Bill Kitto, there's a blast from the past. Just a couple of weeks ago a friend from Missouri called me and asked if I knew how to contact him, and I had to say I hadn't heard of him or from him for years. Is he still alive?
Bill was almost a caricature of the inarticulate engineer type. You might send him an email with three questions and he would answer with "yes." Huh?
In 2000 we had a millennium party for the old Freedivelist and Bill was there as was Ray Klefstad, the guy who was making guns with him. Late in the evening they were standing together and Ray said "Bill wants to know-----" I forget what, but I replied. Then we did it with at least three more questions. Bill is standing there and Ray is asking questions for him. I was tempted to ask if he had been struck mute, but I didn't. Why couldn't he ask for himself?
Last I heard of him was when Ron Mullins, one of the best divers in California, had Bill make custom guns for himself and a friend to his specifications. One of the specifications was that the guns float with the shaft out. They paid a fortune for the guns and found that they sank with the shaft out. Bill had some reason why he thought that was better but it wasn't what the guys wanted, so they gave him back the guns and got their money back.