By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
When the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Barnstorming Days came to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport in Fishers on May 10, Air Force Veteran Walt Sherman thought he would finally have his chance to fly in a Steerman biplane like the one his dad used to fly.
“My dad owned a Steerman after the war. He flew it all over the place down in Southern California,” Sherman told The Reporter.
His father had to sell the plane just after Sherman was born.
The plane Sherman’s father owned before he was born. (Photo provided)
Sherman’s father as a young cadet. (Photo provided)
“I was in the hospital because I was only four pounds, and back then they didn’t have insurance,” Sherman said. “So to get me out of the hospital, he had to sell his airplane.”
Sherman’s father passed away in 1996, and Sherman never had the opportunity to fly in a plane of the same model as the one his father once owned.
Sherman and his mother in 1946. (Photo provided)
Because he did not get his chance in May, CAF volunteers made it their mission to give Sherman the flight he wanted. They were able to do so on June 6 at Columbus Municipal Airport, 4770 Ray Boll Blvd., Columbus, Ind.
CAF not only gave him a ride in a Steerman biplane, but he got a bit of a bonus to make the memory more special.
“I was very, very fortunate that they were able to give me the ride in addition to being able to park the airplane,” Sherman told The Reporter. “It was phenomenal, to say the least, to sit in an airplane that my dad owned.”
Thanks to a photo album given to him by his sister, Sherman has a photo of his father’s Steerman. Today, The Reporter is pleased to publish both that photo and one of Walt Sherman moments after he finally got the flight he’d been dreaming of.
You can learn about CAF online at CommemorativeAirForce.org, and you can check for upcoming CAF events in Indiana at IndianaWingCAF.org/events.html.