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Fly-in Honors Angling Aviator "Gadabout" Gaddis

October 01, 2008 - BINGHAM -- Roscoe Vernon "Gadabout" Gaddis, TV's legendary "Flying Fisherman" came to central Maine as a fishing-tackle salesman from the Midwest in the 1920s.

He loved what he saw.

Gaddis settled in rural Bingham, along the banks of the Kennebec River, in Somerset County, where his reputation eventually landed him a radio program about fishing.

He later blazed the trail for sportsmen's programming on television with his "Flying Fisherman" show and hosting the weekly "Outdoors with Liberty Mutual" program.

On Saturday, the 40th annual Gadabout Gaddis Fly-In is set to begin with two days of flying, food, crafts and airplanes from all over the region, event co-chairman Wesley Baker said.

The event is held at the Gadabout Gaddis airfield at North Country Rivers rafting company, off U.S. Route 201 in Bingham, 20 miles north of Skowhegan.

Admission is free. Gates are open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"Why do we honor Gadabout Gaddis?" Baker asked this week. "He lived here, built an airport for us and gave freely to the schools and other organizations in town."

Gaddis, who lived in the house that still sits at the far end of the airfield, also donated the land that the town would use for its sanitary treatment facility.

Baker said Bingham residents and private flying enthusiasts got together in 1968 to honor Gaddis with the first fly-in and they have been flying on the last weekend in September ever since.

Baker said anyone watching the TV shows in the 1960s and into the early 1970s will remember the signature airplane taking off to start the show.

"The plane flying out at the beginning of the show was at the airport right down there in Bingham," Baker said. "It used to be a potato field."

Events this weekend are scheduled to include airplane rides, food vendors, antique autos, aviation displays and a large tent where crafters will set up to sell their wares, Baker said.

There also will be aircraft demonstrations, including competitions in spot landing and the popular flour bombing, with competitions scored on dropping a bag of flour on an "X" marking the spot on the airfield.

Baker said at the 2007 event about 30 pilots flew in to the fly-in. This year, with the price of fuel, numbers could be down, he said.

Trophies will be handed out for the pilot traveling the longest distance to the Bingham field, to the first female pilot to land, and to the youngest and oldest pilots to come to the Bingham airfield. A trophy also will be given for the best ultralight aircraft.

This year's annual Gaddis Trophy will be presented at 1 p.m. on Sunday to Caleb Curtis, of the Pittsfield Municipal Airport, for his contributions to private flying.

Gaddis got his start on television in 1939 when General Electric came to him and asked if he wanted to do a fishing show on a new experimental station in New York, according to www.gadaboutgaddis.com.

That first show on W2XD was 15 minutes long on Friday nights during the summer of 1939, television being on just a few hours a day.

During World War II, Gaddis toured USOs and narrated his fishing travel films.

After the war, he bought a Cessna, and was the angling guru to the first TV generation. Gaddis was nominated for an Emmy in 1968.

His show "The Flying Fisherman," which ran until the 1970s, brought showbiz and Hollywood stars to fishing.

Gaddis was the host of "Outdoors With Liberty Mutual," a half-hour syndicated series that made its debut during TV's early years and eventually was carried weekly by 73 stations.

He died in Bingham on Oct. 21, 1986 at the age of 90.

Gaddis is buried at the Robinson Cemetery in neighboring Moscow.

09/25/2008 by Doug Harlow, staff writer, Kennebec Journal


Lakes:
Regions: Rangeley, Moosehead, Embden


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