Glen Ellyn teen gets air show preview from inside plane
Most people can only imagine what it feels like to barrel through the air in a T-34 Mentor airplane, banking left and right sharply and diving in formation as part of an aerial acrobatic routine.
The vintage plane, which debuted in 1953 and was used by the Air Force and Navy in training until the 1960s and '70s, is among aircraft that will dazzle a predicted 2.2 million spectators at this weekend's Chicago Air & Water Show.
But one suburban gazer will be able to look up and say, “I was in that plane.”
During a media event Thursday, Aaron Beese, a Glen Ellyn resident and future Marine, took flight with the Lima Lima Flight Team and their T-34s. The experience gave him a new perspective on the performances.
“You don't realize how tough it is on you when you're sitting on the sand watching it,” Beese said just minutes after his 20-minute flight over Gary/Chicago International Airport. “You know they are getting beat up, but you don't actually feel it. It's a lot different.”
Lima Lima for years was based in Naperville, but its members now are scattered across the country. It is among dozens of groups filling the sky with barrel rolls, fly-bys and loops.
The show runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday along the lakefront from Fullerton Avenue to Oak Street. The focal point is North Avenue Beach, which is where Beese, 18, a Glenbard South High School graduate who leaves for the U.S. Marines on Dec. 12, expects to watch the action.
“I have always loved planes and always wanted to fly,” he said. “I thought they were the coolest thing.”
And he had a fellow suburbanite at the controls: Schaumburg resident John “Ripper” Rippinger flew the last plane in the formation and said that as much as he enjoys flying, it's all business on performance days.
But being part of an elite aerial acrobatic team is very rewarding, said Rippinger, whose craft is based at Schaumburg Regional Airport.
“It's one of the most challenging things in the world,” the 19-year Lima Lima veteran said. “You concentrate 150 percent on the job at hand. It is rarefied air.”
His partner, Gary “20 Won Don” Donovan of Lake City, Fla., agreed. In fact, he said, as onlookers marvel at their precision skills, the pilots usually do not get a chance to see the vast crowds.
“We have to concentrate and focus so much, we don't have a lot of chance to focus on anything else,” Donovan said. “But it's tremendous adrenaline and pressure to do it right.”
Herb Hunter takes the opposite tack. As the voice of the air show for the past 24 years, he wants to interact with the crowd. During his narration, he'll focus on one person in the crowd to tell the stories of the pilots and aircraft. He also wants to bring the pilots to life.
“I love the interaction,” he said. “I don't want to just say, ‘Here is Joe Schmoe in his plane.'”
Hunter said the air show has come a long way since its inception in 1959, when a single Coast Guard helicopter was the only aerial aspect of the show.
This weekend, military elite fighter jet pilots and civilian teams such as Lima Lima will cross the sky. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds will highlight the show.
“They are a special breed of people,” Hunter said of the pilots. “They are all special guys.”
Lima pilot Rippinger said the performance is a chance for him to forget everything else.
“It's better than therapy, drugs, women,” Rippinger said of his plane. “You get in this thing and the rest of the world goes away.”