Ants on a Log

Columbia Helicopters was started by Wes Lematta, whose family was originally from Finland, and moved to Washington State from North Dakota after the Depression. Wes, one of four brothers, left school at 14, feeling that it had given him all he needed, and worked in a variety of labouring jobs until the outbreak of the Second World War, when he enlisted. Bombarded in the trenches and seeing planes flying overhead, Wes vowed to become a pilot if he made it through the war. Thanks to the GI Bill, which allowed soldiers to retrain after the war....