Fly-for-Education Fund-Raiser Touches Down in L.A.

As a child, Lloyd Howard dreamed of piloting an airplane across the country.

Several decades later, the Lake County Illinois Urban League member realized his dream Tuesday when he arrived at Hawthorne Municipal Airport as part of the Lake County group’s Fly-for-Education campaign, which so far has raised $60,000 for educational programs in Illinois.

“My childhood dream came true and I was able to help kids by raising money for their educations,” Howard said after landing his white Cessna.

Howard and volunteer pilots Peter Paine, Sam Maggiore and Lee Hampton are participating in an eight-day, 8,000-mile flight around the continental United States with stops in 12 cities to promote educational programs.

The pilots left Illinois on Saturday in Howard’s Cessna 182, traveling to New York then along the Atlantic Coast. They arrived in Hawthorne nearly two hours late after battling strong winds on the way from Albuquerque, N.M. They plan to leave for Sacramento today.

The response to Fly-for-Education has been positive, Urban League officials said. An Illinois doctor and lawyer donated $3,000 to fund the trip so that the money earned could be spent on education programs for children. Plans are underway to make the campaign an annual fund-raiser. The pilots raise money from sponsors who pledge amounts for each mile flown or a flat amount for the entire trip.

In addition to widespread financial support, the program has also received a thumbs up from the Tuskegee Airmen, the nation’s first unit of black military pilots formed during World War II. The airmen have made the pilots of this voyage honorary members and have sent its own members to greet the pilots when they land.

Tuskegee Airman Robert Williams, who wrote and produced the 1995 HBO special “The Tuskegee Airmen Story,” met the pilots at a luncheon sponsored by the Los Angeles Urban League.

About 15 Los Angeles youngsters were invited to the luncheon to speak with Williams and the pilots about their trip across the country.