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10 January 2009
Introducing the 2009 team:
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BentProp expeditions: 1993-2009
No bio info submitted.
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BentProp Expeditions: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009
Flip was born in New Rochelle, New York and spent all of his childhood
in the suburbs of New York City prior to escaping and going to
college in Colorado.
He completed High School a half year early and went off to Colorado
State University where he majored in skiing, tubing down rivers
and flying. He managed to get a B.S. degree in Business Administration
which he promptly put to good use teaching scuba diving. In Colorado.
Makes one pause doesn’t it?
While in Colorado, he was on the National Ski Patrol, The Larimer
County Sheriff’s Dive Rescue Team, a S.S.I. certified scuba
diving instructor and learned to skydive. He was an avid backpacker
and nature photographer. He also was a housepainter and a real
estate salesman.
In 1978 he heard his country call and joined the U.S. Navy. He
earned his Wings of Gold in 1980 and went to the fleet to fly the
A-7E Corsair. He also had a tour as an instructor pilot teaching
Student Naval Aviators flying in the T-2C Buckeye and an F/A 18
Hornet tour. He had cruises on the USS America, USS Ranger and
two on the USS Midway. He also logged landings on the USS Eisenhower,
USS Lexington and USS Roosevelt. After 10 years active duty, 360
carrier landings, 2500 hours and another 10 years in the Reserves,
Flip retired from the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant Commander
In 1989 Flip heard the call of the airlines and joined Northwest
Airlines. He has flown as First Officer on the DC9, 727, Airbus
320 and as Captain on the DC9. He currently flies as Captain on
the Airbus 320/319. He gets to see the sun every day he goes to
work. When you live in Michigan that is a big deal.
When he left Colorado, he did not leave skydiving. Although retired
from the sport now, he accumulated 3700 skydives and over 70 hours
of freefall. He was an instructor for many years and founded and
operated a skydiving center in Michigan. He has been a part of
a number of world records for large formations: 100, 120, 200,
243, 300, 357 and almost in the current record of 400. If you notice
in the expedition dates above, there is a break in 2006. While
skydiving in Thailand just prior to that year’s mission to
Palau, Flip trashed his knee and had to limp back home to get it
repaired. No record, and no time in the jungle that year.
He has an interest in most aspects of aviation and has owned 3 airplanes over
the years. His first was a single seat Pitts Special aerobatic airplane. He
concurrently owned a Meyers 200. Both were sold many years ago but he and his
wife recently purchased another Meyers 200 which they plan to tour the country
with.
After 9/11, Flip wanted to do something for his country again.
Just like most people, he wanted in, but realized that younger
folks than him would carry the burden. Active duty really wasn’t
an option. However, something would come up.
It was his time in skydiving that led to his involvement with
The BentProp. Dan O’Brien, a world famous skydiver and mentor
of Flip’s, asked if he would be interested in hacking through
jungles, slogging through muddy mangroves and scuba diving in ugly
waters. If he was, then he should interview with Pat Scannon because
Pat had a pretty cool project going.
Flip passed the arduous interview process and was planning on
only going on one mission. However, he loved Palau, loved the adventure
and was bowled over by meeting the family members of the men who
never made it back from the war. This became his contribution to
the country. As long as Pat will have him, Flip will keep participating.
Flip is married to Rebecca. They will celebrate their 15th wedding
anniversary in August, 2009. They met due to skydiving. She used
to manage a parachute manufacturing company and retired from the
sport with 1100 skydives. Today, she is a successful author with
11 books published, a web based caregiver records storage company
and more to come.
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BentProp Expeditions: 2009
Warren grew up in Mclean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington D.C.
Upon high school graduation, he enlisted in the US Marine Reserve
as an aviation ordnanceman. He attended U.S. Marine Corps Boot
Camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, completed follow-on training,
and joined the F/A-18 squadron of VMFA-321 at Andrews Air Force
Base, MD where he rose to the rank of Corporal. While in the Reserves,
Warren attended James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA where
he earned a B.B.A in Finance. Shortly after graduation in 1999,
Warren received a commission as a Marine officer and student naval
aviator. After three years of schooling, Warren was winged as a
naval aviator and selected F/A-18s at MCAS Miramar in San Diego.
Warren completed three deployments with VMFA(AW)-242 and VMFA(AW)-121
while totaling nearly 1700 hours of flight time. He spent two tours
in Iraq providing close air support with the F/A-18D - frequently
teamed up with Bent Prop member Derek Abbey for several missions.
The third deployment was to Iwakuni, Japan, where Warren participated
in many international exercises with several countries including
Australia and Japan. Warren just recently returned from a ground
tour in Basrah, Iraq as a Fire Power Control Team Leader providing
terminal attack control and fire support while embedded with the
7th Iraqi Army Division.
