Willis Louis "Lou" Everett

Notes:

Military:
Louis served as a fighter pilot during WWII and the Korean War.

Biography:
Lou Everett was a test pilot and died during an exhibition in front of the military and press when he was showing an experimental Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft.
Biography by his son David from 2006:
Willis Louis “Lou” Everett was born on November 28, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York. Lou graduated from high school at seventeen during World War II, and wanted to fly fighter aircraft for the United States Navy. Because he was too young for the Navy Cadet program, he enlisted in the Army. Within a few months he transferred to the Army Air Corps and began training as a fighter pilot assigned to fly P-51 Mustangs. Stationed in Florida, he was awaiting assignment to go overseas when the war ended.
Lou joined the Mississippi Air National Guard, attended Millsaps College, and continued to fly by crop dusting and instructing at a local air school. While attending Millsaps he married Betty June Coleman and soon after the couple moved to Starkville, Tennessee where Lou enrolled in the Aero Physics Department at Mississippi State University.
In 1950, Lou and June had their first baby, Tom. In December of that year the Mississippi Air National Guard was called to active duty because of the Korean Conflict. The family followed the unit to Albany, Georgia and then to Louisville, Kentucky, where in 1952 their second child, Kathy, was born. Shortly thereafter Lou was called to serve in Korea, where he flew AT-6 Texans on forward air control missions.
Lou returned to the states to resume his education at Mississippi State and graduated in 1954 with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, and joined Chance-Vought in California as an engineer. However, Lou still yearned to fly.
In 1955 June gave birth to their third child, David. Lou was hired by Ryan Aeronautical Company as their second test pilot for the X-13 Vertijet, joining Ryan’s Chief Test Pilot, Pete Girard. The X-13 was the world’s first pure jet VTOL aircraft, and Pete and Lou were the only pilots to fly it. As a result of their research work on the X-13, both Pete and Lou received awards from the New York Academy of Sciences. During this time Lou became one of the original 17 members of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. In 1957 June gave birth to their fourth child, Glen
During the test phase of Ryan’s VZ-3RY Vertiplane, Pete Girard resigned from test piloting, and Lou became Ryan’s Chief Engineering Experimental Test Pilot. Lou continued testing the Vertiplane and began testing the Flexwing, which was a Rogallo-wing aircraft and a powered fore-runner of modern hang-gliders.
The next project was the XV-5A Vertifan, jointly developed by Ryan and General Electric. The Vertifan employed the lift fan concept to achieve vertical flight, diverting jet thrust to spin louvered fans in the wings and nose.
On April 27, 1965, the two Vertifan prototypes made their public debut during a press demonstration at Edwards. One was to fly horizontally in front of the grandstand, while the other would convert from horizontal to vertical flight and descend. Lou was in the plane scheduled to descend. Flying at 180 knots and an altitude of 800 feet, Lou prepared to transition from conventional to fan mode, but unexpectedly the Vertifan violently pitched nose down. Lou ejected, but the ejection seat failed and his parachute caught on the plane’s high tail. Lou went down with the plane and was killed.
Lou was a devoted family man, an outstanding engineer, and a passionately dedicated test pilot during a seminal time in the history of United States aerospace.

Willis married Olga Marie Scholtz on 30 Dec 1923 in Brooklyn, New York. Olga (daughter of Luis Roberto Scholtz and Avelina Patcheco) was born on 9 Sep 1903 in Caracas, Venezuela; died on 2 Jul 2006 in Youngtown, Arizona. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Olga Everett
• Residence: Arizona

Notes:

