[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 9152]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING NANCY CANAVAN HESLOP

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TIM RYAN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 28, 2014

  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker I rise today to honor my good friend, 
Nancy Canavan Heslop. Her work chronicling the amazing story of her 
father, Naval and Marine corps aviator Colonel Desmond (``Des'') E. 
Canavan, and his work with test piloting the remarkable military cargo 
aircraft, the Budd RB-1 Conestoga has been nothing short of incredible. 
One of her articles was recently published in American Aviation 
Historical Society Journal, under the title ``A Story of the Budd RB-1 
Conestoga.''
  Nancy's father, Colonel Canavan was a test pilot for many years, and 
also showed unparalleled courage while serving his country as a pilot 
during the Second World War. He was the first Marine Corps pilot to fly 
both America's first helicopter (Sikorsky HNS-1, BuNo 39034, March 30, 
1944, and solo in BuNo 39046, November 2, 1944) and jet (Bell YP-59-A, 
BuNo 10002, July 18, 1944). He was stationed at the testing facility at 
NAS Patuxent River, MD, where he served as the test pilot for the Budd 
RB-1.
  Mrs. Heslop's article explains how the Budd RB-1 was plagued with 
many problems, and the many crashes it suffered during testing due to 
mechanical failures. Colonel Canavan himself was injured in one such 
crash. As a consequence of its poor testing, the Budd RB-1 never saw 
service in a combat theater during the war. However, its design led to 
numerous innovations that were later used in many other cargo planes.
  Out of the 17 Budd RB-1s that were delivered to the Navy, only one 
has survived. It currently is at Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, 
Arizona, awaiting restoration.
  My friend Nancy Canavan Heslop is an amazing woman, and has worked 
tirelessly on writing the story of the life of her father. She has 
written Letters From Des: The Life of a Marine Corps Naval Aviator and 
Test Pilot and is currently writing Letters From Des: Korea. Nancy is a 
truly outstanding woman; aside from her recent success she has also 
been published in multiple local journals. In closing, I am thrilled to 
congratulate my friend on her great accomplishments.

                          ____________________