By Kris Nuss

For Miami Valley Today

VANDALIA — Flying can soothe the soul, especially when you’re with the right people.

CenterPoint Energy Dayton Air Show welcomes back Darryl Fisher and his Dream Flight team to both give veterans rides in his 1940 Boeing Stearman Bi-plane and to introduce his new venture, the Legacy Airbase which is a museum you didn’t know you needed.

The Legacy Airbase based in Dayton, Nevada will recreate a WWII styled airbase which will compliment Dream Flights, a program that provides no cost rides to veterans in his fleet of Stearmans. The base will eventually include a WWII-era watch tower, working mess hall, barracks, and hanger. WWII training aircraft and a fighter will be included, such as the Boeing Stearman, the North American AT-6 Texan (advanced trainer), and a P-51 Mustang (fighter). But wait, there’s more. Plans will include a tank, a 1942 Jeep, military motorcycle with side car, and other vehicles. But wait, it gets even better.

Unlike what we see at normal museums, the Legacy Airbase will allow veterans, their families, and the public to interact with … everything. Fisher wants to preserve military history and the stories interwoven within the nation’s past. He will let you touch and leave a fingerprint or two on these glorious machines. Everything will be operational. Through the goal of protecting and preserving our veterans’ past, he’s giving us all the opportunity to touch, smell, and feel what our fathers, uncles, and grandpas encountered during their tour of duty in a pivotal shift in world history. Experiences at this new museum will obviously be far tamer than our ancestors, but it’s vital that we at least know and understand a fraction of what so many did on our behalf. No snipers will be shooting at you while you tool around in the Jeep, and no ME-109’s, FW-190’s or Zeros will be waiting to ambush us like in the distant past.

It can be argued that society’s collective memory is slipping away, allowing us to take advantage of what was necessary to secure the world from the Axis powers, and not reflecting on who played their part or understanding what they endured half a world away from the comforts of home and family. The Legacy Airbase will provide a gentle reminder in a tactile experience of a sliver of our past, built on the backs of sacrifice.

When Dream Flights began (formerly named Ageless Aviation) Fisher was the first pilot, and his friend Paul Bodenhammer Jr. — whose father was a B-17 and B-29 pilot — was his first crew chief. Bodenhammer noticed the Dream Flighters would donate memorabilia to them — to the point where Fisher has a hanger full of items but no place to share their stories. Thus, the seed was planted to create a living history museum. They also noted they weren’t doing anything for the younger veterans. The Dream Flighters are all elderly, most in assisted living, and it was brought to their attention that they were inadvertently ignoring a growing segment of our veterans. The plans are to continue to give older veterans rides in the biplane, while the younger can fly in the AT-6.

Conceived in 2015, the Legacy Airbase is different from Dream Flights, but the mission overlaps; honoring veterans, preserving history, and giving back. It will also accept donated memorabilia and will to the best of their ability, honor them by displaying. For the Korean War hanger, they will have a Bird Dog (liaison and observation aircraft), a T-28 (radial engine military trainer), and a tank and Jeep. In the Vietnam hanger, they hope to have a Huey and perhaps a Skyraider, an O-2 Skymaster(replacement for the O-1 Bird Dog for tactical air support). Ideally, veterans will be able to choose what to ride in during specified flight dates. The land set aside for the project had to be re-zoned to accommodate a hotel and restaurant, as an attachment to the airbase.

Fisher brought with him to the Dayton Air Show a newer acquisition, the AT-6 which will be an integral part of his living history museum. A two seater advanced trainer, the AT-6 has a range of 730 miles, a cruise speed of 145 mph, and powered by a Pratt & Whitney engine with a ceiling around 24,000 feet. For reference, the AT-6 can be seen in the movies “Tora! Tora! Tora!,” “The Final Countdown,” “Pearl Harbor,” and the TV series “Baa Baa Blacksheep,” disguised as the dreaded Japanese Zero. It’s also a popular air show staple.

Some pilots in training during WWII would being in the Boeing Stearman Bi-plane for roughly 60 hours, then would progress to the AT-6 to learn the tactical, more complex aspects, such as retractable landing gear, flaps, a constant speed propeller which belonged to the fighters. Add instrument and formation flying to the mix. The Stearman was one of the more difficult planes to fly and as such, was an imperative stepping stone for aviators to master, giving them a solid base to build on with the theory that as pilots advance in their training, flying should become more natural and instinctive, the end goal of moving on to the fighters and bombers and all the intricacies involved.