Biography:
Luis was one of the founders of the first radio station in Venezuela in 1926. The following is from radiodx.com and is copyright of Ragusa Media Group, PO Box 14339, Wellington, New Zealand:
This year marks the 77 years of the issuing of the first official license to install a radio station in Venezuela; this first license was granted by the Ministry of Public Works and Economy the 25 of September, 1925, to Mr. Arturo Santana and Mr. Luis Scholtz, who founded "Arturo Santana, Scholtz & Company" with the purpose of operating the "Empresa Venezolana de Radiotelefonía"; it was Mr. Alfredo Muller who had the honor of being the first official announcer of this station, thus becoming the first ever radio announcer in Venezuela. This license not only gave them the exclusive rights to broadcast, but also the exclusive rights for the commercialization of the receivers. Friday, April 2, 1926, arrived at the port of La Guaira from New York the equipment for the first Venezuelan radio station.
This first station was called AYRE Broadcasting, their studios were located in a building in the corner of El Tejar, and the antenna and the transmitter in a lot nearby the bullring the "Nuevo Circo", not to far from the Bolivar square in Caracas. AYRE began its transmissions the night of May 23, 1926.
The newspaper El Universal, in its edition of May 24, 1926, depicts its inauguration as: "The Station AYRE Central Broadcasting of Caracas, inaugurated last night, was constructed by the powerful American company Western and its reach is of 2,000 miles, it is moved by two electrical motors, its power is of 12 horses. Its height is 65 meters".
Thanks to the technical capacity of Mr. Luis Scholtz, AYRE was as good as any of the best stations of its time; the station consisted of a transmitters made by the Western Electric and towers of 65 meters height to support the antenna. Some historical reviews indicate that its power was 1 Kilowatt, but if what was published by the newspaper El Universal is correct, and its power was 12 horses, then its actual power was + - 9 Kilowatt (12 HP multiplied by the conversion factor that is 746).
Unfortunately this station was in the air a very short time; the dictator of the moment, General Juan Vicente Gomez, did not see Mr. Arturo Santana with very good eyes, Santana was also a colonel in the Venezuelan army and aide-de-camp of his older son, General Jose Vicente Gomez, who was exiled in Switzerland for political reasons; and taking advantage of the serious political turmoil of April 7, 1928, when two military bases in Caracas revolt and a military conspiracy starts up, in which also some university leaders who in the end would finish jailed participated, Gomez, adducing reasons of "state security", ordered the closing of the station, this action marked the end of the first chapter of the broadcasting history in Venezuela. AYRE was born thanks to the political influence of Colonel Santana, and is this same political influence what determine its closing.

Died:
Age 69 at death.

Luis married Avelina Patcheco on 25 Jun 1892. Avelina was born about 1873 in Caracas, Venezuela; died on 22 Jan 1946. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Avalina Scholtz
• Name: Du Du Patcheco

Notes:

Biography:
She and Luis were ostracized by his family because she was of South American Indian decent. Roger Muller remembered her "as a loving grandmother and she cared about humanity. She never turned anyone away who was destitute".

Other Events:

• Name: Johan C. Scholtz

Notes:

Biography:
He and his family lived in Caracas. He was Consul in La Guaira, Venezuela for Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and others because he was fluent in several languages. Today, La Guaira is just a few minute ride down the hill from Caracas, however, before the turn of the century it was a long trip. So, Johan used to live during the week in La Guaira and go home to Caracas when he could.
Johan had a sister named Mimi. This we know from a circa 1860 picture with the caption "Tia Mimi hermana mia querada de Papa LH" and a picture of Carlos with the caption "Para mis queridos tia Mimi, Mamachi + Papachi, de su sobrino Carlos, Julio 16/1894"

Died:
His son Henrique's 1921 passport application stated he was dead about 15 years.

Johan married Obdulia Roldán on 1 May 1858 in Venezuela. Obdulia was born on 20 Jul 1841 in Venezuela; died on 2 May 1916 in Caracas, Venezuela. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Obdulia Scholtz

Notes:

Biography:
Her parents were said to have been from Sevillia, Spain. Their family may have owned a winery there. The 1910 census for her son Henrique says that she was born in Spain and was Spanish. This probably meant Venezuela. Henrique and most of his children were listed the same way.