Barnstorming barons

Before starting my internship here, I listened to horror stories from friends who had spent their summer days making lots of coffee and doing busy work.

I'm more of a guinea pig.

First, my employers sent me to the Cape Girardeau Fire Department's Media Day, where I got to crawl around in a burning room. Thursday they sent me to fly above Cape Girardeau with the Red Baron Pizza Squadron.

The squadron is one of the headliners for this weekend's Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival, which is being held today and Saturday.

My pilot, Bryan Regan, a 16-year veteran of the squadron, took me on a wild ride, complete with barrel rolls, loops and other maneuvers that made me seriously reconsider the wisdom of eating breakfast that morning.

My favorite was the hammerhead. We climbed until the plane was nearly vertical, then Regan cut the rudder and we nose-dived back toward the rolling fields.

The view from the open cockpit was amazing. The intricate geometry of the segmented farms was sent swirling as we looped and banked. The snaking Mississippi River looked quite serene from the distance. My colleagues walking outside the Southeast Missourian office were reduced to the size of thumbtacks.

We landed after about 20 minutes in the air, but it seemed like we had been up longer. Maybe it was the intensity of the ride.

Regan told me after the flight that we were experiencing four times normal gravity during some of the tricks.

Regan said the Red Baron pilots complete around 1,000 flights a year.

The Red Baron Pizza Squadron now has seven Boeing Stearman planes, which were used as training planes during World War II.

Red Baron began using a plane towing a banner in 1979 to advertise entry into new markets. The squadron formed in 1984 after pilots of the banner planes decided to become a performance group, according to spokesman Matt McClain.

The team flies vintage Boeing Stearman open-cockpit biplanes, which were built in the early 1940s. The Stearman was the primary training plane for the Army Air Corps in World War II.

Regan was a crew chief for an air show act before joining the Pizza Squadron. He said he saw the Red Baron act at one of the shows and then successfully applied to join the squadron.

Regan said the squadron is like a big family, as the four pilots travel together while performing more than 90 shows a year across the country.

He said the only drawback to the job is having to fly in commercial planes between locations.

He said sharing the experience with others is his favorite part of the job.

"It's nice to see the kids come out and get excited," Regan said. "They really love the airplanes."

pwylie@semissourian.com

Pilot Ryan Mohr, back, performed a hammerhead maneuver during a flight Thursday. The Red Baron Pizza Squadron will perform at this weekend's Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival. (Kit Doyle)

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