1. Our regular monthly beer social, organized by our member Larry Ratcliff, will be held - as usual - this Thursday, December 6, starting at 4:00 p.m. at the Gilruth pavilion. Come on out and have a beer or soft drink and commune with other members. Hopefully the launch of STS - 122 will have just happened so there will be plenty tomtalk about. Also, consider slipping Larry Ratcliff a couple of bucks to help with the expenses of this nice monthly get - together.

2.  The regular retirees luncheon at Ryan's Steakhouse in Webster will also be held this Thursday at 11:30 a.m.  Ryan's reserves a room in the back for our group. Please come by and visit!

3.  The NASA Alumni League Headquarters Office has moved and their new addressm - if you need to contact them. The new address is:

     NASA Alumni League Headquarters
     1212 New York Ave.
     Suite 450
     Washington, DC  20005
     Phone: 202-289-3999

4.  Our Chapter has recently made its annual contributions to Space Center Houston and to the Challenger Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, to support the visits of student groups who would not ordinarily be able to attend these facilities and enjoy their activities. We donated $2500 to each facility, as we have done for several years. We appreciate your donations to this activity when you send in your membership renewals.

5.  Our Fall Social and Dinner on November 29 at the Gilruth Center was well attended - over 60 folks made it to enjoy the social hour, the BBQ dinner, and the excellent presentation by Dr. Albert Jackson on Werner Von Braun's Road to Mars.

6.  Our member Lee Snapp has contacted me to let me know he is busy re-opening his activity for education at Salish Kootenai College, Montana, on the Flathead Reservation, where he is working on developing engineering programs for the nation's tribal colleges and universities. That's great work, Lee - and is a continuation of this activity he started before his retirement.  You can contact Lee at P.O. Box 216, Polson, MT  59860, and at phone 406-883-0201.

7.  As many of you who attended our last NAL dinner know, Paul Purser’s daughter, Peg, is in the process of writing her dad’s biography. Unfortunately, Paul died in 2003 and was predeceased by the rest of the family in 2000 through 2002, so Peg is struggling to find information and stories about her father. She is asking that anyone who worked with Paul directly or indirectly contact her so she might receive emailed information from you or interview you. Her main questions are:

1. What do you know about Paul’s work from 1939-1945 (atmospheric wind tunnels at NACA-Langley); then from 1946-1958 (Pilotless Aircraft Research Division – PARD – NACA-Langley and Wallops); then 1958-1968 (NASA Space Task Group and Manned Spacecraft Center); 1968-1969 (UH helping to establish UHCL); any time after 1969.
2. What human interest stories can you tell about Paul?
3. What stories about management, working situations/conditions and NACA/NASA culture are pertinent to the book? What the culture was then on its own and/or how it has changed over the years.
4. What can you tell her about the implementation of some or all of the aeronautic testing results he did in the wind tunnels? He worked mainly on wing and tail sections but also some on fuselages and entire planes. How did the aviation industry employ the applications and designs that received favorable outcomes during the wind tunnel testing?
5. On the same lines, which of Paul’s wind tunnel research projects resulted in real-life tests conducted by Gilruth’s division using real planes and test pilots?
6. She is telling the NACA/NASA story about the engineers who made it happen and from that point of view, rather than about the astronauts and their point of view, so she would like anything else you think would be interesting to tell about NACA and NASA during 1939-1968.

You can reach Peg Purser at peg@mkpconsulting.com or 281-852-8185 or 8950 Shoreview Ln, Humble, TX 77346. I know she would appreciate hearing from all of you and will gladly credit you in the book where appropriate and not attribute things to you that you would rather be kept anonymous. She lives in NE Houston and can come back down to Clear Lake for personal interviews or can talk to you by phone or email.

8.  Last month I passed along a note from Greg Hayes about a piece of legislation (HB 1110) that would allow retirees to pay their health insurance premiums on a pre-tax basis. Our Treasurer, Stan Faber, who is also active in the local NARFE Chapter, sent me the following note and asked me to pass it along.

NARFE (Federal Retirees Organization) has been pushing this change for several years. They suggest that each of us write, call, e-mail (or all three) our Senators and Representatives to encourage them to support the change, ie pass the bill. About half the Senate and over half the House are in favor. The problem is the Ways and Means Committee of the House, and the parallel group of the Senate. Write them also. Every bit of mail helps, and tons of mail do have an effect.

Stan Faber, treasurer of both NAL and NARFE local chapters.

9.  There has been no change in the status of our NSL badges from the info I sent you last month. I have heard that because of issues they are having to deal with, that the implementation of any new badging system will be well after the first of the year. So our badges will continue to be issued and will be valid until JSC makes a change. I'll keep you posted.

10.  Many of you have asked about purchasing the 50th anniversary of NASA commemorative tee shirts that NASA is commisioning. I have checked with NASA and they tell me that retirees are welcome to purchase these shirts. I am attaching the information for those who would like to purchase a shirt(s).