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Coming up on Heartland Highways we take to the air for three adventures all about planes!
First we head to the Air Combat Museum in Springfield, Illinois, where all of the planes
have seen some sort of combat during World War II! Then, weíll introduce you to
the Civil Air Patrol and their Johnson Flight Encampment. They teach young people to fly
gliders, balloons, and powered aircraft. And finally weíll revisit the Aircraft Restoration
Museum near St. Louis. Thatís just ahead so stay tuned!
[music] Itís a bird, itís a plane, itís Heartland
Highways! Welcome to this weekís episode, which as you could probably guess is about
aircraft. We start out in Springfield, Illinois, at the Air Combat Museum which is home to
many historical planes, most of which have flown in some sort of military combat.
[Music] (Narrator) Whether youíre a fan of fighter
planes, military equipment, or just good stories, thereís something for everyone at the Air
Combat Museum in Springfield. Well the star of the museum is the P 51 Mustang
that was built in 1944. And it is uh an actual combat veteran. It served in Europe towards
the end of the war. Itís painted after a Colonel Bob Frish and he served with the 339th
in England. And then the next most famous airplane is the Course Air, which is the blue
one with go wings behind me. That actually served off an aircraft carrier in Korea. And
so both of those airplanes are actual combat veterans.
(Narrator) Itís easy to see that Mike George loves planes and the love that blossomed into
this museum, started at an early age. Basically, when I was a kid I was about eight
years old my dad had a bunch of models saved up for me to build an airplanes and that got
me involved in airplanes. And then, by the time I was twelve I had uh a trip to where
all the airplanes are rebuilt, which is Chino, California. And uh I tried to look at some
of the airplanes back then. That was 1970 something and there was no place to see them.
So, I vowed if I could ever find enough money to buy my own airplanes I would make them
available to the public to see. (Narrator) And so he did. Mike now displays
his air combat planes, mostly from Work War II in a hangar at the Springfield, Illinois,
Airport. The airplanes here have been restored. Everything
flies or will fly because itís being restored. And so, we started building this building
in 1990. Weíve been here twenty one years. Most of the airplanes I own myself. And then,
the museum I raised the funds for the museum to purchase an AT 11, which is in one of the
adjacent hangars. And itís kind of a way to get other people involved in something
that they can take some ownership in. And right now the AT 11 is getting some work done
on the exhaust system. (Narrator) Since theyíre all flyable, Mike
takes the planes mostly to air shows, but says there are other good reasons to keep
them up in the air too. [Engine roaring]
Just like anything else mechanical, if you donít use it, it degrades. So, um if something
is left to sit it degrades and it would take more to bring it back than it would if you
just kept it running. So, some of these airplanes we just uh none of them are flown very much,
but uh theyíre flown enough to keep them uh from degrading.
(Narrator) And he wouldnít want that! Many of the planes are rare, and some so rare that
there are only a few of them left. Thereís not very many of them. So, say for
instance with the course there I had to keep track of that airplane and wait for it to
be for sale. There are only seven of them. So, I had to wait till the guy was ready to
sell it and then got it that way. Now with the Mustang thereís about 120 of those. So,
at any one time itís likely that one will be for sale. Most of these airplanes thereís
very very few of them. Most of them are less than 60.
(Narrator) And most of them come to Mike in need of some major TLC.
The PT 22, which is right to my right, it crashed August 26, 1957. And itís been flying
now for about a year and we took every single thing off of it including the skin and replaced
the skin. All the rubber was replaced. All of the covering was replaced. A lot of sheet
metal rebuilt the motor. It took us on spare time about 12 years and now that air plane
is as soon as we take it to a show it should be, knock on wood, a show winner. Uh the fleet
is the wings are done and we just have to do the fuse lodge and then cover it, which
covering takes two or three months full time work and then it should be done as well. Uh
but it is a little hard finding parts for a 1931 when there are only two of them. So,
sometimes we have to make them and thatís where Paul comes in. Heís going to make all
of the parts that we need. (Narrator) ìPaulî is Paul Voorhies, the
full time mechanic. He helps restore the planes, many of which need custom-made parts as Mike
said. But Paul, Mike and the crew donít just dabble in planes.
