EIGHT WORLD WAR II & KOREAN WAR VETS SOAR ABOVE NORTHERN SUBURBS IN VINTAGE BIPLANE

Although he had repaired plenty of World War II era Boeing Stearman biplanes, retired aviation mechanic Tony Thomas had never been up in one. That flight wasn’t on his bucket list. It wasn’t even on his radar — until the Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation offered him a free ride.

“Surely I wouldn’t have liked to have missed this one,” said 91-year-old Thomas. 

As did seven fellow vets and residents of the Covenant Village of Northbrook retirement community, Thomas walked up the plane’s wing, climbed in the cockpit and strapped on a leather helmet, goggles and headset. Darryl Fisher, pilot and president of the Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation, took off on a 20-minute flight. 

The Stearman’s controls were familiar to Joe Kleinbrook. A U.S. Army Air Corps pilot in World War II, Kleinbrook not only trained in a Stearman, he trained other pilots in the two-person open cockpit plane. 

“We did snap rolls, loop-the-loops, slow rolls, tailspins and more so they could learn to control the plane,” he says. The 96 year old wasn’t interested in acrobatics on his dream flight, but he did take the stick as he soared 1,000 feet above the northern Chicago suburbs.

“He was thrilled to get back up,” says pilot Fisher. “It was cool to have him fly the airplane up the shoreline. I always offer that option to former pilots. They have one of two reactions. They either want to or they don’t want to, there’s no middle ground.”

Since he founded the Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation in 2011, Fisher has provided hundreds of flights to veterans nationwide. This year, he expects to host more than 200 World War II, Korean and Vietnam war veterans. Fisher’s goal in starting the foundation was to honor U.S. military veterans living in long-term care communities. 

The Covenant Village of Northbrook veterans who went up with Fisher ranged in age from 81 to 96. In addition to a great view of the northern suburbs, Fisher treated them to an aerial view of Covenant Village.

“You think you know all these places,” says Gil Heinrich, 87. “But you don’t when you get upstairs. It just all looks different.” 

And “It was a beautiful view,” says Ed Mahon, 91, who served with the Army Infantry in the South Pacific. “You could really see well. It was a great flight. I’m glad I did it.”

Of all the stops that Fisher has made in the past two and a half years, he counts the one in Northbrook among the best. “Lots of Covenant Village residents came out to see the flights. Their families came out. A bunch of staff came out on their day off,” says an enthusiastic Fisher. “This is very expensive for us, costing about $3,000 to put on the flight. You want a rich experience. Having their friends and family there, seeing the joy their loved one is experiencing, that adds richness to the experience.”

The retirement community made sure the experience was rich for Fisher too. Learning that it was the pilot’s 50th birthday, the Covenant Village folks hurriedly called the community’s dining services department and asked them to bring a cake to Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling.

Retired U.S. Army Major General Cliff Capp, 85, presented the cake to Fisher. “They were very kind to me,” Fisher jokes. “They only put in one candle!”

Covenant Village of Northbrook is a faith-based, nationally accredited, not-for-profit continuing care retirement community. It is administered by Covenant Retirement Communities Inc., which is a ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church. For more information on Covenant Village visit www.CovenantNorthbrook.org.