TOMMY MUNNS 1948 - 1949 AIRCRAFT MECHANIC DEN OBITUARY Thomas "Tommy" Brice Munns, 79, of Steelville, Mo., died March 13, 2009. A memorial in his honor will be at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, June 20, 2009, at the Hotel Gold Crown located on Centennial Airport in Denver, Colo. A reception will follow. He was born June 27, 1929, in Greeley, Colo., to Kenneth Clifford Munns and Mary Eleanor Valona Wolfkiel Munns. He served in the Army Air Corps as a jet engine mechanic and was honorably discharged in 1951. Tommy devoted his life to flying and maintaining aircraft working for many aviation organizations including Continental and Frontier Airlines. He married Bessie Barbara Bowman and raised three children. Tommy flew and maintained the first generation of business and corporate aircraft. In 1971, the family relocated to Cody, Wyo., where he flew for Husky Oil Co. While in Wyoming, Tommy refined his passion of restoring old Piper Cub aircraft to mint flying condition, and many found service in the Alaska Bush. Following Bessie's death in 1987, Tommy moved to Anchorage. He was employed in a variety of aviation fields including air cargo, aircraft repair and restoration, and corporate flying for local Alaskan businesses. Among his many aviation accomplishments, Tommy was one of the first pilots to be certified by the FAA to fly selected business jets as a single pilot. During this time Tommy met his second wife, Kitty Ann Dobbs. In 2005, the FAA awarded Tommy with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award and the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award. Both awards are bestowed for lifetime achievements in aviation, requiring a minimum of 50 years experience. Tommy is one of a few that have received both of these prestigious FAA awards. Over his lifetime, he flew many types of commercial aircraft, logging tens of thousands of flight hours. A devoted husband, father and pilot, he will be sadly missed by his wife, Kitty of Steelville; daughter, Jeanne Marie Munns Swartz of Anchorage; two sons, Clifford Brice Munns of Gastonia, N.C., and Thomas Malcolm Munns, Leonardtown, Md.; six grandchildren and one great-grandchild; other relatives and many friends. -Denver Post on June 7, 2009 Posted at the FL Club More Deaths In The FLamily I found this after I blundered into a Legacy.com database and entered "Frontier Airlines" in their search machine. Tommy Munns 3/13/2009, age 79 "...maintaining aircraft working for many aviation organizations including Continental and Frontier Airlines." Post any info you have - most are unknown to me. -Jake Lamkins (10/27/09) Tommy Munns doe not appear on any personnel lists that I have. I have contacted several retired mechanics that recall Tommy Munns, and the consensus is that he worked for Monarch Air Lines about 1948/49, not Frontier Airlines. Monarch was in the process of overhauling the three Arizona Airways DC-3's. A common practice of Airlines at that time was to "Lay off" all of the mechanics needed after a major overhaul was completed. (Example; I was hired in April, 1950, [Monarch Air Lines] during the overhaul of the last Arizona Airways DC-3, and then "Laid Off" on November 15, 1950, after the overhaul was completed.) by Frontier Airlines (Inauguration of Service, June 1, 1950 ). Tommy was not (working/employed) by Monarch / Frontier in 1950 during the time I was employed as a mechanic, or later. -Ken Schultz (11/2/09) The 1951 discharge date must be an error as Munns is not on the 7/1/52 FL/IAM seniority list or on any of Schultz' personnel lists. I will use Schultz' dates of service for Tommy. -Jake Lamkins (11/9/09)