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Event

Paul Welke reaches major Island Airways flight milestones

Also Paul Welke 30,000 flight hours and 47th solo anniversary 2012

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Took place at Beaver IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
TypeEvent
Dates2012-07-14 – 2012-09-05
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Took place at Beaver IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
Event
Dates
2012-07-14 – 2012-09-05
Kind
Anniversary
Where
Beaver Island
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
aviationtransportationcommunitycommunication
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

The August 2012 Beaver Beacon reports that Paul Welke passed 30,000 total flight hours on July 14, 2012, and marks the 47th anniversary of his first solo flight. The article also notes that September would mark forty years since he began his commercial flying career.

Evidence limits

These milestones are reported by the newspaper; this entry does not independently audit flight-hour or employment records.

Sources

  1. Beaver Beacon, August 2012, "47 & Counting."
    Reports Paul Welke's 47th anniversary of his first solo flight, his July 14 passage of 30,000 total flight hours, and an anticipated September 2012 career milestone. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2012-08_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held August issue scan confirms the aviation milestones report.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2012-08_Beaver-Beacon
  3. A family post linked a 9&10 News feature about Paul Welke’s fortieth year of flying on Beaver Island, and forum participants discussed the broadcast. This corroborates the public recognition but the television feature, not the forum, is the stronger source for its factual claims.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 05 · t005697

Added 7 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Paul Welke reaches major Island Airways flight milestones”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-paul-welke-flight-milestones-2012/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, August 2012, "47 & Counting." (and 2 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-07. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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