Prayer Breakfast features test pilot Russ O'Quinn

The 28th Annual Kiwanis Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, May 1, 2014, will feature speaker Russell O’Quinn, an acclaimed test pilot and aircraft designer whose story, “Live Life to the Limit,” is a testimony to the power of a dedicated Christian life.

A resident of Cummings Valley, O’Quinn fell in love with airplanes as a youngster, watching them and working as a line boy at Van Nuys Airport. He earned his pilot’s license at age 16 and his parents, who had objected to his flying, “realized this wasn’t going to go away.”

O’Quinn served in the Air Force and worked for Douglas Aircraft as an electronics technician, earning a commendation from Donald W. Douglas, Jr. for actively saving -- during the course of a test flight -- an aircraft that was suffering a design flaw that would have brought down the aircraft, the personnel and the program. O’Quinn established his own fleet of test aircraft at his headquarters in Long Beach, filling a need for private contractors who were waiting up to two years for space aboard Air Force vehicles to test their aviation products, such as navigation systems.

O’Quinn moved his Flight Test Research operation to a then-sleepy Mojave Airport in 1966, basing it in an old wooden hangar.

The U.S. government called on O’Quinn to organize a food and assistance airlift to Biafra, and he subsequently established the Foundation for Airborne Relief, airlifting aid during tribal warfare in Africa and in Bangladesh, where people were desperate following a devastating typhoon. His work, with his wife Mary Alice and church support, includes a flying hospital and air droppable units.

The Kiwanis Prayer Breakfast returns to McMullan Hall at St. Malachy Catholic Church (407 West E St., Tehachapi), at 6:44 a.m., with breakfast prepared by Linda Pettitt and a crew if Kiwanis members. Tickets are available at The Original Apple Shed, 333 E. Tehachapi Blvd .; Witt’s, 20437 Brian Way in Old Town; both branches of Bank of the Sierra, 224 West F St. in Tehachapi and 2100 Mission St. in Old Town; and from any Kiwanis member. The price is $8 in advance or $10 at the door. Tables of seven available for $57. For tickets or information, contact Don Bowman at 661-822-5516 or [email protected].

May 1 is the National Day of Prayer, whose 2014 theme is “One Voice, United in Prayer.” This year’s scripture is Romans 15:6.

The non-profit organization National Day of Prayer Task Force plans for “a huge wave of prayer, flowing from one coast to the other.”

The non-profit organization National Day of Prayer Task Force plans for “a huge wave of prayer, flowing from one coast to the other.”