Max Folsom of Greenville selected for Gadabout Gaddis Cup award

Staff Reports

    GREENVILLE — The Maine Aeronautics Association (MAA) has announced that Max Folsom of Greenville has been selected for this year’s Gadabout Gaddis Cup award.
    The honor is in recognition of an individual or organization who has fostered and supported aviation in Maine and made significant contributions to the flying community. As one MAA member pointed out, “Max has put a lot of people in the left seat of an airplane.”

    The  award ceremony will be held at North Country River Outfitters in Bingham on Sunday, Sept. 29 at 11:30 a.m.
    The Folsom name is synonymous with floatplane flying in Maine. His father, Dick, ran Folsom’s Air Service on the banks of Moosehead Lake for over 40 years. Max worked with his father in the family business flying in and out of the Maine woods as a floatplane pilot, flight instructor, aircraft mechanic, helicopter pilot, charter pilot and airport manager.
    Max and the Folsom family have been an inaugural part of Greenville’s annual International Seaplane Fly-In which just celebrated its 40th season. The Fly-In is one of the premier floatplane events in the country and is held on the weekend after Labor Day each year.
    Folsom and his father flew and filmed with Roscoe “Gadabout Gaddis” Vernon known to millions of television viewers as “The Flying Fisherman.” The award is bestowed upon the person (or organization) that best emphasizes the spirit of this bigger-than-life personality. It is presented at the annual awards luncheon on the last Sunday of September at the Bingham ‘Gadabout Gaddis’ Airport.
    Vernon built the Bingham airstrip located on the banks of the Kennebec River to use during the filming of his “Flying Fisherman” television show in the 1960s and 70s.
    Folsom recently sold the fixed based operations at the Greenville Municipal Airport to Peter Thompson of Hampden, but he will continue to run the maintenance shop and do flight instruction at the airport on the hill. Thompson described Max Folsom as “an icon in the Greenville and the aviation community. The award is a fitting tribute to Max and the Folsom family for decades of hard work and commitment to aviation in northern Maine.”
    The MAA is a non-profit Maine pilot organization dedicated to fostering the passion of flight. They promote aviation through education, legislation, advocacy, and community relations. The MAA organizes conferences, fly-ins, and FAA safety seminars. They provide educational aviation opportunities for the next generation on both the state and local levels. Members are private, business and corporate pilots; business men and women; and community leaders.
    This award has been presented for over 30 years to those who have supported and shaped aviation in Maine and whose passions have championed general aviation throughout the state and New England. Past winners include Telford Allen, Grady Sharpe, Don Lagasse and “Ma” Twitchell.
    The 2012 recipients of the Gadabout Gaddis Cup Award were the Friends of the Biddeford Airport (FOBA).