Above: Wes Lematta, flying in a Hiller 12-B, lifts a crew member to safety off of the sinking dredge William T. Rossell on September 10, 1957. Below: The Lematta Brothers are shown in this June 1966 photograph, from left to right Wes, Ed (sitting), Jim (kneeling) and Bill.
Opposite: Columbia Helicopters S-61 lifting power line tower sections. Wes Lematta purchased the helicopter new from Sikorsky in June of 1967. The S-61 was powered by two 1,500 horsepower engines and was capable of lifting 8,000 pounds at sea level of 4,000 pounds at 12,000 feet. The addition of the S-61 to the Columbia fleet gave the company the ability to complete many demanding high altitude construction projects such as power lines and ski lifts.
Photos: Courtesy of Cloumbia Helicopters, Inc.
and gone into business for himself cutting and selling firewood. Although there was no way to know it at the time, this venture into harvest- ing firewood would sow the seeds for a major venture into large scale log- ging years later. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Wes worked in a shipyard where he was able to save enough money to buy a truck and expand his wood business by hauling logs to lumber mills. In 1944, at the age of 18, Lematta joined the United States Army and saw action in the Philippines. From his foxhole he could see American fight- ers swooping in to fire at Japanese troops and decided that if he made it back to the United States he would
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