Sky Soaring Glider Club lost a dedicated friend on March 15 when Bob Haney passed away. Haney helped found Sky Soaring in 1972 when a group of glider pilots decided to fly CAP cadets out of farmer Aavang’s farm field near Algonquin, Illinois. Over the year he supported his glider club and glider friends with his time, talents and treasures.

After a stint as a crew chief on a B-17 during WWII he continued to use his training to build and rebuild aircraft including many of Sky Soaring’s gliders and their treasured tow plane, a venerable Bird Dog. Haney was the last surviving member of the crew of his B-17, the “Spittin’ Kittin.” During the week before his death at age 87 he was putting the finishing touches on a Sonex. A glider in need of repair was waiting in line. Haney was a flyer into his last hours. The vitality of today’s Sky Soaring Glider Club is indeed due in large part to Bob Haney. Today a hundred glider pilots ride into the sky as his legacy at Sky Soaring. Here is hoping he finds good thermals in the here after. – Larry Krengel