July 20, 1997

FRAMINGHAM, MA - At age 18 or 19, Quentin Sewell took about 3 hours of flying lessons with his brother Phil (at Westboro Airport which no longer exists).   He didn't pilot a plane again until January 4, 1975 --- using a gift certificate for flying lessons his wife Joanne surprised him with for his 47th birthday.

Sewell grew up on Captain Tom's Hill, (atop which Bayberry Hill Condominiums now stand), where he enjoyed a first hand education in Framingham history --- watching as The Meadows, Shoppers World, and other properties along Route 9 sprouted and grew into the sprawling commercial area it is today.   Quentin's father was in the construction business and worked building many of the mid 20th century Framingham schools, Loring Arena, St. Stephens Church, Framingham Union Hospital, and many other building which stand today.   Both Quentin and his wife Joanne were career Framingham school teachers.   Quentin served as pastor of Edwards Church and both he and Joanne were involved in many religous, educational, and civic activities in town.   Two Framingham streets are named for the family, Sewell Street and Dinsmore Ave.

An instrument rated private pilot Sewell makes it a point to log some flying time every month.   His logs showed that this flight, when he invited Framingham Online to fly along with he and his son Craig, brought his total to 271 consecutive months flying.  

Craig Sewell, a Precinct 3 Town Meeting Member, has also logged a few hours of flying lessons --- making him a third generation of the Sewell family to take to the skies. The photo (above) shows Elsie Dinsmore (Quentin's mother, wife of E. Chester Sewell) photographed in 1919 in an open cockpit bi-plane at the Musterfield in Framingham.

Flying from Hanscom Air Base in Concord MA, we headed for Framingham in the four-seat Cessna single engine craft.   The trip took us over Walden Pond in Concord moments after take-off, and into Framingham airspace a few minutes later.   We spent only an hour flying over Framingham, but were able to capture images of Saxonville, Route 9, Downtown, the Centre, South Framingham, and many interesting sites including the new MWRA Tunnel Site, Cushing Hospital's grounds, Macomber Estate, Framingham High School and much more.

With special thanks to the Sewells we present these aerial photos for your online viewing pleasure!

Click on any of the small images along the righthand side of this page to view enlarged aerial photos. Click on the word Intro to return to this page.