Stearman flight a reward for Henderson veterans
With Dolores Saulque snug in the cockpit of the World War II-era biplane, pilot Darryl Fisher offered his 88-year-old passenger some advice.
“We won’t be able to talk while we’re in the air,” he said. “So give me a thumbs up if everything is cool, and thumbs down if you want to come back.”
Saulque never needed to flash thumbs down as they soared through the sky on the outskirts of Boulder City. The former Air Force flight nurse, who married an Air Force pilot, knew about the ups and downs of biplanes.
“I’m looking forward to this first flight in a Stearman,” she said before Fisher fired up the powerful radial engine of the 1942 airplane and its single propeller whirled in front of the checkered cowling.
After a 20-minute trip high over the desert southwest of the Boulder City Municipal Airport, she raved about the experience.
“I never dreamed it would be so wonderful to fly in an open cockpit. This is flying,” she said.
On Thursday, Fisher, founder of the nonprofit Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation, took six senior veterans from the Merrill Gardens retirement community in Henderson on free flights in the Boeing Stearman biplane.
It was the foundation’s first visit to the Las Vegas Valley. Hundreds of veterans in their 80s, 90s and up to age 102 have made the flights. This year’s target is to provide 450 flights.
“Folks that have given to us in terms of service to our country, that’s what the foundation does,” Fisher said. “Our mission is giving back to those who have given. We’re a very unique organization. We’re 100 percent volunteer-driven.
“We get paid in satisfaction, and frankly we’re overpaid. We’re funded by donors who believe in our mission and believe in giving back to this greatest generation,” he said.
Saulque’s husband, Howard, 86, vouched for her air savvy.
“She had flown before, when she was stationed in England. She took a ride in a Tiger Moth,” he said, describing a 1930s de Havilland biplane, a trainer aircraft flown by the Royal Air Force.
“She loved it but didn’t have enough money to continue lessons. But now we have another flight toward the end of our lives, and it’s just a wonderful opportunity,” he said.
He joined the Air Force in 1948, and they were married in in 1959.
When it was his turn to go up, and he was strapped in the front seat of the Stearman, reflections of his days at the controls of a Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star trainer jet raced through his mind.
“Memories. Memories,” he said. “I used to fly the T-33 in a small cockpit like this. You didn’t get into the airplane. You put it on.”
He waved as they taxied to the runway, then took off and disappeared into a cloudless sky.
Upon their return, Howard Saulque was excited to talk about his adventure.
“We had a nice flight,” he said. “He let me fly the airplane even.”
What was that like?
“We almost threw up,” Saulque joked. “He managed very nicely. I even complimented him on his landing. I almost sounded out, ‘Nobody was hurt.’ … If I could bend over, I’d kiss the tarmac.”
The Saulques’ enthusiasm was contagious for the other senior aviators.
“The flight was fabulous,” said Women’s Army Corps veteran Marjorie Lowe, 92, after Fisher parked the plane.
Upon his return, Korean War-era Marine veteran Jan Kornychuk, 85, said, “I want to do it again.”
And World War II B-29 navigator Dale Gage, 90, climbed out of the front cockpit seat to say, “It was wonderful.”
That meant a lot coming from the former Army first lieutenant who grew up in Quinn, S.D., and had to bail out of a crippled Superfortress bomber in the Pacific theater in July 1945.
“This time,” Fisher said, “he was glad he wasn’t getting shot at.”
Foundation Executive Director Paul Bodenhamer said the foundation has provided 800 flights to veterans and seniors nationwide and “we’ve never had anybody ask to go down, or had an injury or said it was horrible.”
“It’s all about the veterans,” he said.
Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2.