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Wild Weather in Central Oregon

We’ve been having some wild weather today. Depending on your elevation, you could be seeing rain or snow. and strong wind gusts. “What we're looking at is a fresh storm system that is bringing a variety of weather. In the higher elevation its snow, in the lower elevations its rain or even thunderstorms. and it gets more unstable as we do through the day and into the night.” Scott Larimore with the Weather Channel says we're under a high wind advisory until later tonight. Tune into KBND’s “Take Five” Tuesday for insight into our wild weather!

Roseburg vet takes flight in vintage plane | | The Bulletin

ROSEBURG — A hazy fog covering Roseburg Municipal Airport on a recent morning melted away just in time for Paul Bodenhamer Sr. to spot a red and white 1943 Boeing Stearman biplane as it descended from the heavens.

Bodenhamer, 87, of Roseburg, was a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II and took his first flying lessons in a Stearman.

Almost seven decades later, Bodenhamer took the controls again on April 12, thanks to a father and son who have spent the last two weeks flying their vintage plane across the country to give aging veterans free rides.

“I have never even dreamt about anything like this,” Bodenhamer said. “It was just like sitting in an old chair.”

Former Oregon senator and one-time Roseburg resident Bill Fisher, 75, has owned the biplane for about 30 years and recently had it restored to its original glory. Before Fisher owned the plane, it had a long career as a crop duster.

Fisher, now of Salem, and his son, Darryl, are two links in a long family line of pilots. The two have long dreamed of traveling the country by way of the biplane. The dream became a reality when they retrieved the plane after shipping it across the country for restoration.

“We picked it up in Mississippi, and we flew it all the way east to South Carolina. Then we have been taking seniors and WWII veterans on rides on the way back,” said 47-year-old Darryl Fisher, who lives in Reno, Nev.

The Fishers spread word of their dream tour through friends and family, and were able to take about two dozen people up into the sky.

“I have called it our Ageless Aviation Dream Tour because it has been Dad’s and my dream to do this,” Darryl Fisher said. “It has been an incredible privilege.”

Bill Fisher said memories come flooding back to the veterans when they step into the plane. While he has treasured the trip with his son, Bill Fisher said his favorite part has been watching the enthusiastic reactions of the guest riders.

“You just don’t understand how important it is (to them). And these people fought for our freedom so that my dad and I could do this,” Darryl Fisher said.

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