Mixed Blessing

Henry Lowe, president of FBO Lowe Aviation, Macon, GA, and a great contributor to aviation, had a flight physical not long ago. The medical examiner detected what looked like a small problem in one kidney. A urologist “watched it,” as doctors are wont to say, to see if it changed, grew, or got worse. In early September, the doctor startled Henry by saying that he needed to “come in next week to have that kidney removed.”

Despite the fact that Henry and wife Merrie had big plans—including airline tickets and event tickets—for a major aviation function that next week, Henry canceled those plans and scheduled the surgery.

The surgery went well. I talked with Henry today. He was at work and recovering nicely.

Now, as Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story…

The plans Henry canceled were for the air races at Reno. He had seats right behind the box seats into which the P-51 crashed in that infamous accident during the unlimited Gold Race. But for the flight physical that showed the problem that caused the surgeon to watch the spot that eventually required the surgery, Henry and Merrie would have been sitting in those seats when the racer crashed in that horrible accident.

There is a side story. Henry’s friend James Wright had tickets for the box seats into which the P-51 crashed. Because he had been promised a ride in one of the warbirds immediately after the Gold Race, James left his box seat early and was walking away when the crash occurred. The shock wave knocked him flat but he suffered little harm.

I’m planning to stay in close contact with Henry in the future. He leads a charmed life and it evidently spreads to his friends.

BTW, thanks to friend Mike Pickett, Aviation South, who first told me about this story.