The National Stearman Fly-in celebrated its 50th anniversary of the event in September 2021, despite both weather and pandemic concerns. Unfortunately, there were aircraft and owners who'd planned to attend from across the US and from parts of Canada that experienced issues with weather and/or pandemic restrictions that meant making the journey impossible for them. Despite those issues, there were 152 Stearmans in attendance, exceeding the previous record by 11 aircraft. There were 150 from the US, one from Canada and one imported from the Netherlands.

The National Stearman Fly-in (NSFI) is an annual event held in Galesburg, Illinois every year, the first week of September. Hosted by Jet Air Inc., a fabulous charter service, the event is organised and worked by dozens of hard working, dedicated and fabulous volunteers. Some of these volunteers work throughout the year to ensure the event is well attended, highly and efficiently organised and, most importantly, very successful.

For some attendees, the flight to Galesburg can be a short flight of less than an hour, several hours or even days. Some pilots make their trip to Galesburg a week long trip by attending other aviation events along the route. Pilots flying their Stearman from places like California, Oregon, Florida or elsewhere might take several days to break up the trip in an effort to lesson the discomfort of excessively long flights sitting in a seat in an aeroplane that wasn't designed for cross country trips but for shorter, hour long training flights during a time of war.

My pilot and Stearman owner, Bruce Bond, started planning our flight to Galesburg, from his own farm strip south of Sarnia, Ontario, in late spring of 2021, despite the US-Canada border being closed to travellers due to the pandemic. Though, flying an aircraft across the border from Canada to the US, and vice versa, isn't unusual, it can be a bit of a daunting task if you haven't done it before. However, it's more a matter of navigating assorted paperwork and, once you've done it, it certainly becomes easier the more you do it. Bruce is an old hand at it and all the hard work is done long before the actual trip begins.

Unfortunately, and despite the pre-trip planning and paperwork having been completed, there's always something unexpected that tends to pop up, usually the day you plan to depart, and Murphy's Law had a hand in delaying our departure thanks, what we can only put down to, lack of knowledge and/or understanding of the rules for Canadians entering the US by air. Normally, we would fly across the Canada-US border just south of Sarnia, making the short 8 minute flight to St. Clair County Airport but a US Customs officer Bruce talked to refused us entry, stating we were non-essential travellers, possibly misunderstanding the rules at the time. To complicate matters further, it was Labour Day Monday so we were further limited by lack of staffing at another potential entry point. In the end, we had two choices, delay our trip by a day or make a 1.5 hour detour flight to Saginaw's Midland-Bay City Airport (KMBS). We chose the latter and departed as hastily as possible in order to make a 10:30am deadline to ensure we made the airport before the customs officer finished his shift and left to enjoy the holiday Monday.

Fortunately, the day was bright and blue and, despite the long hours in the cockpit, we made the 7+ hour flight to Galesburg by way of Midland-Bay City, MI, Coldwater, MI and Kankakee, IL. We finally landed in Galesburg about 40 minutes before sunset and were immediately whisked off for dinner in the Jet Air Inc. hangar by Jet Air president/partner, Philip Wolford. After enjoying dinner and meeting up with friends we'd missed in 2020 (no official fly-in due to the pandemic) we were driven to our hotel for a much needed rest.

The next day, along with other incoming pilots and crews, we registered for the fly-in and mingled amongst other attending flight crews and volunteers and wondered around the aircraft already on the field. Throughout the day, more Stearman and crews arrived from all over the US. There were 220hp, 300hp, 450hp and even 600hp aircraft in attendance and included a wide variety of liveries including USN, US Army, US Mail and many civilian paint schemes on hand.

Mixed in with the many Stearmans that were already at the airfield were several other aircraft & folks who flew in to attend, some of whom also owned Stearman that were in various stages of restoration that were not ready to fly to Galesburg. Among some of the aircraft that made the trip were a couple of Cessna 195s, North American Navion, a B-13 Vultee Valiant, North American T-6s, Cessna L-19 Bird Dog and even a B-25 Mitchell from the EAA Museum in Wisconsin and a US Army Chinook helicopter.

During the week long event, every morning pilots were encouraged to attend the morning briefing, usually hosted by Stearman pilot, Tye Hammerle. Briefings included airport instruction for aircraft, airport taxi routes and directions, aircraft parking, any daily fly-outs for breakfast or lunch, workshops and more. Large airport maps were posted in the newly built National Stearman Fly-in hangar, allowing pilots and crews to review procedures as necessary.

Fuel trucks made the rounds, up and down the parking area, throughout the day to ensure pilots and crews had their aircraft fueled up and ready to go, whether heading to a fly-out airport for a meal or just going for a flight around the patch. The fuel truck crews also made sure aircraft had plenty of oil on hand for those radials tend to use a lot of oil, much of which could often be found around the engine, long the side and underside of the fuselage and windscreen. Some say that if "....the old radials don't spray, they ain't runnin' right!"

Though many Stearman aircraft and their owners come for the entire week, some are limited by weather, unserviceable aircraft, work and other life issues so there are always aircraft coming and going throughout the week long event. During the week there are several fly-outs to places like the Tri-County Airport (2C6), Geneseo Airport (3G8), Kewanee Airport (KEZI) and the Wolford's Farm (IL01) for lunch and Ingersoll Airport (KCTK) for a Saturday morning breakfast. The food is always good with lots of local interest in the aircraft, pilots & crews and great volunteers.

Though every Stearman is unique in its own right there are a few that stand out and, among those that stood out this year were Hans Nordsiek's "Old Crow." Hans had planned a homecoming tour for his aircraft which had been based in his home country of The Netherlands for many years, Hans began preparations several years ago to tour the US in his Stearman, crossing the US and back, as well as a short jaunt into Canada, before his final destination , the National Stearman Fly-in. Unfortunately, the pandemic put the brakes on the full tour but Hans was determined and dismantled his aircraft in The Netherlands, shipped it by sea to the US east coast and then made his way to Galesburg for the fly-in. His beautiful "Old Crow," in its black and copper livery, certainly stands out in the Stearman crowd.

The love of the Stearman is apparent in every Stearman owner and pilot you meet. They are passionate about the aircraft and about their own aircraft's history. Many have passed through the hands of a multitude of owners over their 75+ year history but each one has its own pedigree of sorts. Next week we'll return to Galesburg for more of the 50th Anniversary of the National Stearman Fly-in and assorted Stearmans that made the trip.