Pioneers
of Stealth 24 April 2024
The
After Action Report for the Pioneers of Stealth Memorial creation, dedication
ceremony, and celebration banquet.
None
of this could have taken place without the active participation in ideas and
votes plus the financial support you, the Pioneers of Stealth, provided. You generously responded.
In
late 2020 and early 2021, the POS leadership again brought up the idea of a
memorial. I was asked by Pete Knauth on
20 January 2021 to lead the effort. The following day I asked Pete, John
Griffin, Skip Hickey, and Jack Wilson to join me in the effort. By the 30th
the memorial committee was formed.
We
decided or first task would be to identify a location in the National Museum of
the United States Air Force Memorial Garden.
There was one place available in the original garden but the place was
far away from foot traffic into the museum.
We then looked at the newer garden and learned the memorial to the
Berlin Airlift was there. We learned the Air Force Thunderbirds reserved a spot
there and the stunning Gold Star memorial is there. We settled on a place very near the parking
lot and realized that when people got off the bus, they would see the POS
memorial site located right in front of them.
We informed the NMUSAF of our thoughts and that spot was “penciled in”
on 19 March 2021. On 22 March 2021, that spot was reserved for us by the
NMUSAF.
In
early March 2021 we identified our contractor.
Because of our earlier 2017 effort ( I had led a team with Jim DeStout,
Dave Roselius, and Jack Wilson), I
suggested we talk to Larry Morrison who was still working at Dodd’s Monuments.
In that earlier effort, I asked who has built the majority of the monuments in
recent years. They identified Larry
Morrison. In April, he moved to Morrison
Monuments.. He agreed to work with us. He contacted the NMUSAF on 18 March 2021
to inform them of our intent.
Our
aim was to encourage as much participation of the members in creating the
memorial as possible. We expressly aimed to have this memorial designed by the
POS members and paid for by the POS members.
We discussed asking companies for modest amounts. Very early on, we
decided no names were to be placed on the monuments.
In
laying out a plan to generate the memorial, we decide to use the USAF aircraft
acquisition approach using language every POS member understood: Concept
Exploration, Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review, Design Freeze,
and proposal submittal.
To
communicate with our POS members we depended heavily on Jerry Vanden Bosch and
Pat Saatzer to communicate with the pioneers. Without their active
participation this project could not have been accomplished. They laid out the message postings, the
voting process and records collection.
The messages I sent on updates through out the process were as detailed
as possible making our progress as transparent as possible. We hid nothing, as
Jack Twigg said… “the truth will out”.
On
31 March 2021, I sent a letter to Jerry Vanden Bosch and Pat Saatzer to send to
the members our announcement of the memorial project.
“Dear
Pioneers of Stealth members,
The
Pioneers of Stealth Association, an organization of government and industry
people that brought low observables (stealth) into being, are creating a
memorial that will be placed at the National Museum of the United States Air
Force located at Wright Patterson AFB OH.
This memorial will be placed among other significant tributes to the
history of the Air Force.
This will
be a long-term effort that will require a commitment by the membership. First, we are asking for ideas for the
monument. Second, we need to pay our
dues to assure we have sufficient funds. And third, we will need members to be
available for support to the Museum, our contractors, potentially the Air Staff
and whoever else we may need for help.
Memorial donations can be paid in the same manner as dues BUT MUST
BE DESIGNATED AS MEMORIAL PROJECT
CONTRIBUTIONS. If the memorial payment is combined with dues, please
designate what amount you wish to apply to which...
Make all checks payable to the PIONEERS OF STEALTH and mail to
Peter Knauth, 130 South Church Street, Smithfield, VA 23430. All payments,
properly designated, may also be made via the PayPal link on the POS website
The
Memorial milestone dates have been established as:
a.
4 July 2021 End Concept
Exploration
b.
24 November 2021 Final PDR
c.
25 December 2021 CDR
d.
3 January 2022 – Design Frozen
Letter sent to NMUSAF with the design.
Pat
Saatzer and Jerry Vanden Bosch are developing a link on the website to put your
ideas for the Memorial. All of the ideas
will be available for everyone to see and read and enhance their own
thinking.
Skip
Hickey has written a draft of the guidelines, which will be put on the POS
website. The memorial will be limited to
the four systems that define us; Have Blue, Tacit Blue, F-117 and B-2. Perhaps a cloud somewhere. You can start sketching and noodling your
ideas now to send to the file and to Denny but wait until we have established a
folder.
