Veterans take flight
Free rides in World War II-era aircraft a thrill for 12 locals
Twelve Yuma-area veterans took to the sky Tuesday in a vintage Boeing Stearman that flew in with the Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation, a non-profit group recognizing those who have served.
They were joined by family and friends, among others, outside of the Million Air building at Yuma International Airport for a ceremony that included a roll-in of the Arizona Patriot Guard Riders, presentation of the colors and Wendy Lobeck McKay’s rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Then — starting just after 8 a.m. — it was time to fly.
One of the first to fly was Bill Wardle, 94, a World War II Army veteran who served the 17th airborne division, 681st field artillery battalion from March 1943-March 1946. The only thing
missing for him was a control wheel in his half of the biplane’s open cockpits, he said, half-jokingly.
“I’m very blessed to be here and be alive, and very grateful for this recognition that they’re giving the veterans here today,” Wardle told the Sun before his flight. “If I get an offer to ride in a Stearman,” he noted, “I won’t turn it down.”
Wardle was briefly stationed in North Carolina and England before being transferred to France.
“Very fortunately for me, I spent the rest of the war in France,” he said. “About two weeks short of going into the Battle of the Bulge, I was pulled out for special work and missed combat by that much, for which I’m very grateful.”
During his Army tenure, he met his wife of 70 years, Liz, who attended the Ageless Aviation event with him.
The first to go up in the 1942 airplane was Homer Himes, 82, a Korean War Marine Corps veteran who served from 1953-61.
“There are no words to describe it,” he said after his flight. “I will never forget it.”
His daughter, Lou Cawood, said her daughter, Jennifer Keyes, set it up and that his family told Himes that they were going out to breakfast. Needless to say, he was surprised when they pulled up to the airport and saw the Stearman.
Cawood said he had always wanted to fly in one.
Frank Lindley, 82, was the lone Air Force veteran who took a flight aboard the aircraft Tuesday. He served from 1954-74, which included a stint in Vietnam.
“It’s very meaningful for the veterans,” Lindley said of the Ageless Aviation event.
A private pilot since the 1970s, he said he last rode in a Stearman 30 years or so ago. Lindley attended the event with his wife, Carol, also an Air Force veteran.
Aside from Wardle, Himes and Lindley, nine other veterans took flights, including John Lobeck, Gene Dalbey, John Schwope, John Leppelman, Ron Lamonds, Richard Snyder, Jeff Hill, Alan Pruitt and Gabriela Siqueiros-Herwig.
They were flown by Captain Mike Sommars, a volunteer pilot with Ageless Aviation whose day job is as an American Airlines pilot.
Sommars said the 1520 minute flight path he and the veterans took was north of Yuma, and then back around toward the Foothills before returning to the airport.
Ageless Aviation usually receives invitation requests from assisted living facilities, said crew chief Lynn Sommars, but here the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee helps organize their arrival, as they have in the past.
The Ageless Aviation Dream Foundation was founded in 2011 and offers these “Dream Flights” throughout the country. Its president and co-founder Darryl Fisher is also the president of Mission Senior Living, which is bringing River Valley Estates, a senior living and memory care facility, to Yuma next year.
For more information about the nonprofit, or to inquire about future flights, visit www.agelessaviationdreams.org.