Big Lessons from Little Airplanes: 31 Daily Flights

By Tex Newman

Whether piloting a plane and enjoying the panorama below or watching a model you built soar into the blue among the clouds above, flying is always an adventure.

Tex Newman looks back at his love affair with airplanes in this book, starting as a boy growing up in West Texas during and after World War II.

After the war was won, the military began to get rid of the old fighters and bombers that had fought so valiantly. The author’s hometown airport was a refueling place for these old veterans as they made their way from the East Coast to the graveyards out in the Arizona desert. While the pilots were gone, the old planes would sit and wait patiently for the author and his friends to crawl through them.

But when the author lost his eye as a boy, all hopes of being a fighter pilot were lost, and he was in danger of becoming depressed. With the help of the Lord, however, he pressed on and even became a pilot later in life.

Join the author as he celebrates his faith, his blessings, and his love of flying in Big Lessons from Little Airplanes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664240056

Tex Newman

Tex Newman has been building and flying model airplanes for seventy-five years. He has held a pilot’s license for forty-five years and has accumulated 2,500 hours in the air as pilot-in-command. He has built and flown model airplanes in all of the major categories, but his flying of both models and full-size planes is mostly “for his own amazement.” He was formerly an automotive and aircraft mechanic before becoming a pastor of small rural churches. He has been married to his lovely and devoted wife for fifty-eight years. They raised three children and enjoy their thirteen grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

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Copyright © 2021 Tex Newman.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written

permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make

no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some

cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed

since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do

not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and

such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright

© 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked (KJV) taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Interior Image Credit: Tex Newman

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4004-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4003-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4005-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021914087

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/10/2021

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Big Lessons

From Little Airplanes

Dedication

This little book was made possible by the efforts of my first model airplane building instructor, my first Bible teacher and the passenger who would never miss an opportunity to fly with me, the woman who gave me life, my mother. She did not know the difference between a wing strut and a tail wheel, but she knew how to read and follow instructions. She even learned to fly a control-line model airplane. She was a dedicated Bible scholar and taught me the scriptures from before I can remember. She was a faithful listener to my sermons on tape when she could not be present. And she had absolute confidence in my skills as a pilot. She loved me; I never doubted it.

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Emilene Gillett Newman

1917–2006

Foreword

I encountered Tex Newman late in my own life, while preparing to teach a course in Bible at what was then known as Multnomah Bible College around 1992. Tex was sitting in one of my classes as a new student. I was impressed that, although he appeared to be a man well along in his career, and not too far from retirement, he was instead starting a new phase in his life, eager to earn his college degree and study the Bible in depth in preparation for strengthening his ministry. And he was not intimidated by the young fellow students sitting around him, fresh out of high school or recently discharged from their military duties. He actually thrived being around them!

It did not take long for me to discover Tex’s deep love for three things: airplanes, people, and Jesus Christ. And he connected them all so well: he could see the handiwork of God in all aspects of life, even tracing God’s hand back to the loss of sight in one of his eyes as a young boy that put him on a trajectory to pursue a path of building and flying model airplanes (as well as flying the full-sized, people-carrying variety!). And he had a deep sensitivity for the hurting people around him. He always had a kind and supportive word to encourage or help. I have seen Tex’s workshop in his garage where he meticulously crafts his latest flying model, and where he hangs his veteran flying machines. And each one has a story of people’s lives he touched with them. When he discovered I kept a healthy sampling of die-cast airplanes on display in my school office due to my own enjoyment of the history of flight, he came right up. I watched him tick off the names of the display models around the office. And I have seen him thrill adults and children with a demonstration flight of one of his models that he then proceeds to connect practically with some aspect of life or uses to illustrate vividly some Bible truth.

This collection of Tex’s stories takes you with him through the amazingly diverse experiences in his life and aeronautic adventures, and it connects you with the Bible teachings that he so naturally sees arising from them. Such a wonderful ride it will be for you! So take your time, and enjoy the ride!

Rex A. Koivisto, ThD

Professor of Bible and NT Greek, Multnomah University (retired)

Acknowledgments

Without the encouragement and support of some very special people in my life, this little book would have never come together. For many years now my dear wife Mary has encouraged me to Write your stories in a book. In support of that idea she often made notes of stories I told as illustrations in sermons and other talks. The list grew, and a few stories made their way onto paper.