Denny’s
contact information.
Dennis W
Jarvi, Chairman, Pioneers of Stealth Memorial Committee
1092
Kenbrook
Beavercreek,
OH 45430-1312
937.361.6025
We are
all excited to get this important task finally underway after talking about it
since the Dayton Reunion, and even before that.
John
Griffin, President, Pioneers of Stealth.”
On
15 April 2021, after deciding to meet weekly via Zoom we held our first virtual
meeting to discuss how to down select options, engage the Senior Advisory Group
and the POS members. Subsequent meetings
were held on Go-to-Meeting every Wednesday at 4 pm Eastern. Pete Knauth set the meeting notices and
notified the Senior Advisory Group. I
asked Dave Lynch, Sherm Mullin, and Irv Walland to join us on the SAG. They
agreed. We discussed current status and
plans for the next set of steps. This approach worked very well.
In
laying out a plan to generate the memorial, as I mentioned, we decide to use
the USAF aircraft acquisition process using language all POS members
understood. First was establishing dates for each milestone. We decided upon using memorable dates to
establish the schedule. We included time to think, for interaction, and review.
We began with opening the Concept Exploration Phase on 4 May 2021. We used the 4th of July for
closing the Concept of Exploration Phase.
Seven
greatly varying options by seven members were identified. These included John
Griffin, Skip Hickey, Denny Jarvi, Pete Knauth, Pat Saatzer, Dick Scofield, and
Roy Wubker with Jack Twigg.
After
considerable discussion including the SAG, and including comments we received,
we selected 5 options for the members to vote on in the Preliminary Design
Review 1. On 27 July we sent these 5
options to Morrison Monuments to develop graphics. The voting began on 6 September and closed on
13 September 2021. The results were:
Option 1, Submitted by John
Griffin: 44 votes, 41.09%
Option 2: Submitted by Pat
Saatzer: 3 votes, 2.86%
Option 3: Submitted by Roy Wubker: 27
votes, 25.70%
Option 4: Submitted by Skip
Hickey: 17 votes, 16.19%
Option 5: Submitted by Denny
Jarvi: 14 votes, 13.33%
The
Memorial Committee then selected three design variants for PDR 2. The team met with Morrison Monuments to
discuss the three variants. On 4 October 2021. The package was coordinated with
the SAG a few days later. The PDR 2 was begun on 28 October and closed one 7
November 2021. The results were:
Variant 1: A melding of Options 1 and
5 in PDR 1: 72 votes
Variant 2: Roy Wubuker’s Option 3 in
PDR 1: 5 votes
Variant 3: Skip Hickey’s Option 4 in
PDR 1: 16 votes
Comments
were mostly about not wanting benches and aircraft orientation were made by 31
voters. The POS members’ votes and
comments made it clear which direction we were proceeding.
The
team then examined two versions of Variant 1 in PDR 2, for the members to
choose from. PDR 3 focusing specifically on the central memorial design and the
wording began on 5 December 2021 and closed on 10 December 2021. The results
were:
Version A: 29 votes
Version B: 44 votes
These
gave us direction to proceed with the Critical Design Review Phase.
On
16 December 2021, Pat Saatzer sent the POS members the detailed final schedule:
“Greetings Pioneers of Stealth
The results of the Pioneers of Stealth PDR 3 are in.
We had 73 people participating in this vote. Of those, 29 selected Variant A
and 44 selected Variant B. Comments were provided by 34. Many of the comments
were detailed edits and others included their own submittal.
We wish to thank all of you for your interest and
voting. Thank all of you who made comments.
We have closed out the Preliminary Design Review
Phase and have initiated the Critical Design Review Phase. You will be invited to comment on our
thoughts as we progress in the CDR Phase. This is critical, this is your
monument. We are really looking forward to your comments. We realize this is
the holiday season and many have plans.
As a result of the votes, and especially the
comments received during voting, we are significantly adjusting our draft words
on the aircraft model bases. We are aiming our writings to the average
interested person that may visit the memorial. We have created a format we hope
will apply all four of the aircraft so the word formats are flow in a similar
pattern. We are working on 10 different displays, front side of the Advent of
Stealth that you have voted on, the back side of the Advent of Stealth, and the
front side and the back side of the 4 aircraft model bases.
