Hatz Biplane Association

I just received word from the Brodhead gang that Mehlin Smith (Warner powered Hatz) passed away on Oct. 30th. For more info see eaa431.org

Sad to hear...
He was a good host to the group when we were there.

Jeff Moore

Oh no! What a shame! He was quite a character and a good craftsman. We do have him forever archived though in a movie that was made using his Hatz. He said it could be used only if he was allowed to have a part in the movie. I think it was made by a department of the state of Wisconsin. Now my Brodhead T shirt with his Hatz on the front from a few years ago will be put away, never to be worn again. A couple of us had Mehlin sign our T shirts since he was now a movie star. I'll miss the guy!

To bad about Mehlin, The movie he did was a real cheesy horror flick, I'll find out the name and let you guys know. He showed his scene to me several times it looked real cool. R.I.P. Mehlin.

In the clips that I saw, Mehlin wasn't acting, he was just being himself! Like I said, he was a character in his own right. I thought he was perfect for the part. A part of the flavor of Brodhead is forever gone. The annual "gathering of the gaggle" at Brodhead will have a void without this little man with the big heart who always had his hangar open for the group to use for maintenance, guitar and banjo pickin', getting in outta the rain, or just hangin' out and shootin' the bull. This summer's get together should include a time to gather in Mehlin's hangar and lift a cold beer to his memory. He'd have some witty comment to make about it, I'm sure.

I lost a great friend and mentor. I had a long post and unfortunately lost it all, so I will try to put it back a little at a time. Here is a repost of Mehlins Obit.

As a boy, Dr. Mehlin B. Smith built model airplanes. As an adult, he built the real thing.

The former longtime Oak Forest dentist, who chose his profession in part because he liked working with his hands, built a two-seater Hatz biplane that won him an award for its superior craftsmanship from the Experimental Aircraft Association.

That gleaming red, open-cockpit biplane fulfilled a childhood dream for Dr. Smith, who over the years also built a 3-foot-long remote-control freighter, a canoe and even a pair of skis.

"He used to say, 'I've got one foot planted in reality, but the other is somewhere off in fantasy land,'" said his wife, Carole.

Dr. Smith, 70, formerly of Palos Park, died Friday, Oct. 28, after collapsing at his home in Davis, Ill., near Rockford.

He retired from his Oak Forest dental practice of more than three decades in 2010 and with his wife bought a 10-acre farm in Davis. It was near a rural Wisconsin airport where he crafted and piloted his custom-made planes.

"He liked flying the planes, but he really loved building them," his wife said.

Dr. Smith had been working with friends on a new project, a vintage-style plane built basically from scratch, taking inspiration from the best of various 1930s models.

"I remember him showing me the wings of the first airplane he was building," said Joe Karner, a fellow pilot and partner in the project. "His craftsmanship of those wings made an impression that has stayed with me to this very day."

Dr. Smith's father, Zay, was an early pilot for United Airlines and an Army Air Corps veteran, who counted among his friends Amelia Earhart.

"His father captured his imagination," his wife said. "He'd tell me story after story about his life."

Born and raised in Palos Park, Dr. Smith graduated from Sandburg High School, where he was an accomplished wrestler. He continued wrestling at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign while getting a degree in engineering and city planning.

After college, Dr. Smith spent four years in the Air Force, where he rose to the rank of captain. In his 30s, he decided engineering wasn't for him and attended dental school at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where classmates affectionately dubbed him "Pops." He graduated with honors, seventh in a class of 141, his wife said.

Susan Wilke was a longtime patient. "There's nothing more disconcerting than sitting in a dentist's chair and listening to the sound of a drill nearing your mouth," she said. "But I'd get through it, because of Mehlin."

Dr. Smith embraced his mother's Scottish roots and wore a traditional kilt when the occasion merited it. He even ate haggis — sheep offal cooked inside a sheep stomach.

"No event, particularly one to which he'd wear his kilt, was complete without his heartfelt rendition of 'Flower of Scotland,'" Wilke said.

Dr. Smith is also survived by a brother, Zay.

A Scottish bagpiper will play at his memorial gathering at 8 p.m. Nov. 17 at Chicago Gaelic Park, 6119 W. 147th St., Oak Forest.

Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune


Bill