In 2004, the National Soaring Museum published ‘See ‘Ya at the Airport’, a collection of Charlie Spratt’s stories about his life, youth, people that influenced him, soaring contests he attended, and CD’d, and other soaring events, all soaked in his love for the sport. Now that Charlie is gone, this book has become more than just a collection of great stories; it is a record of soaring history.

As delightful as this book was, it failed to include a large body of Charlie’s writings that he produced from 1980 – 1998: his newsletter Sailplane Racing News. Before there were online contest reports, there was SRN. He started every contest report with ‘Hi Race Fans’ and ended with ‘See you at the Airport’. Charlie produced the SRN newsletter up to eight times a year and mailed them to a list of contest pilot subscribers. It was the place to get ‘the latest and hottest news’.

Typical Charlie, he reported both on contests and people, and did not shy away from mixing in a refreshing dose of opinion now and then. Having recently read most of the 18 years of SRN in preparation of this updated Second Edition of ‘See ‘Ya at the Airport’, it was both a treat and an education. The stories and ‘funnies’ are vintage Charlie, and many of the events he reported turned out to be pivotal points in US soaring history.

With the help of Janice Hoke, Charlie’s trusted production manager during most of the 18 SRN years, we selected material for a new chapter in this Second Edition of ‘See ‘Ya at the Airport’ dedicated to Sailplane Racing News. With this chapter, plus a new introduction to the book by Karl Striedieck and another previously unpublished story by Charlie that we just couldn’t pass up, ‘The Tube’, 35 pages are added to the book.  Thirty five pages of reading pleasure, while you hear Charlie chuckle in the background…

See ‘Ya at the Airport, Second Edition, published by National Soaring Museum

B/W, 202 pages, 29 photographs

Release date: June 28, 2011

For Sale at: BTLinkPublishing.com and National Soaring Museum 607-734-3128