Dick Graham

Born in Toledo, Ohio

Had nearly lifelong interest in and association with flying

Educated as Electrical engineer

Took flying lessons one summer between school years, had over 50 hrs, completed all requirements including written test except check ride which was scheduled but cancelled because classes started again (was both taking and teaching (graduate assistant) so had no time for anything else)

Out of school I lived in St Louis for a while working for McDonnell (on the airport) on NASA Gemini and Apollo guidance and control simulation.

Moved to Dayton (home of flight, Wright Bros., and Air Force Museum).

Flew every Sunday for 5 years to surrounding airports (up to 2 hrs away) for breakfast using Dayton Pilot Club planes with a charter member friend – Stopped when I got married and had twins (Karen and Ross).

Married to Jan for 36 yrs.

Jan has been the athletic department secretary at Centerville HS for nearly 30 yrs – she likes the kids and the coaches and enjoys her job.

Before marriage, Jan owned horses and was a rodeo queen (barrel racing, pole bending, and goat tying). Her last horse, which she went to Oklahoma to get with winnings from a church raffle, ended up being a champion polo horse

My pre-marriage indulgences were two street-racers: a 1967 Firebird 400 red convertible with hood-mounted tach and Hurst shifter, and a 1969 small block Corvette highly modified, yet stock, for autocross and track racing.

Have 3 grandkids, Zoë, Ryan, and Sarah. Was a decent piano/organ/synthesizer player until arthritis slowed me down.

Retired early because of health problems in 2004 at age 62

Collect old B&W movies from the ‘30s and ‘40s (The Thin Man, Humphrey Bogart, Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes, Alfred Hitchcock, etc.)

Convert vinyl records, cassette tapes, and reel-to-reel tapes over to CDs as a sideline (did all 300 of ours 2 years ago) and VHS library over to DVD

Started sim flying with FS4

Started making and releasing state scenery and tours with FS6, airport mods and AI with FS8, scenery and AI for Flight Club International Airways hubs and airports with FS9

Spend most of my FS time flying now: FOTMs, Flight Club International Airways Senior Captain, working on third RTW tour, just completed tour of all 50 states, working on tour of all USA military bases (did scenery and military AI for all 300+ airports I included), working on Scotland tour (with my scenery and AI), working on southwest USA tour, working on Oregon tour, etc., etc. – I do a LOT of flying now.