RIP Dan Stevens - Old flight forum

Greetings From Hodges Hobbies;

It's a sad day for me as I write this email to inform you that my best friend, Dan Stevens, passed away this afternoon. His battle with cancer is now over. I knew this day was coming but that hasn't made it any easier. My thoughts and sympathy are with Nancy, Dani, Bill, John, and Mike.

Dan and I go back a long way. I first met Dan about 1979 when I came down from Atlanta, where I was living at the time, to attend a fun fly contest that Pop Curtis, another dear friend, was putting on down at Veterans Park. Pop told me there was a guy named Dan Stevens from Albany that won every contest he entered. Pop said Dan had just won a contest that had a bomb drop by flying over at 3 feet of altitude and, doing a roll, put the bomb in the middle of a 3 foot circle. Pop said he was one great pilot but that he was "just so damned caustic". And those of you that knew Dan can probably see where Pop got that opinion. I moved back to the farm in late 1979 and Dan and I started running into each other quite a bit at local contests. I think it was because of a mutual respect for each other's flying skills that he and I hit it off and we became good friends. We started going to fun fly contests together in the 80s and have been traveling to various events all over ever since. It was during one of these trips with the old B-29 that Dan came up with the idea for the X-1. When we got home he got busy and soon we had a X-1 to test fly. And when the original B-29 folded a wing at Joe Nall in 2001, Dan built the current B-29 in 6 months. Dan said he had an X-1 sitting around that needed a ride. Dan could build anything from just a three view. He was the best builder I have ever known. And he was a fast builder, he didn't sit around and think about what he needed to do, he knew what needed to be done and did it. Born in 1935, Dan loved airplanes and started building models at an early age. He was a crew member with the Thunderbirds during his tenure in the Air Force. We called him "Mr. Airplane" because he knew more about building, finding the cg on complicated planes, or anything you wanted to know. He could identify any WW 2 era military plane. Not only could he identify it but he could tell you all about it! His knowledge of warbirds never ceased to amaze me. As did his knowledge of most anything. Dan was well read and it showed. Dan was a smart guy with loads of common sense and always had the most practical answer to any problem or situation.

Back when the competition funflys were going strong, Dan designed the Stick-It which was kitted and became so popular most people called any fun fly plane like that a "Stick-It". Dan probably did more to popularize the Lanier Stinger in this area than anyone else. Most of us can fondly picture Dan flying a Stinger at local fly-ins, doing a tight pitchout to a perfect landing. Dan also loved airplanes that were different as was demonstrated by his unusual German warbirds.

There will be no funeral. There will be a Celebration of Dan's Life at his home this Saturday, September 6, from 4pm until 6pm. You don't need to bring food or flowers, just come by. The address is - 2816 Somerset Dr., Albany, GA. Somerset Drive is in NW Albany, one block east of N. Doublegate Drive. Take Gateway Ave. or Burlington Rd. off of N. Doublegate and they will intersect with Somerset.

The "Dan Stevens Is My Copilot" bumper sticker on the front of my van will always be there as reminder of this great man and friend that I loved dearly, Mac