During Warren’s spare time he volunteers as a side walker
and ranch hand at a therapeutic horseback riding center for disabled
children in Lakeside, CA. Travel is another favorite activity as
he visited the landing beaches of D-Day and the American Cemetery
in Normandy, France. He has also toured the Outback of Australia
and did a scuba dive in a shark tank in Sydney for reasons still
unknown. He hopes to make a worthy contribution to the Bent Prop
team and continue to further the success of such a noble cause.
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BentProp expeditions: 2009
Wil is a staff writer for GQ magazine, and the author of the article "Leave
No Man Behind," about BentProp's 10-year quest to locate a B-24
that was shot down in Palau on September 1, 1944. In the course of
reporting, Wil visited Palau with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command,
joining the excavation team to search for human remains in the underwater
wreckage discovered by BentProp. Along the way, like so many others,
he fell in love with the islands and Palauan culture, and since the
night his plane swept off the runway heading home, he has whiled
away the hours trying to find a way back. This year, he'll have his
chance as a member of P-MAN XI.
In addition to his work for GQ, Wil's writing has appeared in Rolling
Stone, Outside, Esquire, Details, and Harper's magazines, and his
articles have been included in the books Best Political Writing of
2005, Best Music Writing of 2003, and Best Business Stories of 2002.
Over the years, he has also covered science, film, music, and travel,
including stories about climbing 20,000-foot mountains in the Andes,
becoming the first person to complete the 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway
trail, and bicycling a thousand miles in rural Cuba.
Wil lives in the mountains of Virginia with his wife, Jenny, 2-year-old
son, Liam, and a whole mess of rattlesnakes and bears.
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BentProp expeditions: 2006, 2007, 2009
Jolie is a sixth generation Texan born in Harlingen close to the
Mexican border. She spent her childhood traveling
and wanting to be a wilderness guide or counselor. She ended up
becoming an archaeologist and received her MA from
the University of Oregon. She has been a contract archaeologist
in the Pacific for the past 20 years, half of those on Palau.
Jolie is a PhD student at the Australian National University where
she is studying Palau’s earthworks. Her interests
include monumental architecture, cultural chronologies, evolutionary
ecology, warfare, historic preservation, and landscape
archaeology. Mainly, she wants to ensure Palauans know about their
past and to encourage the local community to preserve and manage their cultural
properties. Back to the index
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BentProp expeditions: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Joe, who lives in Koror, has been part of the BentProp team for
over a decade. Joe is a Boat Captain, Master Guide, Teller of Legends,
Expert Diver, and Betel-Nut Aficionado. Among many other things,
Joe was instrumental in 2004 in helping the team locate the underwater
crash site of an AAF B-24 that was shot down in September 1944,
and for which the BentProp team had been searching for many years.
Joe's sons, pictured here with Joe in a photo by Joe's lovely wife
Esther, are Doyle Colmer Maldangesang (left, named after Jimmie
Doyle, nose gunner on that B-24 and Flip Colmer, another BentProp
team member) and Quint Scannon Maldangesang (right, named after
Quintus Nelson, a Marine F-4U pilot whose aircraft crashed in 1945
only a few hundred meters from where Joe works, and Pat Scannon,
BentProp team leader). The Palauans understand family!
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BentProp expeditions: 2009
Molly lives in Tucson, AZ but is originally from Wisconsin - a
small town called Oregon south of Madison. She has worked for the
VA on and off for the past 10 years for a total of almost 7 years.-
she is a clinical dietitian, specializing in kidney disease. She
has an inpatient floor which consists of mostly cardiology, but
it keeps her on her toes for other things as well!
As of the fall of 2007, she had been in Tucson for almost 9 months. Before
that she took some time off (quit work at the San Diego VA in 2005) to
travel all over the place (U.S., Europe, Asia, Australia), spend time
with her boyfriend Bob Holler, compete in a 4-way 2006 , and go to Thailand
to be part of the 400-way in 2006.
She first learned in more detail about what BentProp was when she met
Bob and they started dating in 2003. Through him, she got to know Dan,
Val, and JimBob much better. Then she first met Jennifer and Pat at Bob's
memorial. She had talked to them both on e-mail before, so it was so
nice to meet them! She has helped spread the word about BentProp and
it's a perfect subject at the VA - many of her patients are really interested
in it. She has met a few aviators and many, many WWII guys although they
are fewer in numbers every day. Currently she has a purple heart patient
and a POW in dialysis from WWII.
Molly is in the process of getting Last Flight Home shown at her VA on
a bigger scale (it's already been on the movie schedule in dialysis)
and just helping spread the word....especially after the movie came out.
