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? - September 14, 2017
He and his daughter Colleen Cordova looked forward to joining his Roadrunner contemporaries for the October 10 dinner and the enshrining of the Roadrunners into to the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame. Sadly, Olin Richard Habegger departed on his final flight on 14 September at the Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas Nevada. He would have been 81 years old on November 22nd.
The Roadrunners knew him as "Dick," and Magnavox Research Labs, the company for whom he worked, by its pseudo name, the Vose Company. Dick worked on the ARC-50 UHF system in the Vose radio shop situated in the same hanger as the Collins Radio boys (HF system) and the Lockheed Test Equipment Calibration Lab. The Vose radio room was where CIA A-12 pilot Jack Weeks brought his Heath Kit electronic dice project for Dick, Terry Cox, and Dave Adrain to assist him with.
Dick and the others also assisted the Special Projects team with a tube type VHF radio (with European nomenclature tubes and Cyrillic markings). The radio was from the Soviet MiG 21 being exploited during Project DOUGHNUT that followed Project OXCART.
Dick often recalled how pilot Frank Murray flew an F-101 VooDoo off to Seattle, doing barrel rolls from takeoff until out-of-sight to the north. Dick always wondered if he was still rolling when he reached Washington State.
Another tidbit that Dick recalled about Frank was a weather scout flight that Frank started by buzzing the field with a sonic boom while most were having breakfast. During the mission briefing, the briefing officer asked him if he was the one that buzzed the field. Frank answered, "Yeah if I have to get up at 6 AM, everybody is gonna get up at 6 AM!" Thanks for sharing the fond memories, Dick. We will keep them alive for you. We will miss you.
Dick is now together and at peace with his wife of over 60 years. She passed four years ago. He is survived by his daughters Sharon Brown, Karen Medwetz and Colleen Cordova.
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