We also have two armored vehicles here. One of them is from 1943 and the other is from
1958 and they are both street legal and we do take those on parades. And uh one of the
things we do is when we get uh like Denim and Diamonds and other auctions for charities
when they ask for something for George or one of them to donate. We donate a tank party.
And we bring the kids out here for their birthday party and we give them rides in the tank and
have a birthday party in this open area and itís a real hit.
(Narrator) And if tanks arenít your style, maybe toys are. Of the museumís 10,000 visitors
each year, many of them seem to be attracted to one particular item.
The toyÖ We have a drone outside and it is uh a toy and that is the favorite. Weíve
got very historic multimillion dollar airplanes and the World War II just after World War
II drone that was turned into a kid toy is by far the most popular here. You bring a
kid in here and he can get in it and play in it and thatís what they spend most of
their time at. (Narrator) If you care to spend some time
at the Air Combat Museum browsing planes and memorabilia, admission is free and nostalgia
and remembrance are plenty. In one of the cases that was given to us by
uh Mr. Frankie, when he passed away, we opened the case and it said uh in the news paper
it said we lost three hundred airplanes this week. Three hundred airplanes in one week
and nowadays we lose one and its national news all over the world actually. Itís all
over the world. In World War II, we won because we lost 65,000 airplanes and the Germans lost
95,000. So, we won if you can imagine under four years 65,000 airplanes were lost. So,
thatís why I say like 14- 15 thousand were built seven 7, 8 up to a hundred is the most
are in existence. Stay connected with heartland highways at
weiu.net. Youíll find us under the television tab. Learn more about upcoming episodes and
get contact information for the people and places featured on the show as well as past
season. You can also connect with us through you tube and Facebook!
Continuing our flight themed show, we head on over to the Coles County Airport between
Charleston and Mattoon, Illinois. Here we spent some time with the Civil Air Patrolís
Johnson Flight Academy. Every summer since 1967 young people has been
coming to the Coles County Airport for the Johnson Flight Academy. Founded by Lt. Col
James Johnson, the academy gives cadets the opportunity to learn hands-on flight training
in gliders, hot air balloons and powered aircraft. It started out as an orientation program where
they take them up, teach them how to pre-flight the plane, and and see the instruments and
learn a little bit about it. It progressed into the whole teaching academy with the flight
instructors later. The Academy is run by the Illinois Wing of
the Civil Air Patrol. This volunteer organization has a long history of service. In the late
1930ís, aviators lobbied for an organization that would put their flying skills to use
in service for their country. The result was the formation of the Civil Air Patrol which
was assigned to the War Department. During WWI the CAP logged more than 500,000 flying
hours. In 1948, they became the official auxiliary of the U. S. Air force. Today the Civil Air
patrol has more than 61,000 volunteer members around the country. Each state has what's
known as a wing and within wings are squadrons. And they basically have three missions. They
do the cadet programs, which is taking young people ages 12 to 21 and they teach them leadership,
aerospace education, and character development. And then we also have emergency services where
we do disaster relief and search and rescue, and then of course the aerospace education
where we do the aviation and the flying and teaching them about all types of different
types of aviation and aerospace careers. During their week-long stay, Cadets take part
in ground school and in-flight training. They split them into groups; theyíve got
powered, theyíve got glider, and the groups will, half the group will do ground school
training which is learning how to handle the aircraft, the parts of the aircraft, the forces
of flight, things like that. And then the other half will be flying at that time with
the instructor, and in the afternoons they switch places, and the other half gets to
do the flying and the ground school. We have 15 states involved this year which is really
good. Usually itís only three or four. Weíve got some from Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Louisiana,
Connecticut, Colorado, California, and of course Illinois and Wisconsin.
Cadets are trained by an all volunteer staff of aviation experts. Michael Pettinger is
a former cadet, who came back to teach at this year's academy.
