Raymond Haas

Ray Haas was born in Los Angeles, California, growing up there and in Tustin (which is in Orange Country, pre-"OC"). At 17 1/2, Ray joined the US Navy and became an Electronics Technician (Radar).

In 1976, Ray started working with a Navy research and development project to evaluate the use of minicomputers onboard combatant ships. The ship Ray was stationed on, USS Gridley CG-21 (you know. . . "You may fire when ready, Gridley!"), was the ocean-going element of this R&D project. As a result of his involvement in this project, Ray changed his rating to Data Processing Technician, got an e-mail account (on the pre-Internet Arpanet), and started a career working with computers and information technology that lasts to this day. Ray has always been fascinated by flying, and also with the early part of WWII.

He started flying himself in 1976 (Otay Lakes, San Diego, flying gliders), and eventually earned his Private Pilot ticket (Gliders), Single-Engine Land (SEL), and Instrument ratings.

The Battle of Britain, fought during the summer of 1940, has always held a particular interest to Ray. A goal he set himself was to someday do a reboot of the movie Battle of Britain. He started doing research, and in doing so, remembered a poem that was attributed to a WWII pilot. The name of the poem is "High Flight" and the author's name is John Gillespie Magee, Jr. Ray wanted to correctly use the poem, so he started to do research on the poem and author. Well. . . the BofB project was put on the back burner indefinitely, because the story of John Magee and his poem took over. The more Ray found, the more fascinating a story it became.