MY TRIBUTE TO JIM

Jim Chichetto left us unexpectedly in 2003. Maine lost a great wreckchaser, historian, author, and advocate for motorcycle safety/bikers' rights. The Maine Aviation Historical Society lost a President, leader, and a key driving force behind bringing the Maine Air Museum from a dream to reality. I lost a good friend, co-author, hiking buddy, and frankly someone who always kept me motivated to press on hard with this hobby. I have spent the past several months merging my files with Jim's and hope to complete our book "The price of Our Freedom- Military Aircraft Accidents in Maine During the Cold War Era" in the next year or two. I will always enjoy the history and stories of the men who served their nation in the air. It is a good thing that my own life has settled down a bit and I am hiking and researching again. But it will never be the same without Jim along....

Jim on a "White Bird" search on Round Pond Nubble in the late 1990s

Jim (left) and a former coworker at the site of the Perham B-25 crash in November 2001. This was our last "successful" hike. We went on an unsuccessful search for the Eagle Mountain F-101B the following spring. We actually drove through the crash site and looked in the wrong place!

Jim and son James partaking of one of his other hobbies.

Happier times! Jim and I taking a break from a masonry repair project at the Maine Air Museum building in September 2000. Jim is sitting with his girlfriend Gale. Kathy Noddin holds our 2 month old daughter, Allison.

HOME