I remember a day a couple of years ago when Matt Sylvester handed me a clipping he'd taken from a local paper. It had a picture of a US Navy trainer called the SNJ. Matt said, "Your dad would love to do this." I nodded and stuffed the clipping in my wallet. Matt even offered to help pay some towards the $199 to send dad up in an SNJ.
Time passed and Matt got sick, I looked at the clipping from time to time and thought, "boy he would have fun." But never did anything about it. In February of 2005 Matt died after a long battle with cancer. I looked at the clipping again and remembered his words.
So in the late winter I went on the NATG website and then called them. I e-mailed or called my sisters and brother and asked if we could do this as a gift for Fathers Day. They all thought it was a great idea. In May I finally reserved it, he'd fly in August. We gave him a card with the SNJ printed on it and the words "off you go..."
My father was a naval aviator, one a select few young men in this country who got to fly fighter planes. His time in the Navy was in the Era just after the Korean war ended and the Vietnam War had yet to start.
He always talked about how much fun it was to fly the F9 Panther, and the T34 but especially the SNJ Texan. Being a naval aviator meant he also had to land on those floating postage stamps called Aircraft Carriers.
Back in the early 90's we saw an airshow at the Brunswick Naval Air Station and an SNJ was parked on the tarmac. He looked at it like an old friend. The SNJ was used mostly as a training aircraft by the US Navy, when he became a flight instructor this was "his" plane.
The SNJ is a big airplane, wingspan is a hair over 42 feet and it's almost 29 feet long. It could cruise at over 200mph at 5,000 feet powered by a big 550 hp radial engine. The cockpit is a confusing array of dials and switches. The pilot usually sat in the back while the trainee sat up front.
It sits canted upwards at an angle on it's big rubber tires, a third wheel sits under the tail and they had a tailhook mounted for use on an aircraft carrier. Pilot visibility was very poor when landing so they came in at a steep turn to line up and then flared up just before touchdown.
We arrived at Fitchburg Airport on a beautiful late August afternoon. Dad's original flight that past Saturday had been cancelled, it was just as well. High puffy clouds against a sparkling blue sky were the backdrop today against the hills of Fitchburg.
Mom, Dad and I went into the terminal building and he found the place to sign in. Two men were sitting at a nearby table and as soon as they heard he was a naval aviator they invited him to come over and chat. Dad clearly loved talking with the navy pilots and one of them offered to show Dad a close-up of the SNJ in a hanger.
Dad had brought his log-book also and they enjoyed looking at all the time he'd spent in the SNJ. We walked past a few hangers then he unlocked the door and sitting under the lights was an SNJ built in 1945.
Dad was just delighted as he got to see the plane up-close. We'd hoped he would be flying the SNJ but instead the plane they used that day was a T-6 which is smaller but fairly similar. They chatted and reminisced and I took a few pictures of Dad and the plane.
He was loving every minute of this, great to see a 73 year old man get excited. We headed back out into the blinding sun and they got Dad checked out on the T-6 that he'd be flying today. I took a picture of Mom and Dad in front of the airplane.
They didn't waste any time getting him ready to fly. His flight was supposed to be at 5:15 and it was pretty much on-time. His flight package was called the "Discovery Flight" which is just a short out and back with few aerobatics. We decided not to bump up to the Top Gun flight which was twice as much.
The T-6 looked like a Warbird, it seemed poised to jump into the sky where it clearly belonged. Soon Dad was sitting in the low cockpit, getting a parachute strapped on (and instructions for bailing out!) The put a headset on and a final few words and then it was "CLEAR!!" With a puff of smoke the big prop spun and the engine roared.
They pointed the nose into the sun and headed off down the runway and into the air.
Within moments the pilot asked Dad if he wanted to take over, he said "sure." With a couple of course adjustments they were off. Dad looked around from his vantage point in the front seat. Visibility was nearly perfect.
One of the guys from NATG came over and said they decided to give him some extra time up there, and he'd get to do some acrobatics. We thanked him and then just hung around outside enjoying the sunshine and breezes.
He had allot of fun up there in the sky, Matt was right. It was as if the years melted away.
They had a little cross-wind as they landed a half hour or so later as the sun's rays streaked the blue sky. Did he have a good time? You tell me.
After he got out of the plane, the NATG guy handed me a video of the flight and said, "Here's a free $50 video." Unknown to us the plane was outfitted with three cameras, one on the wing, the tail and in the cockpit. I thanked him again, we bought a t-shirt and signed in his book. We said our goodbyes and that was it. I promised we'd be back next year but only if he could fly the SNJ.
God-willing he'll be back. Thanks to everybody for contributing for this Fathers Day flight!
When Dad left the Navy, he could've worked anywhere in aviation as a pilot. Naval aviators are among the best trained in the world and are highly sought after as pilots of commercial jets.
But Dad felt a calling to work in the ministry spreading the Word of God and teaching of the love and grace of Jesus. He would call it a "no-brainer." When God calls, you listen. He worked for more than 30 years in the ministry as pastors for several churches in Maine and New Hampshire.