BILL MEDCALF 1956 - 1986 PILOT ACF GSW DAL DFW DEN Posted at John Stark's guestbook: August 15, 2005 I'm sorry to hear of John's passing. He was one of the "good ones." Always upbeat, good sense of humor, and a real pleasure to be around. We'll all miss him -Bill Medcalf (Hot Springs Village, AR ) JAKE BILL METCALF PASSED ABOUT 2:30 PM TODAY. DON'T KNOW ABOUT SERVICES YET..... VERY SAD DAY...... -JOHNNIE TYLER (4/18/06) W G Medcalf Seniority date 2/27/56 Per 9/1/72 FL/ALPA seniority list. -Jake Lamkins (4/18/06) Posted at FL Club: Bill Metcalf has died. Johnnie Tyler emailed, "BILL METCALF PASSED ABOUT 2:30 PM TODAY. DON'T KNOW ABOUT SERVICES YET.....JOHNNIE TYLER VERY SAD DAY......" Anyone with more info, please post. Jake (4/19/06) Thanks for the info, Johnnie. Let me know additional info as you get it. Jake (4/19/06) Bill Medcalf died yesterday, April 18, 2006. Memorial services will be held in Colleyville Tuesday, April 25,2006. I don't know the particulars, will let you know when I get more information. -Weldon Finney (4/19/06) Just learned today that Bill Medcalf's funeral services will be held next Tuesday the 25th at 2:00 pm at Bluebonnet Funeral Home in Colleyville. -Weldon Finney (4/19/06) Bill Medcalf died yesterday, April 18, 2006. Memorial services will be held in Colleyville Tuesday, April 25,2006. Bill Medcaif's funeral services will be held next Tuesday the 25th at 10: 00 am (change) at Bluebonnet Funeral Home in Colleyville. It will be in the Sunday Star Telegram. From Bill's daughter it will be at 10:00 am at Bluebonnet Funeral Home Jim Ford (4/20/06) SOME CONFUSION ABOUT THE TIME OF BILL MEDCALF'S FUNERAL. THE FUNERAL TIME AND PLACE IS NOW CONFIRMED BY THE FUNERAL HOME. IT WILL BE HELD AT BLUEBONNET FUNERAL HOME IN COLLEYVILLE AT 10:OO AM TUESDAY, APRIL 25th. SORRY FOR THE MIX UP. -Weldon Finney (4/20/06) Email to Bill Sanders: Hi Bill, CN/FL pilot Bill Medcalf died the 18th in Hot Springs Village. His obituary is supposed to be in today's HOT newspaper. If it is, could you get a copy to me either via email or postal. Hope all's well with you, -Jake Lamkins (4/20/06) My wife just put the copy from the newspaper in an envelope to send you. Missed the postman today, though. The obit said he was pilot for Central, then CONTINENTAL, didn't mention Frontier!! This was really sad news. I last saw Bill when he and I were both in the hospital at the same time. That was in 2001, I believe. -Bill Sanders (4/20/06) Sam Warriner phoned and told me there was a photo of Bill Medcalf in the Sep 1964 Skywriter. I had the issue and scanned it for Bill's webpage. He was friends with Bill and worked on his vehicles a lot. He told the story of working on Bill's truck engine once and accidentally leaving an oil cloth in the oil pan. When Sam found the mistake, he confessed to Bill who responded, "Don't worry about it, some of us land at the wrong airport too." Sam said Bill's lung problems came from his putting some chemicals on his pond at his place near Ft. Worth. He said Bill had a really nice place near Ft. Worth with a nature trail before he moved to Hot Springs Village a few years ago. -Jake Lamkins (4/20/06) Mornin' Ya'll .... the "ranks" are thinnin' way too fast lately ... I just wanted to let you know that I'm posting some stories about the guys and gals we all loved and flew with .... back when life was good. I'll be posting some Bill Medcalf stories from Hugh Barron in the next couple days. You can see it by logging on to www.kansascitycrewbase.com and clicking on "Stories told in The Bar" in the index. Enjoy the website .... Until Next Time .... Phil Stallings (5/22/06) The following stories about Bill Medcalf was sent to me by Renee (Barron) Thompson and reprinted here with her and Captain Hugh Barron's permission .... This is Renee (Barron) Thompson and I sent my Dad, Hugh Barron your email about Bill Medcalf and he was so sad. My Dad writes to all of us (his five kids) from time to time his thoughts and I thought I would share this with you. It brought both a smile and a tear…………. Bill Medcalf................rugged outdoorsman, We both flew for Central Airlines. The typical Central pilot was as untypical as any group of men you have ever seen. Bill was about my size but strong as a bull. He was once seen in a fist fight with Carl Ade (about 6'3") that started in the Gar Hole, a bar in our Little Rock Hotel ..... worked its way through the lobby and into the elevator and up to the upper floors. I don't know who won but I bet it wasn't Carl. Being the outdoors man he was prompted to write a book (ala Robert Ruark) about some of his experiences. He bought a wild life noisemaker designed to lure raccoons. Bill had climbed over a barbed wire fence and proceeded to operate the lure. From out of nowhere about 6 coons pounced on him and nearly ate him alive. He had to have the dreaded series of rabies shots. He was a bow hunter. One day he was firing at a target and the arrow broke while bow was fully flexed and he promptly shot the broken arrow through his wrist. So he goes to the hospital looking like Steve Martin with an arrow sticking out both sides of his wrist. It is nearly impossible to shoot yourself with a bow and arrow. Once in the DC-3 he had his hunting dog with him all day long on the way to Kansas City. The pup had to poop and did it into the Co-pilot's flight bag. Yuk He went to Alaska to hunt with one of his best friends. The bush plane flew them and all their gear to a remote lake and planned to pick them up in a week. The first night, Bill's partner wandered away from camp and never returned. Bill searched for him for a week and never found him. After going back to Keller, he could not rest and took a couple of his buddies back to Alaska and searched again. After a couple of days they found the remains of his buddy minus what the bear had eaten. He was reparing a leaky roof on the top of his camper. He accidently fell off and lay on his back for hours with broken bones until Nan found him. Bill was generous as any person I know. Greg and I took advantage of his generousity for about a year. Bill rented his airplane to us for $8 dollars per hour. I know he lost on that deal. He landed at the wrong Airport going into Salt Lake one low visibility day. Things were never the same for Bill after that. Bill died yesterday. -Hugh Barron (4/19/06) I remember flight 17 from DEN to SLC landed at the wrong airport one evening. Think it was in 1974. I was working the counter and the flight had called in range for schedule. About 20 minutes after scheduled arrival we were starting to wonder what the deal was. The phone rang and it was the captain calling to say he had landed 15 miles short of SLC at a small airport south of town. They had to strip the aircraft to fly it out. Pretty hard trying to explain the situation to the waiting family and friends of the passengers. A fun evening for sure. -Ron Abfalter (1/7/10) Posted at the FL Club: Bill Medcalf was the unlucky captain on that flight. He didn't deserve what happened to him. See his memorial webpage to get a flavor of what a great guy he was. -Jake Lamkins (1/7/10) Yes indeed--Bill Medcalf was one of the best. -Ken Stewart (1/7/10) Shortly after Bill's landing in SLC, I was flying from FSM to DFW where I was going to take Tex International to San Angelo,TX. As I was walking to the plane in FSM, Bill opened the window and yelled "hey Bill,where you headed." I said,"San Angelo,TX,do you fly into there?" He said, "you never know,when you fly with me." He was really a great guy,with a great sense of humor. -Bill Guthrie (1/8/10)