Her family is helping spread the word back in Wisconsin too, especially
now since it was shown in Oshkosh.
Other than that, she is pretty fit, athletic still (college athletics,
and was playing touch-rugby or 'touch footie' as the Aussies say
it, while in San Diego), outdoorsy, and she's really looking forward
to learning how to SCUBA dive!!
She wants to pursue more education in clinical nutrition research but
is also torn with the thought of getting her nursing degree (it would
be very fast with her background) just so she can travel and have more
time off!!! Maybe she will just do both.
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BentProp expeditions: 2009
Katie is a former U.S. Marine and a diver (see photo at right),
but her wet-suit advertising sometimes sends the wrong message.
This will be Katie's first trip to Palau, although she has provided
many Katie-months of expert research over the past several years
at the National Archives. Back to the index
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BentProp Expeditions: 2009
Paul Schwimmer brings over 41 years of land surveying experience
to the Bentprop team. Paul is owner and president of Arbor Land
Consultants, Inc., and resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his
truly very tolerant wife, Audrey (a true blue University of Michigan
Wolverine). His son Marcus goes to Adrian College, studying History,
while his daughter, Carlye, is a junior at Ferris State University
in the land surveying program.
One of the problems previous teams have faced is the lack of adequate
mapping capability. Since many of the team's search locations are based
on old hand-drawn maps, Paul is currently designing an interactive mapping
system that will allow the team to focus on much tighter target areas,
thereby reducing valuable search time.
Paul's free time is equally divided between volunteering with
Michigan's Pride and Honor Flight program, the Boy Scouts, Chelsea
Rod and Gun Club, the Saline American Legion, chasing caribou across
the tundra up near the Artic Circle, flyfishing for cutthroats
in British Columbia, and snorkeling in the Bahamas with the Sea
Scouts. Just your average dude, refusing to age gracefully. Prized
possessions include (besides his truly tolerant trophy wife) his
American Paratrooper wings, Canadian Paratrooper wings, Jungle
Expert Patch, and his Green Beret. His personal goal for the 2009
mission is to use his field experience to help the team bring our
boys home. It's been long enough. De Oppresso Liber.
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BentProp Expeditions: 2009
Rick is a certified project manager, received his undergraduate
degree from Columbia University, and is currently enrolled in Boston
University’s masters program in project management. He is
an IT manager at Microsoft, where he supports the Business Online
Services division.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Rick worked for 10 years as a manager
and consultant for Hewlett Packard. He resides in Bellevue, Washington
with his wife Linda and two children. Rick is an avid scuba diver,
and his diving is currently concentrated in Puget Sound, where
he is active in technical and unified team diving. He has over
400 logged dives, and has completed courses from GUE, PADI and
NAUI. Rick's next objective in dive training is a cave diving course
in Florida. He loves dive travel, and has enjoyed diving in Palau,
Hong Kong, Malaysia, Hainan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Bermuda, Hawaii,
California, and Mexico, and he hopes someday to dive off of Antarctica.
He also enjoys snow and water skiing, hiking, rowing and baseball.
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BentProp expeditions: 2009
Mark was born and raised in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He attended
the Williamsport Area Community College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania
before joining the US Army in 1980. He lives with his wife Dreama
in Severn, Maryland, about 10 miles from downtown Baltimore.
Mark spent 10 1/2 years in the US Army as an Electronic Warfare
Signals Intelligence Morse Code Intercept Operator (for you civilians,
that's a ditty bopper) achieving the rank of Sergeant First Class
(E7). After leaving the military Mark trained in Unix Systems Administration
and has become certified as a Senior Oracle Database Administrator.
Since that time he has co-authored several books on Web Database
Programming. He has supported contracts for several government
agencies including the US Department of State, US Department of
Agriculture, NASA Goddard Flight Center, Federal Bureau of Investigation,
National Security Agency and is currently employed at the Defense
Intelligence Agency.
Mark and his wife Dreama have four children (two boys and two
girls) and five grandchildren (3 girls and two boys). All are spoiled.
Mark and Dreama also own a local sports bar in Gambrills, Maryland
known as Crofton Cantina. The bar sponsors pool leagues, dart teams,
horse shoe leagues and softball teams. Mark is a huge NASCAR fan
(Go, Dale Jr.!) and an avid Baltimore Ravens fan. He also enjoys
bowling and currently maintains a 204 average (imagine what it
could be if he didn't drink while bowling).
Both Mark and Dreama enjoy playing golf and spending time at the beach
in Ocean City, Maryland.
Although this is Mark's first BentProp expedition to Palau, he
has provided continuing expert support for several years as a researcher
at NARA in Washington, DC.
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- Reid
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Joe
Maldangesang
Paul
Schwimmer
