http://nwanews.com/nwat/News/73014/
Bruce Vaughan said his life is a successful failure. The 87-year-old Springdale native said he's failed at everything that other people think is important but he's been highly successful at doing what he wants to do. "At this point in my life I'd rather be going to my grave knowing that I did what I wanted to do rather than making a million dollars in some office," Vaughan said with a serious look. "I wasn't cut out for that." Vaughan was cut out for a life of adventure and radios. In fact, a look at what Vaughan calls "his domain" in the second level of his Springdale residence clearly shows how dedicated the man is to ham radios. They adorn his walls and desks like a flashback to a 1940s radio store. He has a whole shop devoted to collecting parts, and he builds the radios himself. "I built my first radio when I was 12. It didn't work," Vaughan said with a laugh. "But I didn't get discouraged, and I built another one that did work a few months later." The amateur radio builder decided he wanted to get his ham radio license and begin broadcasting when he was 16. He applied but had to wait two months before the certification arrived. Not really the patient type, the then-16-year-old Vaughan decided to use his friend's call sign and go live on the air for the first time. "I didn't expect to get any contacts," Vaughan said with a laugh. "When I did it scared me so bad I couldn't talk." Vaughan said that was one of the highlights of his childhood, building and tinkering with ham radios. It was all he had, considering he said his family was "dirt poor" as a kid. It didn't keep Vaughan from reading about adventure though, adventure he would eventually get to experience. "I read the Tom Swift series. I used to think how great it would be to do some of those things," Vaughan said with a twinkle in his eye. "I was actually lucky enough to do about all of those things." Vaughan's adventures started when he found out he was about to be drafted. He decided he'd rather enter the service on his own terms and marched to the local United States Army office and enlisted in the Army Air Corps. His first duty once he hit England? Permanent latrine duty. "I was responsible for a whole row of them," he said. Lucky for Vaughan, he'd made friends with a captain in the communications division of the Army Air Corps and was given a chance to prove his worth when that captain asked him and his friend to equip 25 planes with a new, four-channel British radios. Vaughan said he only had one night to figure out the radios and how to install them on U.S.-built planes. "We worked all night and got them running," he said. "They awarded me the Bronze Star." Vaughan was transferred to the communications division and put in charge of radios. He managed to fly a few delivery missions as well. On one mission, he stared death right in the eye. "I was on a mission, and we were flying over the (English) Channel," Vaughan explained. "I was talking to the pilot, and I pointed out some islands we were over and asked what they were." Vaughan was told that the land masses were the Channel Islands right before there was a loud explosion and the plane entered a nose dive. "One of the mechanics looked out and told us that we'd lost a wing," he said. Vaughan said that as he watched the water get closer and closer he thought he was at the end yet he felt no panic. The plane started to level off, and that's when Vaughan looked at the cockpit and realized neither the pilot nor co-pilot looked worried, he said. "Then I was told that the Allies had never bothered to take the Channel Islands and that a large shell had exploded near us," Vaughan explained. He said that the pilot realized his mistake once the firing began and maneuvered the plane out of harm's way: straight down, out of the antiaircraft gunner's sites. Vaughan never had any other close calls like that. He eventually was rewarded for his hard work with a ticket home. His superior officer pulled Vaughan aside one afternoon in England and told him there was a plane leaving the next day and if Vaughan wanted to go home, all he needed to do was board it. "I'd worked on that plane a thousand times. It had been badly shot up," Vaughan said. "But I really wanted to go home." There were no transatlantic flights in those days, so Vaughan began a 12,000-mile trip south, with stops in places like France and Brazil. Despite a few holdups, including one due to a stowaway baboon, Vaughan found himself with Arkansas dust dirtying his shoes once more. He tried to go back to school, but never did see eye to eye with his professors, so Vaughan decided to go back to what he knew he was good at: radios. Vaughan opened up a radio repair shop in downtown Springdale. While working at the store, he met his future wife, Mary Frances Maestri. She was working at the local dime store's lunch market. "I spent a lot of time there," Vaughan said. "Feb. 13, 1947, I asked her for a date." Vaughan took his crush to dinner and the movies only to find out she was planning a move to California. "I asked her if she had any reason to stay in Arkansas," he said. "She said she had been offered a job at the First National Bank but didn't feel qualified to take it." Vaughan said the next day, Valentine's Day, he bought 12 roses and a nice fountain pen and sent them to Francis with a note telling her to take the bank job. The two are still happily married after 61 years. Vaughan continued to work at the shop, dabbling in radios and even TVs. He eventually retired and became a full-time radio builder. "This one's probably the best I've ever built," he said grabbing a small silver one in the corner of his workroom. Vaughan has built 114 radios from scratch since his retirement. "I wanted to build all the ones I couldn't afford as a child," he said. Soon the radios began to stack up, and Vaughan decided to try to sell one on eBay. He put his first one up for $445 but got no bids. Shortly after the auction ended, Vaughan got an e-mail from a main in Studio City, Calif., offering to buy the radio. Vaughan and the mystery man exchanged e-mails, and the man asked all about how Vaughan built the machines and how he worked them. In their conversation Vaughan began to trust the man and told him the best way to learn about the hobby would be for him to come and stay a week with Vaughan and his wife. The mystery man said he relished the idea, but he was the lead singer in a band that had a very busy schedule. "He e-mailed me and said he was in a band called The Eagles," Vaughan said with a chuckle. "I didn't know who The Eagles were. I knew who Louie Armstrong was but not The Eagles." The man Vaughan had been e-mailing was the famous Joe Walsh. Vaughan finally did convince the music star to come spend a week at his house, and he spent time teaching Walsh how to build the radios. "He went home with a firm resolution to build radios," Vaughan said. Now, Vaughan still tinkers in his workshop. There are more radios to be build and perhaps a few more adventures to be had. "I think I've had some very interesting experiences," Vaughan said. *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
