[FWM News] Happy Holidays; Remembering Major Bill Disbrow

[Far West Masters news]

Happy holidays to everyone!  We can all be thankful for the plentiful snow this season, as the 
storm clouds move on east and the Sierras welcome the return of sunny skies to go with the 
bountiful feet of snow from the weekend storms.  It's a white Christmas for sure!

Our next races will be on the south shore of Lake Tahoe the second weekend of January: a SL 
doubleheader on Friday Jan. 11 at Heavenly for the classic Viva Italia, followed by two days of GS 
racing on Jan. 12-13 at Sierra at Tahoe.

Major Bill Disbrow

While many of us gather this with friends and family to celebrate the holidays, it's also a time to 
remember friends who are no longer with us. Longtime masters racer USAF Major Bill Disbrow passed 
away over the summer at age 96. We didn't see him much in the past few years, as he was occupied 
caring for his wife, but memories of Bill in his classic helmet and racing outfit remain for all 
who knew him.

Bill had an eventful and action-packed life. Born in 1915, he joined the Army Air Corps in 1943 and 
flew 50 missions in B24s, including 7 missions to the Ploesti Oil Fields in Romania where so many 
US aviators were lost. Continuing his Air Force career Bill flew missions in the Korean war and 
went on to be a test pilot and squadron leader. Following his retirement from active duty, Bill 
raced on skis and in Corvettes and was an active ballroom dancer. Major Disbrow was buried with 
full military honors at Riverside National Cemetery.

Riverside Press-Enterprise obituary:
   http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pe/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=158051069
Canyon Country Friday Flyer obituary
   http://fridayflyer.com/2012/06/22/in-memoriam-bill-disbrow
Bill at the Gillespie air show in 2007  (photos courtesy of John Wright):
   
http://johnwright.smugmug.com/Aviation/Civilian-Airshows/Wings-Over-Gillespie-2007/3028783_t7kQcd/4/164971723_Dm92U#!i=164971723&k=Dm92U