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Text Box: FIRSTMAW SEABAG (Continued) OPEN ‘ER UP? As of press time for this edition, a Committee report was not available from the Committee appointed to examine the pros and cons of opening up the Association to other FMAW Marines, much like the “Popasmoke” group has recently done, in opening their group to “Combat” service. It is hoped that the Committee will have something for presentation at the National Business Meeting in November, on this very important issue. THE VIETNAM FILES A number of you with e-mail have asked us about e-mails that have been received recently from “info@thevietnamfiles.com.” Here is the “scoop” on this as we know it. “A way back” when, the Marine Corps Historical Center answered requests for unit Command Chronologies (like a monthly report) and other unit records by accessing microfilm and printing it. A large effort was made, but these unit records, files and other documents were eventually put into a computerized format such that CD Rom disks could be made. Now when a request is received, the requester gets a CD Rom disk. There is still a wait, but nothing like it was when everything was strictly “paper” and is still free of charge. Apparently a commercial enterprise has taken all of this computerized information, and uploaded it to their own system. It has a website where the information can be accessed by home computer and downloaded for a fee. If any one has any experience with this enterprise, we’d like to hear from you, and in the meantime, we will check it out. SCOOP 20 Commencing with the next issue (SCOOP 20), the post-Reunion issue, the newsletter editorial duties and the website Webmaster activities will be carried out by Wayne “Top” Cook (MABS-11). Wayne has stepped forward and promises that the name will not change to “Wayne’s World” or anything like that, and we are sure that he will do his usual good job in keeping the Membership informed in timely fashion. Many Thanks to Joe Amant and his Staff for keeping us informed since the creation of “The SCOOP.” DID YOU KNOW That one of our very own Members now resides in Da Nang, Vietnam? Dick Brown (VMFA-115, MAG-13 Bomb Dump) recently took up residence in a city that most of us ran through at least once in our “in-country” tours. From previous visits to the ‘Nam. Dick provided the “then and now” photos on our website and recently has started e-mail exchanges with a couple of us and it is hoped that Dick can give us some more information, once he is settled in his new hootch. Stay tuned on this one. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ TAPS Colonel Desmond E. Canavan, of Hanover, NH, a pioneer in Marine Corps Aviation, recently passed away. Colonel Canavan’s name is not very familiar to most of us, but on 1 March 1944, he piloted a Sikorsky XNH helicopter , a direct forerunner to our HNS-1s and HRSs, to become the first Marine Aviator to pilot a helicopter. This feat was outdone, as later that same year, on 16 Jul 1944, he piloted a Bell XP-59 Airacomet, to become the first Marine Aviator to fly a jet aircraft. The XP-59 was America’s first operational jet aircraft.