Col. Tarris with F-16
Former Lt. William Myers, CEC, USN
The Catalina Mountain Chapter (CMC) of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) will resume its monthly meetings on Oct. 18, 2025. This luncheon meeting will be held at the SaddleBrooke Ranch Grill & Brewery beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Our speaker will be retired Colonel Timothy G. Tarris, U.S. Air Force, who is a 1973 graduate of Capital University, Columbus, Ohio. Receiving his commission through the Air Force ROTC program, Col. Tarris attended Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) at the former Williams Air Force Base, Chandler, Ariz.
He was then assigned to Cannon Air Force Base, Clovis, N.M., to pilot General Dynamics F-111D supersonic Aardvark fighter-bombers. During his long Air Force career, Col. Tarris was also a flight instructor for the Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair and the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. As Director of Operations for the Arizona Air National Guard, he flew the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.
Following 30 years of active duty and National Guard service, Tim retired in 2003.
Tim’s commercial flying career began with United Parcel Service in 1981 flying Boeing B-727s; followed by instructing pilots to fly Douglas DC-8 and Boeing B-747 aircraft. He retired as a commercial captain with over 18,500 hours in 2009.
Tim further worked for 10 years as a consultant to the Department of Defense on the National Airspace System, which is the network of both controlled and uncontrolled airspace, domestic and oceanic. It includes air navigation facilities, equipment and services; airports and landing areas; aeronautical charts, information, and services; rules and regulations; procedures and technical information; and manpower and material.
The topic of his presentation will be his planned 2024 “Centennial Flight” commemorating the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Army Air Service’s first circumnavigation of the earth, which was accomplished over the course of six months in 1924. In early 2024, Tim and Buchanan (Canon) Bleeker, a younger aviator, planned to duplicate this circumnavigation in a 1973 Cessna 210L Single Engine, Turbocharged Centurion.
Tim will tell us what happened after the “Centennial Flight” was underway on its around–the–world journey.
If you are a former or present officer of the uniformed services interested in joining our organization, please contact Membership Chair, retired Lt. Col. Donald Timian, U.S. Army, by email at dontimian@hotmail.com or by telephone at 571-216-3679.
The membership of CMC encompasses the areas of Catalina, Oracle, parts of Marana and Oro Valley, SaddleBrooke, SaddleBrooke Ranch, San Manuel, Sun City, and parts of Superstition Mountains. For additional information, please visit our website at catalinamountainsmoaa.org.
The CMC and MOAA are non-profit, Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(19) tax exempt veterans’ organizations dedicated to maintaining a strong national defense and preserving the earned entitlements of members of the uniformed services and their families.