European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 4, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                1agazine a ,v.?,. Harmon flying is f 07f Oram Ebany we j Moro to can for Foster International diplomacy with is single engine plane. A photo boosting peace in a Beechraft Bonanza by Jeff Down associated Pressa Viator Millard Harmon of Delmar. By May be sublimely alone in believing thai world peace swirls in the Wake of his Beech Craft Bonanza air plane. Harmon you see a a self styled Goodwill ambassador without port Foto flying to tar lung Comers of the Globe on his own people to people program even trying 1o establish his own Brand of detente with the soviet Union of president Reagan has air Force one Harmon has the Beechraft dubbed ten Romeo which he purchased in 1971 with a second mortgage on his Home in the Albany suburb of Delmar. Too much airspace Between the ears you scoff join Harmon s neighbors i think there s an awful lot of people in the Community who think i got a screw Loose says Harmon a 60-year-old retired administrator from the state University of new York. 1 consider myself an innovator and divergent person. I Don l think of myself As  let August Harmon Rew his Beechraft to the North pole carrying greetings from Albany mayor Thomas Whalen Iii to his slops along the Way in Canada we generated ail kinds of Good warm feeling toward  he says. In june 1985. Harmon hew his air plane into Moscow illegally without a visa. There Are virtually no tight aircraft in Hie soviet Union to begin with. He spent his ensure three Days there under House arrest in a hotel room at Shere Matevo Airport. Imagine the Brouhaha tha worldwide Media attention. It was a Public relations Bonanza for the Delmar flyby. Bui it was a personal disappointment for Harmon who had hoped to fraternize with the locals he had met on previous More conventional trips dating Back to his doctoral research on soviet education. There were no meetings with the mayor either. I wanted to see my friends and i did t want to be locked up in a  he said later. However he did Fly away with what he Calls one Smalt piece of  with navigator Vladislav Sakharov assigned by the soviet government to accompany him he set the first joint soviet american Speed record in his Beechraft Helsinki to Moscow in three hours 45 minutes 10 seconds. Fortunately for Harmon. Sakharov was unaware thai though Harmon s visa had been granted it had never reached him in the mail Harmon known a thing or two about Aiti Jed records. He has set 62 of them City to cd Tor planes weighing less than 3,836 pounds with his top Speed of 204 Mph and internal fuel Reservoir. In fact he holds More Solo Speed records in an air plane than any other Man according to Everett Langworthy executive vice president of the american aeronautic association but what really sets Harmon apart Langworthy says is that he has managed to put All those records at the service of a larger cause. A has used this As a wedge. As an entree from the american people to the russian  Langworthy says. He seems to have struck up a line rapport with tie people there. I think he has a certain egotism about him. To directs it toward worthwhile things. He s demonstrating that aviation can be used for a peaceful  Harmon has won other admirers if not disciples in High places. Steven hone Bill a producer at Emht to in Schenectady. Is one of them. Hone Bill accompanied Harmon to the North pole and part of the Way to the soviet Union and produced a documentary based on the latter in called Friendship flight he s just trying to make people aware that people Here Are pretty much like people there hone Bill says. Wednesday. March 4, 1987 maybe if More people made Mora efforts to be Friendly we would t be Silling on the hedge of what could be the end of the  Harmon went his own Way Early on from the time his grandmother bought him a then fashionable Lindy suit with its Swank flight Cap. He gained flying experience in the . Air Force but soon discovered his interest in people outweighed his involvement with machines. He espouses a spare politics of people " of the soviet Union he says simply the government i Don t Trust but the people Are delightful without Money of course ideas Are just ideas. Harmon knows that. He spent 170.000 to make his 1935 soviet trip. His North pole Jaunt put him Back an additional $10,000 he figures his plane is Worth $300.000. He s managed to lure 16 corporate sponsors to help underwrite his Light equipment sponsors like the 6 f. Goodrich aircraft service Canter in Akron Ohio the company installed a icing equipment for Harmon at a reduced Price including pneumatic do icer boots thai dislodge ice irom the wings and Tail of the ten Romeo. How did Harmon win support of these experts m aircraft de icing he was actually doing something that i Felt was to Advance the aviation Community says Jim Dunn manager of the service Center Harmon needed their equipment when severe Wing icing at 5,000 Leal Over the North Pota nearly forced him to make an emergency Landing. He was prepared with a survival Lant raft and pump action Shotgun Foi Polar bears. If they re hungry they d just As soon eat a Man As a  he explains. Harmon a planning a round the world journey within the next two years Vou see there Are about 1 billion people out there. Many of them Harmon has not yet met. The stars and stripes Page 13