4/5/2008

By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal

Moments after the wooden propeller stopped spinning, a giddy Rick Verbeek approached the 1943 PT17 Stearman biplane for an up-close gander.

"I love the old birds," said Verbeek, 50. "I'm in heaven."

Verbeek, the operator of the Lincoln city power plant, drove to Salina on Friday morning to see the 25 planes, old and new, as they landed at Salina Municipal Airport on their weeklong All Kansas Air Tour.

"How cute is that?" remarked Abigail Crouse, Kansas State University at Salina public relations coordinator, as the Stearman, piloted by owner Greg Largen, Benton, taxied to the tarmac.

About 100 people viewed the parked planes and attended the reception at the university aeronautical center.

"That's what I learned to fly in," said Col. George Boyd, 81, Wichita, referring to the Stearman. The retired U.S. Air Force pilot, who trained as a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen and is a former commander of the Kansas Civil Air Patrol, was the featured speaker Friday.

The event is a great way to promote aviation, he said, and the stop in Salina is a boost for K-State at Salina.

"It keeps people interested in aviation," Boyd said. He also is a member of K-State at Salina Dean's Advisory Council.

Without a formal flight program, Tuskegee University in Alabama is involved in a partnership with K-State at Salina to train student pilots through distance learning and flight training during summer months.

Celebrating like it's 1928

The tour celebrates the 80th anniversary of then Kansas Gov. Ben Paulen's 1928 event to showcase aviation in Kansas. Today, general aviation is a $7 billion industry in the state, according to the transportation department.

"The governor (Paulen) wanted people to visit here, settle here and do aviation business here," Boyd said.

A 1941 BT13 caught the eye of Leland Boesker, 80, Moundridge. The veteran was a preflight instructor during the early 1950s in Amarillo, Texas. He said the BT13 was used as a "basic trainer" for pilots during World War II.

"It's been a long time since I've seen one of those," Boesker said.

Largen and passenger Ed Young, state aviation director with the Kansas Department of Transportation (the tour sponsor), were a bit red-faced when they arrived in the Stearman, which has an open cockpit. Built in Wichita, the Stearman was used as a training aircraft for pilots during World War II.

Young said he had a sense of what it might have been like in Paulen's day.

"Flying this is just like 1928. We were low, we were slow and we were following the highways," he said.

The tour so far has been "amazing," Young said. "We've found a lot of hidden gems in Kansas."

Stops in Abilene and Manhattan also were planned for Friday. After touching down in communities across eastern Kansas, the tour, which kicked off Tuesday in Onaga, concludes Tuesday in Wichita.

"Some of our best stops have been in small towns," he said. There were 450 people waiting to greet the tour when it landed Wednesday in Johnson.

More than 600 awaited for the tour in Scott City on Thursday, but low visibility from heavy cloud cover prevented the stop, Young said. It also forced them to skip landings in Colby and Hays. The pilots spent Thursday night in Great Bend. Overcast skies delayed the Friday morning flight to Salina.

But where weather permitted landing, the tour has had an effect. Flying a K-State at Salina Cessna 172, senior pilot Nathan Gorrell, Centerville, is using the stops to promote his school and Kansas. The state transportation department is helping to pay his expenses through a scholarship from Cessna Aircraft.

"We're getting a lot of grass-roots interest in aviation," Young said.

Gorrell said he's enjoyed connecting with aviation heritage while meeting with people. He's majoring in K-State at Salina's professional pilot and aviation maintenance programs.

"One of the coolest things happened while I was sitting in a restaurant in Garden City and a couple of old guys came up. One was a P51 Mustang pilot in Korea. A guy came up to me in Great Bend who used to train in the Stearman," Gorrell said. "It's awesome what those first guys did in those slow birds."

When the landing was scrapped in Scott City, Dan and Ruth Dunn, Scott City, joined the tour when it stopped in Salina, flying in their Beech Baron. Dan Dunn is a Scott City physician.

"This is about as neat as you can get. To me, (flying) is just an enjoyable dream," said Randy Clark, a local aviation enthusiast.

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.

---

Discuss This Story:

---