Sun Lakes Aero Club
Member Profile Form
See Elton’s Portrait Below
|
Name: |
Elton E. Dyal |
|
Call Me: (Nickname) |
Elton |
|
Spouse: |
Gwen |
|
Birth Place: |
Texas |
|
Raised In: |
Texas |
|
Pilot Ratings: |
SEL, MEL, Inst |
|
Planes Previously Owned: |
BE-35 Bonanza. |
|
Planes Currently Owned: |
BE-35 Bonanza |
|
Planes Flown: |
T-6, T-28 A, T-33, F-51
H, F-80 C, F-86 A,E,F,&H |
|
Hours Flown |
5,000 |
|
Military Experience: |
Ten Years in the Air
National Guard |
|
Rank When Retired: |
Captain |
|
Professional/Life Work: |
Research Engineer,
Marketing, Entrepreneur |
|
Education and Degrees |
B.S. Mechanical
Engineering |
|
Club Affiliations |
Commemorative Air Force,
SLAC |
|
Interests/Hobbies |
Our Country, Flying,
Sports |
Portrait of a Member
Meet Elton Dyal
Elton’s
flying experience was initiated in the early 1950s with the Texas Air National
Guard (ANG) at Hobby Field in Houston, Texas.
That’s where Elton learned that flying could be exciting and fast; he
flew the P-51 Mustang and the F-80 Shooting Star. He relocated to Southern California within a few months and
transferred to the California ANG; his squadron was located at Van Nuys
Airport. Most of his Guard experience
was in later models of the North American F-86 Saber Jet. While living in Southern California, he
joined a partnership that owned an Aeronca and learned how to enjoy the scenery
while flying.
Elton
left the Air National Guard in 1959 when he moved to Chicago. He worked for the Waterman Hydraulics
Corporation until 1969 when he went into business for himself. His business grew to 100 employees and his
company was active in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. As his business grew Elton was able to travel by air in North America
in a company Bonanza and a company Cessna 340.
Elton
lived in Chicago from 1959 to 1990, but to escape the big city and the frigid
winter he vacationed on South Padre Island, Texas. In 1982 Elton joined the Confederate Air Force while vacationing
in Harlingen, Texas. He participated
with the Southern Great Lakes Wing of the Confederate Air Force at Chicago
O’Hare International Airport when he was home, and with the South Padre Island
Wing of the Confederate Air Force while vacationing in Texas. He also joined a flying club near Chicago
where he often enjoyed aerobatics in a T-34.
In
1987 Elton sold his business in Chicago and his home in Texas. About the same time, he purchased his very
own Bonanza and a new home in Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada. Until 1997 Elton traveled between the west
and Chicago as a consultant.
Over
a period of time he became attracted to Arizona. By 1989, Elton purchased a home in Sun Lakes. That is when he began to practice the annual
migration habits of a snowbird. Having
his own Bonanza for transportation made trips between British Columbia and
Arizona a pleasure. However, by 2001,
he realized that the cold, damp north Pacific air was just as uncomfortable to
his bones as the bitter cold in Chicago had been; that’s when he sold his home
in Nanaimo and became a fully developed “dry heat” desert rat.
When
Elton became a member of the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force he met
Sam Doria and they became friends. They
discovered they were both Sun Lakers.
Moreover, as they came to know each other, they learned that from 1982
through 1987 they lived within 3 miles of each other in Illinois. So, when Elton showed an interest in
organizing an aero club at Sun Lakes, it was only natural that Sam would share
his interest.
RDE