Milestones that we are working towards:
* Creation of
all ten displays - POS Memorial
committee - due 15 Dec 2021
*
Coordination of displays
- POS Memorial committee -
comments due to all 17 Dec 2021
* Agreement
on drafts - POS Memorial committee - completed due to me
22 Dec 2021
* Presented
to Morrison Mon. _ Morrison
Monuments - 23-28 Dec 2021
*
Coordination of displays
- SAG/POS Leadership -
comments due to committee 7 Jan 2022
*
Presentation of displays -
POS Membership - 10-14 Jan 2022 for comments to committee
* Members
comments worked - POS memorial committee - 14-19 Jan 2022 to incorporate
changes
* Presented
to Morrison Mon. - Morrison
Monuments - 20-27 Jan 2022
* Changes
coordinated upon - SAG/POS
Leadership - comments due to
committee 4 Feb 2022
* Final
design - POS
Memorial Committee - Completed by 11 Feb
2022
* Final
design review - SAG/POS
Leadership - Completed by 18 Feb
2022
* Final
design presented - POS
Membership - 22-25 Feb 2022
* Morrison
Monuments Design - Morrison
Monuments - creates the design
package to be submitted to the NMUSAF
* Letter sent
to NMUSAF - Dennis W Jarvi, Chairman - 4 Mar 2022 , POS memorial design submitted for approval
In this CDR phase we will present to you our
thoughts. We will need your comments. At the very end of this phase we will
present what we plan to submit to the National Museum of the United States Air
Force.
Dennis W Jarvi, Chairman
Pioneers of Stealth Memorial Committee
1092 Kenbrook Drive
Beavercreek, OH 45430-1312
Cell: 937.361.6025
In
mid July 2021 we realized the issue of not being a 501(c)(3) organization was
impacting our fund raising campaign.
Working together with Pete Knauth, John Griffin made a POS partnership
arrangement with Mackinsie Whitmer, executive director of the National Aviation
Heritage Alliance (NAHA) in Dayton, Ohio, an organization that is a
501(c)(3). Companies could send their
monies to NAHA and NAHA could send those monies to Morrison Monuments. That
worked very well.
In
mid August 2021, President John Griffin sent POS Memorial notification letters
to the CEOs of the contractors involved with low observables.
On
16 December 2021 Skip Hickey suggested a reduction in the size and also design
changes to the Advent of Stealth Monument.
This would improve viewing the aircraft monuments from the parking lot
and reduce cost. His design changes were approved by the memorial committee and
the SAG.
On
10 January 2022 we asked our POS members to comment on the words on the front
and back of the Have Blue, F-117, Tacit Blue, B-2, and the Dedication Monument.
This was the first of several iterations. We received comments both formally
and informally. By the 27th
we received comments from 13 POS members.
Their comments were considered and partly incorporated.
On
22 January 2022, I signed a firm fixed price contract with Morrison
Monuments. We had received cost
estimates from them on 28 December 2021.
On
9 March 2022, I received an e-mail from Dick Scofield who was attempting to
“grease the skids”, with the draft POS memorial design created by Morrison
Monuments along with the both front and back words on all the monuments as of
late January 2022. With two paragraphs
that were modified, the design was approved by HQ USAF. All work reviewing and modifying the words was
stopped in March as everything was overcome by events. Our next task was to ensure what we planned
to submit matched the design approved by HQ USAF.
On
29 March 2022, President John Griffin and I signed the documents to formally
submit our design to the NMUSAF.
Now
the real work began. On 25 March 2023,
Morrison Monuments laid out the stakes on the ground where the concrete pad and
sidewalk will be placed. Included were
the stakes where the monuments would be mounted. These areas would be dug 4
feet down for concrete and rebar to support a 7,000 pound memorial.
Morrison
Monuments selected the Spradlin Brothers in Springfield, Ohio to build the
aircraft. Spradlin needed a 3D model to
work from. After learning Clark State University, who they were depending upon,
could not perform the task, BASTech in North Dayton was selected by
Spradlin. BASTech was slow, depended
upon models provided by Skip Hickey and John Griffin and still did not perform
as well as desired. Skip spent a lot of
time with the Spradlin brothers to ensure the aircraft model manufacturing
schedule was being met. Using a design
drawing by Skip, Spradlin brothers also built the RATSCAT like pylons that
would be mounted welded onto the models.
The
Have Blue model was available for review on 29 November 2022.
