Info Sheet - Rennie C. Funderburk
I retired from flying in 2020. After getting out of the Army in 1973 I was one of the lucky ones who found a job flying helicopters within 3 months as a flight instructor for South Carolina Helicopters. That led to a 6 year stint as an Ag pilot flying the Hughes 269A (modified) and several Ag planes until 1981. During this time period I took a trip to Iran for 2 years as a flight instructor for Bell Helicopter. In 1981 I decided that power lines were trying to kill me and based on a phone call from 2 friends from the Bell days who told me that the Gulf of Mexico was “Just like Vietnam except that nobody was shooting at you” I decided to head to the Gulf.
I ended up flying for 50 years with stints as an Army pilot (3 years) offshore pilot (28 years), EMS pilot (10 years) Ag pilot (6 years) and Instructor pilot (3 years) Of those 50 years, I spent 26 years working overseas in the Middle East and Malaysia.
I am now retired living in Fort Mill South Caroline with my wife of almost 50 years. I am a volunteer addict and divide my time working at the Sullenberger Aviation Museum in Charlotte NC, the Annie Springs Close Greenway and also for our Property Owners Association handling their maintenance issues.
As for pictures, we did suffer a house fire in 1980 and the only picture I have of my Vietnam days is attached below. The picture in the turret was in Quang Tai in 1973 while were were flying for the JMC/ICCS
Once again, a big thank you for what you have done to keep the Centaur memory alive.
Just as a footnote, My brother, Rupert (Rusty) Albert Funderburk was a LOACH Pilot for the !st Cavalry and was KIA in August 1969. He did 18 months in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne as a grunt and then went to flight school.