Eugene(BIll) Eckhardt - John Deere 43B and 49A

By John Lange

Bill’s family moved from Kansas City Missouri to Lakewood Colorado in 1957. In November of 1960 Bill enlisted in the United States Air Force. He was assigned to the 1365 Photographic Squadron and stationed in Orlando Florida. His primary role was the repair of motion picture cameras and projectors. Most were 16mm and 35mm, Hollywood type Mitchell, Bell and Howell, and Arriflex were some of the more common. Bill was also involved in the design of the camera pod on the F-100 Super Sabre. This design used a D.B. Milliken Company camera running at 400 frames per second. After serving his four years Bill was discharged and joined the Honeywell Photographic Division for the next 17.5 years. At Honeywell he worked on 35mm cameras (average citizen camera) with lenses ranging in length from 11mm to 1000mm. Bill was then offered a job at Pentax where he spent the next 15.5 years. For Pentax he ran the parts department which served the entire US and some foreign countries. Included in this role was also managing a group of about a dozen who inspected all returned items. Spending a total of 37 years working on high end cameras, Bill is a virtual encyclopedia of model numbers, part numbers, and assembly schematics. After retiring Bill was looking for a hobby. He began building wooden cars and tractors. Attending an auction, he met early FRAPA member Walter Stack. Walter encouraged Bill to join FRAPA. In 2009 Bill bought a 1943 John Deere B from Walter and restored it. In 2014 Bill bought a John Deere 49A. He is currently in the process of restoring it. As I talked to Bill about his tractors, he made it very clear how much he appreciated the encouragement, support and help from FRAPA members.