Ozzie says he was happy with the long string of Luscombes he'd owned, but one ride in a Bellanca Cruisair convinced him he had to have one. Most folks like the way a Bellanca flies, but it is usually an intuitive thing, rather than a quantitative "knowing" based on extensive prior aircraft handling experience. We like them just because we like them. Ozzie, however, brought more than a casual interest in airplanes to his lik ing for the airplane , as he has spent his life involved in the flight testing of new aircraft as an engineer and project manager. The string of pro jects in which he has been involved span the technological development of post war aviation. One of his first jobs was with Sikorsky in Connecticut where he was part of the earliest pioneering of practical helicopters including the S 55 and S-56, which set the pace for military use of helicopters during the Korean War. Then there was his stint at Edwards on the Ryan X-13 Verti jet. For those who don't know the airplane, it was a delta winged, verti cal takeoff jet that, upon landing, 18
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would hover into a nose-up, ver tical position and then chin itself on a horizontal arresting cable I and hang there like a bat. Ozzie points to the program with pride and says, "It's the only X-plane program that finished the pro gram with the same number of aircraft it started with." In '57 he was working on the F-I05 at Republic, "a wonderful airplane but only had one en gine," and later the Gyrodyne, an unmanned helicopter drone. His longest stretch was at Northrop where he was heavily involved in flight test and man agement of advanced programs which included the T-38, F-5 OzzieLevi,Lancaster,CA and F-117. Although an engineer, in the which eventually led to a long line of back of his mind, he was always a pi 8As and 8E's . Somewhere along the lot, whether he was actually line, however, he got his first ride in a exercising the skills or not. Starting as Bellanca and, "after that first flight, I a pre-aviation cadet in WWII, he did always wanted one. They handle n't actually start taking training until beautifully and are good for serious out of college, "you know, kids, fam cross countries or just running over to ily, the usual things, slowed me get a hamburger." down." From the flying club he grad He got out of flying for a little uated into buying a Luscombe 8A while, but when he came back into it,