Rob Dorsey Gone West
By Mike Heuer
IAC #4
IAC Historian
I first met Rob back in 1968 at “Tiger Days” in Waco, Texas and again at the U.S. Nationals in Ft. Worth, Texas that year. He was flying a Stearman at the time – like my father, an admirer of the Cole Brothers Airshow and Marion and Duane Cole – and was one of the most enthusiastic people I have ever met in the sport. He loved airplanes and people. He passed away earlier this year.
We stayed in touch over the years, and he stayed with us in our home in Illinois when we lived on the airstrip. It was a gathering place for many aerobatic pilots in the area as well as nationally known pilots from around the country who would drop in. Rob was a wonderful conversationalist and also had a great respect and knowledge of our history. An early joiner of IAC, he held membership number 389.
Photo Courtesy of Mike Heuer
In about 2001, we held a telephone conference with the nominating committee and Board searching for a new candidate for IAC President. They asked me to call Rob on the phone since we were old friends and ask him to do it – which I did later that day. He was honored and immediately accepted. Our first Board meeting with him was in Indianapolis and he was full of wonderful ideas. He loved “grass roots” and was committed to it but yet had a great respect for those international friends he had made in his travels as well as those who attained team pilot status and competed on the world level – especially in those early years when the USA was still figuring out the Aresti system.
Rob often recounted how he had spent time with the original Tiger Club pilots in Great Britain and who were an inspiration to Frank Price when he founded an American version of the club. We all looked forward to Frank’s Tiger Club newsletters in those pre-internet days when the sport was in its infancy. Members will recall that Frank Price was the lone American who competed in the 1st World Aerobatic Championships in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in 1960 in his Great Lakes biplane.
In his later years, Rob again bought a Stearman but also had a beautifully restored Zlin, which he admired from his time in Europe, and was a pilot for DHL on DC-8’s. His curiosity and intellect also led him to authoring several science fiction books which are available today on Amazon. He was also a musician and gun collector.
Though his time in the presidency was short, his articles in the magazine still resonate today as he had a real feel for instruction and writing about flying aerobatics. I miss you, Rob!
Photo Courtesy of Mike Heuer
