Pilots arrive for ‘family reunion’
Posted Oct. 26, 2007

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Webmaster’s Note: This story appeared in the Sept. 4, 2007, edition of The Register-Mail, Galesburg’s daily newspaper, and is posted here with the publication’s permission.

By RON JENSEN
of The Register-Mail

For a Stearman pilot to miss the National Stearman Fly-In here is like Tiger Woods giving a pass to Augusta.

"It's a fun week of flying. We've made friends. It's like a big family reunion," said Don R. Buck, Webb City, Mo., who is now attending his 31st consecutive Galesburg fly-in.

"A lot of people, this is the only time we see them. It's like a second home to us," he said before heading off to lunch with some of those friends. "The people who started this had a good idea. And it worked from the start."

His sentiment was shared by other pilots who sat in the shade of their colorful flying machines early Monday afternoon at Galesburg Municipal Airport. Asked why they come to Galesburg year after year, their answers were variations of the same theme.

"The camaraderie. The common interest in old airplanes," said Dino Vlahakis, Lebanon, N.H., who has missed attending only a few times since 1982. "If you miss a couple years, people say 'Where have you been? We missed you.' "

The 38th annual National Stearman Fly-In kicked off Monday and will end Sunday. The week includes plenty of flying, with special events like flour bombing, formation flying and short field takeoff and spot landing contests.

But the main attraction for pilots is each other.
John Ladley flew up from St. Louis Sunday to attend his first Galesburg fly-in and he was already smitten. He has been to the fly-in in Oshkosh, Wis., a couple times, but already prefers Galesburg.

"This is much more intimate and much more focused on the community of Stearman," he said. "This feels like family even though I've only been here 20 hours."

He became part owner of his brightly-painted biplane only six months ago, but was quickly hooked on the joy it offers.

"I put the golf clubs away. The bowling ball," he said. "All the hobbies are now on hiatus, except the Stearman."

The flying instructor tried to explain the appeal of flying the open cockpit aircraft that left the factory in November 1942 to help train pilots for the war in Europe and Asia.

"You feel much more like you're flying," he said. "You feel more bird-like in this than you do surrounded by aluminum."

On his way to Galesburg, he said, he was tossed upward by thermals over open fields, shooting up 1,000 feet in 30 seconds, sensing the cooling of the air as the updrafts lifted him. He likes the 360-degree view of the world and even the feeling of the wind beating his face. Even the smells coming up from the livestock farms he passed seemed to add to the thrill.

"I'll write a poem about it someday," he said.

The airplane Vlahakis steered to Galesburg from New Hampshire was delivered to the U.S. Navy on Jan. 20, 1941. He bought it in 1978 and has been bringing it to Galesburg since 1982.

Admitting his attendance hasn't been perfect, he said of the fly-in, "This is the only one like this. There is only one Galesburg.

"This is Mecca."