The
F-117 model was ready for review in 13 March 2023. The B-2 model was being
laser cut on 16 May 2023.
On
13 March and again on 25 May 2023, we observed Boyd’s Machine and Metal
Finishing Company in West Milton, Ohio, under a subcontract from Spradlin
Bothers, polishing the aircraft with the pylons attached. It took about a week
per aircraft.
In
the meantime, in mid March 2023, Art and Stone Monument Company in Lebanon,
Ohio, etched the monuments from designs submitted by Morrison Monuments. It
took a week to complete all the laser etchings on all the monuments. The
monuments were ready.
On
3 April 2023, Don Ehrhart, Morrisons’s sub contractor, began digging the ground
creating the pad area. Concrete was poured on the pre-placed gravel on 10 April
2023. The area beneath the monuments is 4 feet deep with rebar to support the
7,000 pound monument.
The
Monuments were placed on the concrete pads on 17 June 2023. The aircraft were mounted on the monuments on
7 July 2023.
The
monument was ready for dedication.
We
began planning the dedication ceremony and celebration banquet very early on. We
decided to accomplish the dedication on the 34th anniversary of the
B-2 first flight, 17 July 2023. We made plans to have a dedication ceremony at
the site and a dedication celebration banquet inside the museum. Shortly after being asked to lead this effort
in January 2021, I asked General Joe Ralston to assist. He agreed. I then asked Hon Paul Kaminski if
he would speak. He agreed. Later I asked General John Schoeppner to introduce
General Ralston. He agreed.
At
the suggestion of Pete Knauth, we decided to hire an events planner. After a short competition, we hired Judy Ivie
from TEC Events Services to help us with the dedication ceremony and banquet.
Probably one of our best decisions was to hire her.
Judy,
together with Emilee Munafo and their team put these plans in place. They
created a web site for members to sign up, order meals, control seating, who
was sitting where.
Judy
created menu tasting events with Kohler Catering to establish menu options.
Frank Campanile created wine tasting events.
To control costs, Judy and Frank split duties of who and how much wine
to buy from where. Frank had special POS
Dedication Ceremony wine labels created that would be added on top of the
existing labels. That turned out to be a hit.
For
the dedication ceremony at the POS memorial site, Judy and Emilee worked
closely with the museum staff at very detailed levels on every aspect of the events:
the placement of the podium given the morning sun angles; exactly where - and how many - chairs would
be placed; where microphones would be placed; where the media stand would be;
and electrical power for amplifiers. Steps considered our 80 year old speakers.
We
had over 600 people attend the dedication ceremony and a few over 400 attend
the banquet in the museum.
For
both of these events we relied heavily on Debbie and John Summerlot to create
terrific brochures for the attendees.
They included bios, order of events, and nuggets of information on
spectacular displays.
The
planning by Judy and Emily for the dedication celebration banquet worked very
well. Emilee created a cross referenced
spread sheet on each attendee, established time lines for registering, ordering
meals, those who have paid, table selection, and cut off dates. Charts were
created, by name, of who was seating where as people entered the banquet area.
Judy created a schedule of events for me as the master of ceremony of the celebration
dinner. We added one segment that we
kept closed lipped about during our planning: Judy hired the Singing
Waiters. We intentionally did this to
keep it a surprise and change the event to be very different from a standard
banquet. They were a smashing hit. Kohler added a surprise dessert to the meal
with a 3D chocolate POS logo. The meals came out simultaneously and were hot.
John
Griffin invited the contactors to speak.
They eagerly agreed
Pat
Saatzer created a movie containing clips from the contactors.
In
late 2022, the idea of creating an on line store came into being. Mike Nelson and Greg Hill worked with Emilee
Munafo who knew a company in Kettering, Ohio who could order garments and other
items for the POS members. Special
memorial lapel pins, wearing apparel with a memorial logo, drinking glasses,
license plate frames, key fobs, backpacks and numerous other items were
created. A link on the POS web page was created for easy access. A beautify designed catalogue was
created. This effort is still on line
and brings funds into the POS treasury.
It is available for your use today.
A
huge THANK YOU to all of you for your terrific support in this magnificent
event.
Denny
Jarvi, Chairman (ret)
Pioneers
of Stealth Memorial Committee
1092
Kenbrook Dr
Beavercreek,
OH 45430-1312
Cell:
937.361.6025