Veterans fly in WWII-era biplane at Turlock airport

More than 70 years after the Nazis shot him down, Chuck Walker took to the friendlier skies east of Turlock.

He and 11 fellow World War II veterans got rides Monday in a 1940s Boeing Stearman, courtesy of the Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation. Each took off from Turlock Municipal Airport in the two-seat, open-cockpit plane for a flight of about 15 minutes, piloted by foundation president Darryl Fisher.

“At 94, I’ll probably not do it again, but I’d like to,” Walker said after landing. “God’s in charge, not me.”

The foundation, based in Carson City, provides free flights for U.S. veterans in all branches. Several of them, including Gabe Gabelhaus, Manuel Machado, Evelyn Noone, Billie Cantwell and William Bilson, took part in a Modesto Airport event Saturday.

Walker, a Turlock resident, took a similar flight in Fresno last year. Back in 1944, he was a first lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, flying a P-38 Lightning out of Italy. He was shot down over Hungary and spent 10 months as a prisoner of war.

Like the other honorees, Walker needed help getting up a ladder and into the seat of the Stearman. The riders would not be able to hear over the engine’s roar, so they were told to make a thumb-down signal if they felt ill and needed to land early. They got a chance to handle the controls, which were accessible from either seat as the plane soared as high as 1,500 feet.

The foundation does many of its flights for residents of retirement communities. This time, it was Covenant Village of Turlock that provided most of the participants. The foundation’s main sponsors include the Sports Clips chain, which will add a Turlock location next month.

Walter Wright, 92, came from his home in Coarsegold for the flight. “This is the plane I learned to fly in 70 years ago in Oxnard,” said the honoree, who flew supplies to U.S. ground forces in Europe.

Rollin Frum, 91, of Turlock flew a P-51 Mustang in Europe, including strafing missions and bomber escorts, from a base in Bodney, England.

“We were known as the Blue-Nosed Bastards from Bodney,” he said while waiting his turn aboard the Stearman. He, too, delighted in flying after so many years.

“Hey, that was absolutely marvelous,” he said. “It brought back so many good memories.”

At Modesto’s event Saturday, Bilson, 86, noted that the Modesto Airport is where he took his first airplane ride, in 1935, in a Ford Tri-Motor. In his eighth-grade annual, to the question “What are you going to be when you grow up?” Bilson answered, “Flier.” As an Air Force fighter pilot and first lieutenant, Bilson flew 100 missions in Korea in an F-86.

This story was originally published April 20, 2015 at 6:42 PM with the headline "Veterans fly in WWII-era biplane at Turlock airport."