Thirty years ago today (Nov 2), Denise and I attended a memorial service for Gene Roddenberry at Forest Lawn in Los Angeles. Several hundred friends, family members, and members of the Star Trek community were in attendance. It was a simple event featuring a few speakers, including Ray Bradbury, Patrick Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, and Christopher Knopf, who told the story of he and Gene attending a Dodgers baseball game in the early 1960s, at which Gene came up with the kernel of the idea that became Star Trek. Nichelle Nichols sang, and we stood solemnly as “Amazing Grace” played mournfully on bagpipes.
At the conclusion of the event, everyone moved outside, standing under the Los Angeles sky to witness an aircraft flyover. I wondered what kind of aircraft would participate in the salute to Gene Roddenberry, who had served as an aviator in World War II, and had later flown as a commercial pilot for Pan Am. We looked skyward and saw four tiny dots in the distance. They weren’t military jets, but they did not seem familiar. As they got closer, I could hear that they were propeller-driven craft, but had an unusual swept-wing design.
Then it hit me: They were "Starships," experimental business aircraft built by Beechcraft. One of the futuristic planes peeled off from the group, in the traditional aviators’ “missing man formation” salute to a fallen comrade. I could not imagine a more fitting salute to Star Trek’s creator. For some reason, my eyes felt moist. I looked around me. I was not alone.
PHOTO: Beech Starship in flight by Ken Mist. https://secure.flickr.com/photos/eyeno/5999381564/