Little did Capt. George D. Colchagoff, Toledo, know when he left his engineering studies at the University of Toledo for a brief holiday in Mexico City some years ago that he would be down there again in 1945 in line with military duties studying what had been of great interest to him as a tourist, the newly-born Paricutin volcano.
     Captain Colchagoff was called into the service with the rest of his buddies and managed to line up a fine record for himself. Serving with the Ninth Air Force under General Brereton he participated in the Ploesti oil field raid in Romania August 1, 1943. He has seen action as a pilot of a B-24 in both the European theater and in the Middle East.
     There he earned for himself the Distinguished Flying Medal, the air medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, and the unit citation. Quite an array of decorations and one which a civilian observer might say would earn him a much needed rest.
     But not for Captain Colchagoff, for he was returned from overseas on Aug. 27, 1943, to serve at Wright Field as aeronautical engineer.
     Then down Mexico way came the call for scientists, a helicopter, and trained men to man it. It seemed that there was a great deal of interest in the Paricutin volcano there and that scientists so far had been unable to get close enough for adequate observation of new lava flows and eruptions.
     The mission of American scientists arrived, a new model Sikorsky helicopter appeared, and at last, the two air corpsmen came, Flight Officer Ray Beer, Mansfield, O., and Captain Colchagoff.
     When the ATSC was queried about sending down men and a plane they had been interested as the altitude, temperature, and air turbulence in the volcanic area approximated those in the CBI theater and so they agreed to the venture.
     The Wright group has completed 62 missions over the Paricutin area (22 hours flying time) and the reports of the scientists abroad doing research on the volcanic conditions have not only proved of interest to the civilian world, but have provided some valuable flight data to the ATSC.

1965

                                                                --Blade Photo
LARGE FAMILY NO BAR TO SCHOLARSHIP
Mrs. Colchagoff with her husband and six children

Mother Wins Degree, Honors
At TU After 12 Years Work

Quit School For Lack Of Funds, Returned
To Take Day, Evening, Summer Courses

     A mother with a family of six children was awarded a degree it took her 12 years to earn at the University of Toledo commencement last night.
     Mrs. Beth Ann Colchagoff received the degree of bachelor of education magna cum laude. It was the successful conclusion of an academic endeavor begun in 1954, after she was graduated from Waite High School.
     Mrs. Colchagoff started as a full-time student at TU, but lack of funds compelled her to quit and take a job. She was a part-time student when she married. During the past 12 years she has attended TU off and on during the day or evening and in summer school, as circumstances permitted.
     Mrs. Colchagoff and her husband, Robert, live at 3424 Valleston Pkwy. with their six children, aged 2 to 17. Mr. Colchagoff is a mechanical engineer at Owens-Illinois, and three of his children are from an earlier marriage. Mrs. Colchagoff plans either to teach or go to graduate school next fall.

1971

                                                                  --Blade Photo

1957

News Of This And That

It's a tree, all right, but not the usual conception. Demeter Colchagoff looks into the hollow tree that forms a kind of horn of plenty in some of the provinces of Bulgaria. Grandfather pours grain through the tree while the family gathers in the living room -- and the grandmother catches it in the bowl.

WHAT THE well-dressed bomber pilot's wife will wear after the war is modeled here by Mrs. George Colchagoff, 217 Worthington St. Her husband, Captain Colchagoff brought the leopard and boa constrictor skins back from North Africa when he returned last week after 37 missions over enemy territory.

     Song writers Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson obviously hadn't heard of a young Toledo flyer when they penciled "Comin' In On a Wing and a Prayer" and started the juke box tills jingling.
If they had, at least one line of their hit tune would have been changed., It would have read "tho we've two motors gone, we still carry on" instead of "one motor gone."
     For the Toledoan, Capt. George Colchagoff, of 217 Worthington St., recently doubled the mythical song pilot's feat. Captain Colchagoff flew from Catania to Malta with two motors of his Liberator Bomber shot out.
     Captain Colchagoff today told the story to his wife, Lucy, a comely red-head, when Lucy insisted on hearing the "why" behind the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and four Oak Leaf Clusters George wore on his uniform when he returned home after nine months of combat in the Mediterranean area.