Fred Cuny TV Special.

Updated 09/17/97

This year the team trophy was renamed The Mc Neill/Cuny Team Trophy in honor of Fred Cuny. Fred and Bob Mc Neill flew as a team for several years, before Bob's death. Fred was killed more recently while providing humanitarian assistance in Chechnya.

Visit the 1997 Championships Results page for more information on the trophy and it's presentation.

Follow this link for more articles about Fred Cuny.

Information provided by Bill Vickland.

The FRONTLINE film, “The Lost American” airs on October 14, 1997 on PBS. The film explores the extrordinary life and mysterious disappearance of Fred Cuny , disaster relief expert and glider pilot. The film covers Fred’s experiences from the Biafran war in 1971 to his dissappearance in Chechnya in 1995.

Although Fred was an avid soaring pilot, owned an ASW-19 and flew in both FAI and 1-26 competition, the film does not include his soaring experiences. Fred was recently honored by the 1-26 Association which renamed its Annual Championship Team Trophy the McNiell/Cuny Trophy. Bob McNiell and Fred flew as team pilots in several 1-26 Championships.

Fred will also be honored by the Bosnian Government later this year for the work that his company, Intertect Relief and Reconstruction Co., performed in Sarajevo from 1993 until 1995. An emergency water system developed and installed by Intertect provided 80% of the water to Sarajevo throughout the siege and in 1995, during the heaviest seige period, it provided the only water to the city of 300,000 people. Intertect also worked across the Bosnian and Serbian confrontation lines to ensure the continued supply of natural gas to the City of Sarajevo during the siege. Fred’s disaster relief strategies focussed on their strategic impact rather than their humanitarian benefits. The maintenance of the water and gas supply in Sarajevo were instrumental in preventing the success of the Serbian seige of the City in defeating the Bosnian people. Fred was instrumental in defining American foreign policy in Bosnia during the conflict.

I contacted Chris Buchanon from FRONTLINE who has done a lot of the work on the Cuny special. The Special will be presented on October 14 at 9:00 PM Eastern time on the local PBS station. It has been postponed to permit the addition of footage that will be taken during a presentation of a memorial award to Fred by the Bosnian government. This ceremony is to happen in September some time.

Check here as more details become available.