I originally uh got interested uh I was hanging out at the airport with my dad and uh some
of the people out there uh were involved with it and I decided to look into it and give
it a try. I got my original flying I did at this activity was with hot air balloons, and
eventually I uh did the second year of hot air balloons and then went on to uh SIU Southern
Illinois University, and I went through my flight training there. And after I got my
flight instructorís certificate I came back here to instruct.
Weíve got a lot of expertise. Thereís a wide range of backgrounds with just the flight
instructors. Thereís flight instructors with uh airline backgrounds. We have flight instructors
that are mechanics. Just a uh well rounded group. And uh and also, itís very affordable
outside of uh CAP we uh, you have to paid quite a bit for the airplane flight instructors
at CAP are basically flying the airplanes for cost. The flight instructors volunteer
their time so yeah they have some of these flight instructors do this for a living and
they are taking a week out of their work schedule to volunteer, do this on a volunteer basis.
Generally the kids get, they wonít get their solo or pilotís license the first year their
here. They usually have to come back two or three years to do that, but itís a fraction
of the cost it would cost them to go out and get a private pilotís license.
Cadet Michael Christopher from Naperville, IL is taking part in the academy's glider
training. I have always loved to fly and I have wanted
to be a pilot so I saw that Civil Air Patrol was offering a glider academy and I was eligible
for it so I decided to take the opportunity. I think the most fun thing is being able to
just fly by yourself and not actually have an engine propelling you, and finding the
different um ways to stay aloft. I have learned all about the flight of gliders and how that
the differences between powered aircraft such as the Cessna 182 which is the toe plane is
different from the glider and how the glider operates. To start off with earlier we did
a pre-flight check. We check over all of the surfaces of the airplane to make sure thereís
no damage to the aircraft. We do a, when we get into the glider, we do a pre-flight checklist
to make sure that the elevation thatís already programmed into the glider is correct. You
go over safety precautions and over operating control surfaces.
For Daniel Mintzer from Fort Wayne Indiana, the academy serves as a springboard to a future
career as a fighter pilot. Iíve done a lot of flying. They uh have a
list of stuff that they need to teach us while weíre up in the air. So Iíve done some stalls
um, turns, landing, take-offs, just everything you need to know to fly.
In spending time watching these cadets in action, it's clear that teamwork and leadership
skills are just as important as ground school and in-flight training.
So, the one thing that they get from the instruction, the instructors will give them the instruction,
but the instructors really try, unless its unsafe, to let the kids make their own decisions
when their up there flying or down here on the ground, and let them make the mistakes
so they can learn from them and itís a real growing experience for them and they get to
learn ìHey, I can really do something, you know, I donít have to have somebody tell
me what to do all the time.î When they come here, theyíve got a goal to learn to fly,
but as the week progresses they learn hey I can make decisions for myself and they get
to discover who they are and accomplish a goal by learning how to fly a plane.
These young people are part of the 26,000 who take part in the Civil Air Patrol cadet
programs across the country. It takes thousands of volunteer hours to make it all possible.
Through programs like these the Civil Air Patrol works to build future not only future
aviators, but future leaders as well. Some of our favorite adventures were ideas
that came from viewers like you. If you think thereís a place we should see or a person
we should meet, let us know about it. Just make sure itís in the Illinois, Indiana or
Missouri area. Drop us an e-mail at heartlandhighways@weiu.net, call us at 1-877-PBS-WEIU or send us a letter
to 600 Lincoln Avenue Charleston, IL 61920. Just outside of St. Louis in Maryland Heights
is Creve Coeur Airport. This small, privately owned facility is home to an impressive museum
dedicated to aircraft from the golden age of aviation.
Started in í86 actually, um, there was a gentleman that was, a fellow named John Halterman
who was here at the airport and he loved old antique airplanes and he kept urging me to
buy stuff and so you get these things and you get them flying and you fly them for a
while and then you decide well thatís pretty neat but what else is out there. So if you
donít sell them, thatís the way you start a museum.
(Narrator) Today the Historic Aircraft Restoration museum at Creve Coeur Airport fills three
hangers and then some. What started with this 1931 Curtis Air Sedan has grown into one of
the countryís largest collections of airworthy vintage planes.
