Maurice A Kuenzi

May the peace of our Lord be with the family during this rough time. I remember Mauri as one of the "good guys". He went out of his way to befriend and encourage me when I was a Delta "new hire" up in Chicago-land during 1968 and 1969. He never acted in a self-important manner, but always went out of his way to make me feel like a part of the Delta family. I will never forget his kindness and friendliness. Donald Camp

Mauri Kuenzi, where to begin. When I arrived in the squadron as a new radar observer in 1958 I flew as much as I could because I had no regular job yet. As it turned out Mauri was there and I got to know him because he had the free time to fly a lot. Being older and more experienced he became like an older brother to me during the times we flew cross country to various air bases, most of which were close to family members he wanted to see. We did trips to Kansas City, Seattle, and San Francisco, and Tucson all the time talking about the fine points of the F-89, air navigation, and of course his cows on the farm near Slinger, WI. He really talked fast so I had to learn to listen as fast. I believe it was his Swiss heritage that was the cause and he must have had a heart like a Swiss clock, beating so rapidly. I got to know more of his family than my own and a good looking extended family it was. In 1960 Mauri was tagged to be one of the two full-time alert pilots for the Air Defense commitment the 126th FIS took on. I signed up to be his radar observer and we were on that duty all year long, flying every chance we got. One memorable duty day we were "scrambled" to intercept an incoming target that was coming in over Canada and quite high. The call-up was a bit late so it was all Mauri could do to get enough altitude for the intercept. I picked up the target on the radar and gave him the steering necessary to line up on it but we were still low, climbing through 28,000 feet. We were climbing with both afterburners going when Mauri got the radar indications that called for the firing pull-up. For high targets the F-89 attack profile called for what was called a "snap-up" to launch the weapon (in this case simulated launch). It was about 33,000 feet when the airplane stalled with the nose up about 25 degrees and it just stopped flying and fell. The next several minutes were strange but comfortable as the aircraft tumbled end over end falling a total of 16,000 feet (I think) before the nose angled down and we began to fly again with some control. He was up in front moving the stick left and right, forward and back trying to get the airplane to do something, anything. In back I was watching the right wing flap area where fuel was exiting and spiraling toward the front of the wing since we falling backwards. It was a bizarre sight. At the same time I was focused on the altimeter that was unwinding rapidly and suggested to Mauri that in a little bit we had better bail out if the bird didn't start to fly. About that time the nose came down and things got back to normal. I will leave it at that although that experience solidified my confidence in Mauri Kuenzi. Dick Gardner

Here is a photo of 1 Lt. Mauri Kuenzi doing the preflight inspection on the alert airplane (1960). Dick Gardner

I seemed to fly with Mauri a lot, he being a Captain and I newly minted F/O on the DC-9. Yes, he talked 90 knots with occasional gusts to 120. Ran the checklist at the same speed, and once in Shereveport on taxi out had to return to the gate because one of the engines had apparently flamed out. Mtc came running out to find the problem. They came to the cockpit and said " Capt. that engine is stone cold!" No trouble found, and watched as we lit it off. Now Mauri liked to do a lot of stuff himself (standardization had not happened on Delta at that time,) It seemed that Mauri moved so fast that he forgot to move the fuel control to run, and was so busy taxiing he didn't notice. When the generator dropped off line and the oil pressure low light came on, we both assumed it had flamed out, when in fact it never lit off! Mauri was a great guy, fun to fly with, and a good aviator. I know his flight West was excellent and ended in the palm of Gods' hand, who had a welcoming smile on His face. God Speed Mauri, God Speed! Tom Peace "Uncle Tom"

Mauri Kuenzi was a close friend of mine from the Wisconsin Air National Guard. We both flew the F-89s and the KC97s together. One night on a drill weekend in 1963 we both went out to the guard to fly the KC97 but my airplane "crapped out". So I jumped on Mauri's plane to get credit for the flight. My civilian job had been getting me down and I discussed this with Mauri. He was flying for Delta and told me all the great things about that air line to the point that I couldn't wait to get home and talk to my wife about it. Well I called Delta. They sent me a ticket . I got interviewed that week. Within 10 days I got an answer to report for school in two weeks. My pregnant wife along with our son drove to Atlanta and were with Delta for 31 and 1/2 years. Thank you Mari Kuenzi. Ron Jones

For Leah: I do have one other photo to add to the mix. This picture was taken when we were on "alert" in the ready room. I was having trouble focusing so I asked Mauri to hold up his hand for a bright contrast. As you can see he was in a conversation with Leon Culver (back to camera) and Turner Smith (to the right) I took the photo and he held his arm up there and went right on talking. Best regards, Dick Gardner