At 1,800 feet, Autzen Stadium may be eclipsed with the palm of a hand. At 160 miles-per-hour, it takes only 15 minutes to travel from West Eugene to Autzen and back. And on a rare sunny day in March, the entire city can be viewed all at once.
University Professor Emeritus William Lamon — a veteran pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Belgian cadet — is well-acquainted with heights and high velocity. Every weekend, he flies his North American Harvard T-6, a World War II-era combat training plane.
The professor’s love of flight was ingrained in him as a child in Oostende, Belgium. His father served in the Belgian Army Air Corps, and many of his friends followed suit. In 1960, when he was 22 years old, Lamon left his native country to pursue flight training in the Canadian Air Force.
Now, Lamon flies in the Civil Air Patrol, a search and rescue auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, and at airshows. In 1990, he founded the “Heritage Flight” to honor pilots who have trained in Canada. His plane represents NATO in the group, and two others represent Canada and the British Commonwealth.
Next term will mark Lamon’s last after 31 years at the University. He said he is looking forward to full retirement because he will have more time to fly. Lamon said when he finally got his wings in 1963, it was one of the biggest thrills of his life.
“It was emotionally more satisfying than getting a Ph.D.,” he said. “It was easier, too.”
However, his thrills were over by the year’s end. Lamon was barred from flying in the Canadian Air Force because of developing eye problems. With the advise of a mentor in the Belgian Air Force, he moved to the United States to continue his education. During the next decade, he attended school in California and eventually earned a doctorate in mathematics education from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1963, Lamon was married in San Francisco, which gave him a chance to remain in the United States and become a citizen four years later. He was not able to fly again until 1978, when he passed civilian pilot vision examinations.
Lamon then taught math at San Francisco high schools and at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
The teacher came to Eugene in 1972, and became an assistant professor at the University’s College of Education. However, he had no close friends in the department.
Lamon said his strongest friendships have been with his second wife, Mary Ann Lamon, to whom he has been married for almost 20 years; fellow Eugene pilot Ron Bowker and his German shepherd Precious, whom he refers to as his “best four-legged friend.”
William Lamon and Bowker met more than 20 years ago because the two rented adjacent airplane hangers at the Eugene Airport.
“It’s the love of aviation that put us together,” Bowker said. “It’s a brotherhood of people.”
The two have breakfast every morning at a bagel and coffee shop, and William Lamon said Bowker is the only friend besides his wife who he can always count on.
“Everyday we sit here and bullshit — if I don’t, I miss it,” Lamon said.
William Lamon said his wife is his best friend because she has always supported him — his flying included.
Mary Ann Loman said the same, adding that while she sometimes worries about bad weather or a plane malfunction, she never worries about his flying capabilities.
While life was smooth sailing in the sky, his career changed course on the ground. In 1992, the College of Education dropped its teacher education program and let go most of the program’s staff, William Lamon included.
The flier became an assistant to the University vice provost, and held the position — where he traveled around the country recruiting students — until he retired in 1998. Since then, he has taught several courses on the history of flight.
“I have an enormous affinity for aviation,” he said.