Flying High

Three-year-old Spencer, Ind., resident Heather Dutt was not tall enough to hang her head over the side of a 1929 Travel Air biplane to let her hair blow in the summer breeze, but she proved she had the right stuff by displaying no fear while flying 1,000 feet above the earth. \n"She was real low in the seat so she couldn't see past the wing," said Heather's father, Kirk Dutt, Tuesday afternoon, after the pair joined barnstormer Stuart "Cap'n Mac" MacPherson on a 10-minute air cruise in the western sky of Bloomington. "It was very smooth up there. The pilot made a 360-degree turn to the left so she could see the ground. I think the experience opened her eyes a little bit."\nThe Dutt family joined about 4,000 community members for the 2006 American Barnstormers Tour at the Monroe County Airport to revisit about 20 biplanes from the 1920s through 1940s, a period that defined America's "Golden Age of Aviation." Pilots conversed with visitors about their airplanes' history and restoration efforts, and their open-cockpit view of America from thousands of miles above the ground.\n"We came out to see the aircraft because there aren't too many left and to let my son see vintage planes flying," said Bloomington resident Tom Alford, standing next to his wife, Nelda, and his 7-year-old son, Matthew. "And there are even two Model A Fords here."\nNelda Alford was also excited about the opportunity for her son to see a rare piece of history.\n"He's a science buff and we wanted to let him hear the sounds and smell the smells," she said. "He's very mechanically inclined."\nBarnstorming was popular in America at the end of World War I, as returning fighter aces sought employment above the ground and left-over biplanes were inexpensive and plentiful. Pilots banded together in "Flying Circuses," as they were often called, to cruise the country in search of paying riders.\nBarnstormers were known to blanket a town with leaflets offering rides from 75 cents to $5, and their stops in nearby farmers' fields would shut down the community so people could ride the carnival-like flying rides. Biplanes, or any airplanes for that matter, were not a usual sight because public transportation and automobile travel were both practical and affordable at the time considering no commercial airline service was in operation.\nRex Hinkle, president and general manager of Cook Aviation, who helped host the event in Bloomington, said the 2006 American Barnstormers Tour is the first of its kind in recent history at the Monroe County Airport, although they have hosted air shows in the past and they showcased two vintage World War II planes last summer.\n"We're very satisfied with the event and very happy with the turnout," he said. "The event has really helped educate people about the facilities at Monroe County Airport and stimulate aviation in Indiana ... People really seem like they enjoy these types of airplanes in Bloomington."\nAbout 300 community members took a 10-minute ride in one of four vintage biplanes for $45 per person to help the barnstormers pay for fuel, food and lodging as they sweep through nine cities in five states as part of their 2006 summer tour. The open-air cockpit enabled participants to feel the effects of wind on their faces, to hear the wooden propellers twirling in the breeze and to smell the gasoline puttering from the front engine.\nAlthough traditional barnstorming is often associated with daredevil stunts and other death-defying aerial tricks, the most flying-by-the-seat-of-the pants fun riders enjoyed was quick dips and hard turns before the pilots coasted their crafts at between 40 and 60 miles per hour back to the airport. Organizers said next year's adventure is planned farther west in states like Missouri and Kansas, the rural heartland of America that made barnstorming during the "Golden Age of Aviation" such a popular spectacle. \nKirk Dutt, who took a biplane ride with his daughter while his wife, Becky, snapped photos, said his interest in aviation began when he was a small child some 40 years ago. He said his family's love for aviation is reflected in thought and deed, and Heather enjoys the flight even more than riding her horses at home.\n"I've gone to air shows on and off since I was a small child and I'm just kind of continuing that tradition," he said. "We try to get her out to see and do new things when we can. I've always been fascinated with aviation, whether general aviation or historical World War I or World War II planes."\nThe Alford family said they visited the Monroe County Airport last summer to see two or three destroyed or scrapped vintage World War II planes, but they shared a similar reason as the Dutts for attending the 2006 American Barnstormers Tour Tuesday.\n"It is different than playing with toys," Nelda Alford said of her seven-year-old son. "It's more of an educational experience"