July 18, 2004
Bax celebrated his 80th birthday
Digging around for pre-AirVenture news, I came across this item about Gordon Baxter's 80th birthday this past winter.
I have always been a big fan of "Bax". His storytelling style inspired me to begin writing about aviation. If my articles are a fraction as warm and grass-roots oriented as his was, well, that will be good enough for me.
In late February, 600 of Gordon Baxter’s friends and admirers gathered at the Holiday Inn in Beaumont, Texas, for an 80th birthday tribute celebration in his honor.Flying readers perhaps know Baxter best for his much-beloved “Bax Seat” column, which ran in Flying from 1971 to 1998 and made it common practice for readers to begin Flying at the back. In the column, Bax wrote about the romance of flight and his lifelong status as an “airport bum.” And Bax was an airport bum. In fact, when his daughter Jenny asked whether he was famous, he replied that he was, within a one-mile radius of an airport.
Bax used to be a fixture at OSHKOSH. But about five years ago his health declined to the point where he was unable to keep attending. We miss him, but I'm glad to see that he is doing well back down in his beloved Beaumont, Texas.
This page has a links to some of Bax's best columns.