David Paul Chappell
Be sure to also visit Dave's Planes & Cars on this website.
Dave as a toddler. Date unknown.
We think this is Dave's high school senior photo.
Dave could play virtually any instrument. If he didn't already play it, he'd learn it. He'd jam on piano and bass fiddle with jazz bands in the Gaslight Village district of St. Louis, Missouri in the late 40's and early 50's. He also played violin, mandolin, recorder, flute, coronet, etc. In his 50's he took up classical guitar. In his 80's he took up bagpipes.
Dave sent this photo to Jo from Tulsa, Oklahoma where he attended classes.
Jo, Dave, Floye Ardrey and Marjorie Bailey in Oklahoma, 1950 B.C. (Before Children).
Besides being a competitive shooter and model airplane flyer, Dave loved a good game of chess, apparently being especially proud of this victory over good friend Bob Gundersen in 1954. The black king, strangely, is not in the photo, apparently sitting on the one square not shown.
Dave shot on a pistol team with several McDonnell Aircraft work buddies including, especially, Norm Smith, shown at far left. He reloaded his own cartridges in the basement on Missouri Bottom Road, including melting lead ingots and molding new bullets.
Dave completely reconstructed this 1948 Lincoln, salvaging many parts from a 1947 model. He rebuilt the engine and replaced the interior, making new seats which he stitched together himself.
Besides reloading ammo in the basement, he built a lot of model planes down there that he flew both as a hobby and in competition.
Dave got a tour of the carrier USS Yorktown out of San Francisco in 1956, as he was designing fighter jets at McDonnell at the time. He enjoys telling the story of how he joined in with sailors shooting .45 semi-autos on deck, surprising them with his marksmanship. He brought home cable car souvenir toys for the kids.
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Dave and Jo bought the old country schoolhouse in St. Louis County, and he proceeded to build onto it, including digging the septic sewer system himself with shovels. Here he is getting started on the front of the house in 1951.
In 1956 the front of the house on Missouri Bottom Road looked a little different.
Dave at the Menlo Park house in 2008.
Dave with Chessie at his apartment in San Mateo in 2010.