Foundation, which was established by Dr. Parks.

Various other aircraft were flown in for display and performed flyovers, but the biggest boy at the show was a 1956 North American T-28 Navy trainer, owned by Bob Resling, chief pilot for Centennial Airport based International Jet. Everyone knew it when Bob arrived, flying low (legally, of course) over the field and banking to display the T-28 to the crowd. Lucky Di Freeze, the editor of The Journal, got to go for a ride in it. The T-28 is based at another airpark, Aurora Airpark.

Marilyn Taylor, Bob Resling, Kevin Kennelly and several others included in the Colorado Airpark Associates own Platte Valley Airport. Taylor serves as president of the association.

Platte Valley Airpark is located approximately 40 miles northeast of the Denver metro area near Hudson, Co. It has a 4,00-foot asphalt runway and a 2,500-foot turf/gravel crosswind runway.

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