Laughlin Airmen become Baron barnstormers for day

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Phyllis Duff
  • Air Force Print News
DEL RIO, Texas (AFPN) --  Oct. 2 was far from a typical day for one Airman whose normal routine includes drawing blood and trying not to make children cry in the process.

When Senior Airman Robert Arrington, a medical lab technician with the 47th Medical Support Squadron was told he'd been selected to fly with the Red Baron Squadron on a vintage restored Boeing Stearman biplane, the group quarterly award winner's first, and modest, reaction was "why me?"

The Red Baron Pizza Company barnstorming pilots flew in to honor Laughlin Air Force Base's top performers with incentive flights. They're here to thank us for making our country a good, safe place to live, said Col. Hoss Clark, 47th Flying Training Wing vice commander and former F-15 East Coast Demonstration Team pilot.

"It's a great gesture, and they're top-notch pilots and people," the colonel said. Getting the chance to fly on a vintage biplane gives Airmen a taste of our Air Force history, he said.

More than 10,000 Stearman biplanes were built during World War II to train Army and Navy pilots. More pilots learned to fly in this plane than any other aircraft in history, said pilot Matt Losacker. After the war, many Stearman biplanes were used for crop dusting. Only about 2,000 are left on the books, he said.

Stearman aircraft are modified with more powerful engines and fuel and oil systems for inverted flight. Red Baron Squadron, home stationed in Marshall, Minn., is the longest-running nonmilitary air show in the United States, he said.

Regardless of why, two weeks later it hits Airman Arrington as lead position Red Baron pilot Bryan Regan harnesses him into the front of the two-seater open cockpit on the Del Rio International Airport flightline.

"If I say bail out three times, I mean business," he said. "You're going to step onto the wing and jump toward the back, and pull out this metal clasp as far as you can."

Five minutes later, the engines of two Red Baron biplanes roar to life. The propellers whip around gaining momentum with each rotation. Airman Arrington's eyes squint through the goggles as the smile on his face broadens. He begins to realize what an opportunity he is about to experience.

He's about to fly with a professional aerobatic pilot who has been wowing audiences all over the country for nearly 30 years. Stunt pilots and aerialists--or "barnstormers" as they were known --performed almost any trick or feat with an airplane that people could imagine. Today, the Red Baron Squadron pilots bring barnstorming back to life, pilot Losacker said.

"I'm good to go," Airman Arrington says with a thumbs-up.

Engines rumbling, the planes taxi out to the runway and out of site. Flying up 3,000 feet they zoom across a cotton ball-clouded sky, looping and rolling. They soar straight up again and dive down and out.

From the start up to take off and back down takes about 20 minutes, but Airman Arrington wished it could have been a lot longer.

"It was frickin' amazing!" exclaimed Airman Arrington as he climbed out of the plane.
The Airman from Franklin, Ga. claims the best stunt was the "hammer head."

"It was awesome because we were diving straight toward the ground and you could just feel the Gs we were pulling."

"I am so grateful for the privilege to have this opportunity; I know not many Airmen get this experience," Airman Arrington said.

"When you're having that much fun, it never lasts long enough. But, I am sure to treasure this flight for a long time ahead."

Red Baron pilot Regan knows he's done his job when he sees the Airman smiling from ear to ear, screaming "woo-whoo!"

"That's the best part of this job," he said.