Recently a new friend at a neighborhood bookstore expressed interest in a story told in a conversation. Do you have that written down? she asked. Rocelia Holmes encouraged me by asking if I had another story each time I shopped at the store. The stories started to flow like a waterfall, landing on computer memory and flowing onto paper.

Thanks go to my wife for carefully proofreading each story as it was written and to a dear friend, Joe Needham, whom I called out of retirement as a schoolteacher and tasked with reading the entire manuscript, which he did willingly. More errors were found by Doug Jones, another good friend, who excitedly read the manuscript and offered suggestions.

Thanks to Dr. Rex Koivisto, a favorite Bible college professor, who read and checked the manuscript, offering many helpful suggestions, and for writing the foreword. Grandson Tim Newman, a professional photographer, graciously assisted me with photo editing; thanks, Tim. My lovely granddaughter, Mary Davenport, used her photographer’s skills to capture a much-needed photo of a Dragonfly model airplane landing; thank you, Mary. Without the capable assistance in computer work of my son-in-law Bob Davenport, this work would have never gotten to press; thank you, Bob.

The greatest thanks go to God who gave me life, an interest, a passion, and several skills. It is He who has guided my footsteps all life through, even when I could not see the way. Thank You, God.

Introduction

This book could have been titled My Life with Airplanes because the stories all have airplanes in them, but it could have been more accurately titled My Life with God and Airplanes because He is involved in every story. But that was not the purpose for writing. It is easy to go through life enjoying the good times and complaining about the bad or difficult times. However, if one takes the time to look, especially one who has a relationship with the Lord, he or she can see God’s hand on their lives every day. These stories are all true; we were both there, God and I.

Naturally, from today’s vantage point, these stories are all seen in hindsight, which is reputed to be 20/20. That of course is an overstatement because so often our hindsight is as clouded as our vision of the future. In order to see what God has done, it is necessary to look for Him in the right places, in the daily events of our lives. Today we are living in and hoping to get through the COVID-19 pandemic, which has the entire world in a straitjacket.

This morning I was going into a large grocery store. As I entered the store, my glasses fogged up from the breath escaping under the mask. I reached up to readjust the straps over my ears and once again the movement flipped the hearing aid out of my ear. The only feeling I had was that the hearing aid was gone. It must have fallen there to the left of where I was standing; there was nothing to see but carpet and a few fall leaves that had been tracked in. I made two round trips carefully tracing my steps back to the car, searched thoroughly around the driver’s seat, nothing. Then as I stood searching the ground while waiting to cross the driveway back into the store a man stopped his car, rolled down his window, and, pointing to his ear, asked, Are you looking for this? I nodded yes. He then pointed to the other side of the store entrance and said, Over there. It had flipped clear over my head. Thankfully, no one had stepped on it, and this evening I can clearly hear the click of the keyboard as I sit and type. Thank You, Lord!

It is often that way in our lives. We are so preoccupied with the immediate, and our vision is so narrow, that we miss seeing what God has done and is doing. The stories of a little boy growing up, facing some difficulties that some would call a handicap, and seeing how God replaced a big missing chunk of life—the ability to play sports—with an enduring interest and passion. That process, God making a life full, is the point of the stories. I trust that in reading them you will be encouraged to look back at your own life and see God’s guiding hand, His provision, and where He has led you. I hope this helps you see each new day where He is leading and how He is using you to be a blessing to others.

May God bless you as you read these stories about Him.

Tex Newman

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My First Airplane

And in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. (Psalm 139:16)

The silvery aluminum P-38 fighter pulled up into a steep climb and then dropped a wing as the pilot rolled over and came screaming down for another strafing run on the column of tanks crawling up the valley below. Another pull-up and the fighter would be ready for yet another attack. The sleek fighter was held firmly and guided in the deadly combat by the chubby hand of a five-year-old boy. Its wingspan was less than three inches, but it was big enough to fire a serious young pilot’s grand imagination.

It was 1945, near the end of World War II, a war that the boy was growing up with. In his short life he had watched formations of fighters like his P-38 along with P-51s and B-25s, B-17s and the monstrous B-29 bombers that flew out of the Air Force base on the north edge of his hometown. Sometimes the formations would reach across the sky. He had watched long parades

Reviews for Big Lessons from Little Airplanes

[Bill Southwell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book more than any I have read in the last 20 years. Tex's writing is uplifting and truly full of "Big Lessons". You won't be disappointed !