Allen ‘Al’ Teasley
1933 ~ 2019
Captain Allen ‘Al’ Teasley, age 86 died peacefully in St. Petersburg, Florida on Sunday, December 22, 2019. Al was the youngest of eleven Teasley children living on a farm near Apison, TN, 23 miles East of Chattanooga.
In high school he was a good student who enjoyed basketball and whose family responsibilities included farm chores. Al enrolled at Murray State College in western Kentucky. Family lore has it that when Al was nineteen, he visited the local airport and observed a gleaming silver Douglas DC-3 airplane piloted by a white-scarfed aviator. He knew instantly what he wanted to do with his life.
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Glen ‘Andy’ Anderson
1921~ 2020
Anderson, Glenn M. age 99, of Bloomington, Minnesota died January 17, 2020. While little is known of Andy’s background, we do know he served in the Air Force in WWII, stationed in England with the 8th Air Force. He began his 37 year career at Northwest Airlines as an agent. Most of us knew ‘Andy’ through his role as the Manager of Flight Training Scheduling back in MSP. He was often one of our first contacts with the Training Department.
The renown scheduling team at NWA Flight Training were Andy, Ralph, and Pat. They were well known for their almost sleuth skills at finding trainees and instructors who did their best to not found, inserting them into schedule slots for early morning simulator and aircraft training flights. In time we came to appreciate Andy’s skill at doing his job very well.
Andy Anderson was interned at Ft. Snelling Cemetery.
- Bill Day
Larry A. Potton
1940 ~ 2020
Captain Larry Alan Potton, age 79, of River Falls, Wisconsin died at his home surrounded by his family on Sunday, January 12, 2020, after stoically battling cancer. Larry was born in Clinton, Wisconsin on July 6, 1940, the third child of Howard and Martha (Roberts) Potton. Larry spent his youth in Avalon, Wisconsin hunting and fishing with his father and two brothers, Bill and Dale, and tormenting his little sister, Ruth Ann.
Larry Potton graduated from Clinton High School, class of 1958, and from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville in 1962. He earned his Wings in 1964, proudly serving for five years as a Naval Aviator with Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 2 (HC-2), also known as the “Fleet Angels”. He and Linda Millman, of Platteville, Wisconsin, eloped and were married at Lakehurst Naval Air Station on June 12, 1964.
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Albert ‘Bert’ Sisler
1923 ~ 2019
Captain Bert Sisler, age 96, passed away November 12, 2019 at home with his wife by his side. Born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota the son of Clifford and Ella (Mills) Sisler. From his earliest years he had an inquiring mind with a strong bent toward science.
Being born in 1923 made Bert a prime candidate for military service during WWII. He served proudly as a pilot in the Army Air Corps.
After WWII Bert was one of thousands of veterans who returned to the University of Minnesota where in 1948, he completed a BS degree in mechanical engineering and business in 1948. He was employed in Minneapolis/St. Paul until hired Northwest Airlines as a pilot on July 13, 1953. Bert flew almost the entire linage of NWA aircraft assigned to the line during his 33-year career. Partly because part of his career he worked for Paul Soderlind in flight test and engineering. Many of us who flew with Bert at NWA marveled at his inquiring, scientific mind. He was highly skilled at explaining the rational behind the procedures we used to fly NWA airplanes. There was almost no technical aspect of our airplanes that Bert could not make interesting. Bert put aside his NWA uniform in September 1983.
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Henry ‘Terry’ Bunker
1938 ~ 2020
Captain Terry Bunker, age 81, passed away peacefully on January 22, 2020 after a brief illness, his wife Terri was by his side. At the time of his death Terry and his wife resided in Apple Valley, MN.
Born on July 03, 1938, the third child of Thomas and Mary Jane Bunker. Terry grew up in Cincinnati, OH where his father worked as a stockbroker. Many accredit Terry’s strong personality to the tutelage of his older brother Richard. In their pre-teen and early teen years the two brothers would spend most free days at the local movie theater. At the suggestion of his older brother, the two packed their pockets with snakes. Entering the theater, they climbed to the balcony where they released the snakes. Mischief with a capital M.
After high school Terry attended Xavier University until he acquired the academic credits required to test for the USAF Aviation Cadet Pilot Training. Terry prevailed and was admitted to the challenging Aviation Cadet Pilot Training course. After graduation from pilot training he was assigned to Vance AFB, OK as an ATC instructor pilot. Terry’s primary duty at Vance AFB was as an academic instructor, but he also often flew as an IP in the T-38. A number of future NWA pilots, like Skip Foster, would receive their early training from Terry. After his tenure as an instructor Terry was given an assignment to Air Defense Command (ADC) to fly the F-101 interceptor.
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John E. McAlpin
1934 ~ 2019
Captain John McAlpin, age 85, passed away on December 14, 2019. Born on September 16, 1934 to Thomas and Mary Agnes McAlpin in Minneapolis, MN. John’s father was a salesman for Liggett & Meyers Tobacco Company. John grew up in St. Cloud, MN and attended nearby Saint John’s University.
After two years of academic work at Saint John’s University, a friend convinced John to take the screening examinations and physicals for the USN Aviation Cadet (NAVCAD) program. John was admitted and began flight training at NAS Pensacola. Upon pilot training graduation John opted for a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps and initial duty as a multi-engine pilot. He served as a pilot in a variety of aircraft to include: the SNJ, R4Q (C-119), T-33, AD-3W, and the F9F Panther. Much of John’s active duty flying was spent flying the R4Q (C-119) in Europe and around the Mediterranean. While operating out of NAS Naples (Italy) John encountered the legendary Mafia mobster ‘Lucky’ Luciano. Lucky had been deported from the US to Italy and resided in a hotel used to house transit NATO flight crew. Apparently, the mobster had an ‘open door’ policy toward airmen and especially enjoyed discussing major league baseball with John. Pro baseball was something Luciano greatly missed about the USA. In 1958 John few direct support flights for U.S. Marines deployed in Lebanon during the 1958 Lebanon Crisis. This Middle East crisis was provoked in part by Egypt’s Gamal Nasser during a period of particularly high level of political and religious tension. After separating from active duty John served with the USMC Reserve at NAS Twin Cities.
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