Why create a replica airbase? The expense, the permits, the insurance, the hassle. Because there’s power in bringing veterans together. Most museums have the ropes up and you’re not allowed to touch. The Legacy Airbase will pull the veterans together for a full immersion experience. And while everyone might not want to fly, they can still sit in the planes. They can still touch. They can compare notes with their brothers in arms in a freeing atmosphere to explore as they see fit. Now enter a casual reporter who loves Warbirds, but is hesitant to touch for fear of marking up a treasure. I mentioned while getting into the AT-6 how I absolutely hated stepping on the seat (Catholic Guilt, no jumping on the couch mentality), Darryl insisted that he has a different philosophy; yeah, he bought this airplane, but it’s not his — he’s the custodian. It’s the American people’s airplane. It’s the veteran’s airplane. Now we have to treat it right, we can’t tear it up, but he can and did make that investment for other people’s experience.

By virtue of what they’re trying to accomplish, roadblocks appear. With Dream Flights, who would think it’s a good idea to take people 90+ years old on a flight in an over 80-year-old airplane? What they’ve found is that by what the public sees- the elderly delighting in flying over their town- people come in various ways to help get around the roadblocks that crop up. Dream Flights forged relationships with people, and the FAA who fully knows their mission and helps where they can. Funding is always a major issue, as they never charge for a flight. And Dream Flights can’t quit; they have an obligation. They know something that can change most people’s lives. With a ton of work and a lot of care, they have the ability to spoil and delight veterans for an experience that will resonate for the rest of their lives. This team will fight through roadblocks, responsibly, to ensure that these veterans are not forgotten, are worthy of a day of fun, and that they are appreciated.

In 2021, Sidney, Ohio veterans Frank Thaman, Carl Zimmerman, Bill Deam, and Norris Cromes were flown over Urbana skies by the Dream Flights team. With the passing of just a few short years they are sadly gone now. But, they had a day of sharing stories, being pampered, and having fun because it’s never too late, and you’re not too old.

Having flown in the AT-6 in prep for the Dayton Air Show, I can confirm that there’s something inherently special about flying in a WWII Warbird. It was a gentle flight on a hazy, cloudy day with no bad guys to divert your attention. No gut churning worry of being washed out of pilot school and sent to the infantry. No need to keep our heads on a swivel, other than to marvel at the beautiful cloud formations we were rushing through. I did feel vaguely guilty enjoying – let’s face it, a joy ride — over the outskirts of the birthplace of aviation. But I never forgot that the beast surrounding me, taking care of me, was an imperative tool of war built for a deadly specific function. Did I really have the right to bask in a fun time, tilting my head to the heavens and thanking God for the experience? My life wasn’t in danger. I wasn’t in training to defend and kill. I didn’t need to ship out to the other side of the world. Perhaps I shouldn’t be here. But Fisher kindly pointed out, my job is to tell the story. An important one.

“If it’s important to them, it’s important to me,” Fisher said.

The comment was made in reference to the memorabilia that is given to him, but yet it seems to be cemented in the attitude of the Legacy Airbase and Dream Flights. You can clearly see this devotion in him and his team who work so hard to show how much they appreciate our veterans. Our country’s defenders are slipping away, just like time, and we need to preserve our military veteran’s stories and experiences before it’s too late.

The Legacy Airbase is still in its infancy stages as the permit to build the first hanger arrived a month ago. This is just the next step of many in investing in other people’s experiences as a way to secure that our veteran legacies live on. We need to be part of the active preservation of our country’s accomplishments, hardships, triumphs and hard won victories. Their stories need to be our stories.

While our WWII friends and relatives are mostly gone now, their spirit still remains as we ponder what it was like for them to leave home to do what they could to defend our nation in precarious times, and help secure the generations of free societies. It can also be found in the teams of people who work tirelessly to ensure that veterans-no matter which conflict they were part of — are not forgotten.

Help Dream Flights and the Legacy Airbase. Learn your veterans’ stories. Tell their stories. And while you can, embrace them.