Volunteer Spotlight — Gale Guilette | Aviation

This piece originally ran in the July 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.

Gale Guilette, EAA 128629, is helping keep aviation history alive, one sheet of metal at a time. Once a week, Gale travels from his home in northern Wisconsin to volunteer in EAA’s maintenance and restoration hangar, the Kermit Weeks Hangar.

“I was one of those kids who never missed an airplane flying over but never thought I would ever fly an airplane,” Gale said. “Then when I was 29 years old, a friend of mine said, ‘They have an introductory flight at the airport. Why don’t we go take a flight?’” This introductory flight happened in December, and by February he found himself flight training. Come that June, Gale had already earned his private pilot certificate.

After earning his certificate, Gale was considering a career move into the aviation industry. He decided to visit EAA headquarters to seek advice from none other than EAA founder Paul Poberezny himself. Paul spent nearly two hours chatting with Gale and gave him a tour of the grounds. Paul suggested he volunteer at the Weeks Hangar to get acquainted with the field of aviation, and while this didn’t result in a career move, Gale clearly liked what he saw and has been volunteering for EAA ever since. He’s even made it to every fly-in convention in Oshkosh since his first in 1978.

Professionally, Gale worked in…