You could push them out and put gas and oil in them and you know, check them over real
carefully you could take off and go flying. Theyíre not just a pretty face.
(Narrator) The museum collection focuses on planes from the late 20ís to the early 40ís,
some of the one of a kind and most of them low production models.
But these are all original airplanes and uh, so like ah, thereís a Fairchild in there,
there was number 14, it was 24 that was actually built, there was the air sedan was one of
six and of course thereís the little yellow airplane in the back, the little Flagg that
is one of a kind. (Narrator) During the golden age of aviation,
there were many manufacturers, even here in St. Louis. Many of these companies only made
a handful of planes, like the St. Louis Cardinal. Thatís the only one there is and um, itís
called a super cardinal because it had about 10 more horsepower than the normal cardinal,
back in those days, youíre talking 1927, every airplane that was built went a little
bit higher, carried a little bit more payload, went a little bit faster than its preceding
model, so everything was pretty much progressive back in those days was every model that came
out was considerably better than the model that preceded it.
(Narrator) But some planes never got off the ground, in sales that is, even if they were
affiliated with a famous aviator Otto Timm taught Charles Lindbergh how to
fly, he was his instructor and when Lindbergh made his famous trip across the pond in í27,
he, Otto called him up and said ìHey Charlie come out here to the west coast and fly my
new airplane that I just developed and weíll just sell the heck out of them.î Well I donít
know what Lindbergh said but he must have told the truth because they only sold 6 of
them. (Narrator) The Weaver Aircraft Company or
WACO manufactured a number of successful light planes in the 20ís and 30ís. The museum
has several examples with many of them have been restored right here.
Everything in this hanger, pretty much was built, um, by Terry Chastaine and John Knoyer
who are the two major forces behind the airplanes in this building, now we have two other buildings
which have airplanes that were restored by the Harm Shop which is Glenn Peck.
(Narrator) Glenn has restored this DH 4, which was found stored in the back a barn in Georgia.
This was the only American built airplane to see service in Europe in World War I, itís
actually a British design, they couldnít build them fast enough because theyíre industrial
complex was overwhelmed so they came to the United States and got permission for US manufacturers
to do it so that went into production in 1917 and they had several thousand of these overseas
before the end of the war but they also had several thousand still at home and it became
the primary airplane for the military and during the early ë20s the postal service
got a hold of some of the surplus ones and started flying the mail.
(Narrator) It took four years to complete and won the 2007 judgeís choice award at
Oshkosh. Glenn flew the plane to and from the show in Wisconsin. All of the restored
airworthy planes have to be certified by the FAA prior to taking to the air. According
to Al these vintage planes are not only fun to collect, but also to fly.
Does flying a vintage airplane make you nervous? No, no, not at all. You have trepidation for
two reasons, A, you donít want to break it because you just spent two to four years putting
it together so you sure donít want to break it and old engines are old engines and they
have a tendency to conk out every once in a while, but these airplanes are slow enough
so that you can usually land them in a bean field and walk away from it, I mean it might
*** up the air plane a little bit. (Narrator) For visitors wishing to take to
the sky, the museum offers rides for a fee in their SNJ-5 or Stearman Biplane Trainer.
But if you wish to stay on the ground, there are 30 to 40 aircraft on display in the 3
main hangers of the museum. Thereís also other aviation memorabilia and a few vintage
automobiles scattered in as well. Guided tours are available from 10 to 4 on weekends or
by appointment during the week. For anyone with the aviation bug, this museum should
be on your list of places to visit. If youíd like to purchase a copy of any Heartland
Highways program contact us at 1-877-727-9348 during regular business hours. You can also
visit our online store at www.weiu.net or mail in your order with payment to the address
on your screen. DVDís are available for $25 each. Visa, MasterCard, discover or American
Express are accepted. Just let us know what show youíre interested in by mentioning the
story name or person featured in the show We hope youíve enjoyed our aviation themed
show for today. Remember if you want more information on these stories or other from
the series, you can email us at heartlandhighways at weiu.net or checkout out our website at
weiu.net.