Flying the Cadillac: Reserve NCO Shows Off PT-17's Aerobatics for Air Show Passengers

Navy pilots called the PT-17 Stearman “The Yellow Peril.” Former President
George H.W. Bush considered it one of the most challenging planes he flew
during World War II. Army Air Corps and Navy pilots trained in the planes, and fewer than 3,000 remain today. But an Air Force Reserve technical sergeant chose to buy one of the blue and yellow two-seat biplanes because of their acrobatic versatility and their history.
Tech. Sgt. David Brown in his PT-17 was the first to fly over the U.S. Air Force Memorial during its dedication ceremony on Oct. 14, 2006. He discovered
the plane after first flying the Piper J-3 Cub, Piper L-4 Cub and 1929 Fleet Biplane in the Flying Circus Air Show in Bealeton, Va.
“All of those were kind of cramped on the inside,” Sergeant Brown said. “Then, I had a chance to fly the Stearman, and it was literally like jumping into a
Cadillac out of these other aircraft.
“The Navy called it ‘The Yellow Peril’ [because] cadets would sometimes wreck them when they would land a little crooked,” Sergeant Brown said. “A new pilot without a lot of experience will land in a crosswind, flip off the runway, and the next thing you know, you’re upside down in a ditch, and you don’t know what happened.
“But the fact that it is challenging makes it an airplane that’s respected in the aviation community.”
The medical materiel craftsman with the 459th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Joint Base Andrews, Md., paid $12.50 for his first ride in a PT-17 at the Flying Circus when he was in high school. He’s been with the Flying Circus himself since he first joined the show as a ground crew member in 1975 and now t akes passengers for about 10 minutes of loops, spins, rolls and hammerheads,
a maneuver in which he pulls the plane upward and stalls in mid-air before making a steep, spiraling descent.
“When we pull away, I get [passengers] on the microphone and talk to them about what we’re going to do,” Sergeant Brown said. “I find out if they have any flight experience and if they’re a thrill-seeker or not, so I’ll know what to expect.
“If I get somebody who’s a little apprehensive, I’ll take it easy on them. I always tell them, ‘You’re in control of the flight. This is your ride and I want you to enjoy it.’ I want them to come down and say, ‘This is the best thing I ever did. I want to come back and do it again.’”
Sergeant Brown earned his private pilot’s license in 1979 and first entered
active duty after he earned an ROTC commission, but was denied pilot training because his eyesight didn’t meet Air Force standards. Instead, he served
four years on a Titan II missile crew in the 373rd Strategic Missile Squadron
at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., and received his discharge in December
1986, just before the missile system was deactivated the following year.
Next, he tried to land a job with the commercial airlines, but opened Brown
Aviation after he earned his flight instructor’s certificate. He gives open cockpit rides and flight instruction, while working at his full-time job as an area maintenance engineer with the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Sergeant Brown joined the Air Force Reserve as a staff sergeant in 1996, 10
years after leaving active duty as a first lieutenant.
He flies with the call sign, “Air Show,” but calls his plane, “No Bucks,
No Buck Rogers,” a reference to a line in the movie, “The Right Stuff.”
Sergeant Brown bought his first plane, a 1946 Aeronca Champ, while still on active duty and later bought a Jungster 1 biplane. In 2002, he bought his PT-17 for $75,000.
“I jokingly say the Air Force would never let me fly one, so I had to go buy
my own,” Sergeant Brown said. “My first official mission was when I flew
over the [Air Force] Memorial. I said to myself, ‘I had to wait a long time, and I had to buy my own Air Force airplane to do it, but I’ve got my first mission here.’”
Retired Gen. John P. Jumper, Air Force chief of staff at the time, wanted a PT-17 as the first airplane in the lineup, Sergeant Brown said.
Organizers discussed using Ross Perot Jr.’s Stearman, but due to the logistics
of flying it from Texas, they searched the Washington area and found
the sergeant through the Stearman Restorers Association.
Just flying into Andrews alone turned into an adventure. Sergeant Brown filed
his flight plan with Potomac Approach, but when he pressed the button to talk
to air traffic controllers, it broke and swung on a wire under the panel. He
peeled off his gloves, grabbed the wire and flew the plane with his elbow on
the stick while he held the two wires together to talk on the radio.
“Every time I would hear the guy, I’d put my elbow on the stick and put the wires together to talk to him,” Sergeant Brown said. “I did that all the way to Andrews with no co-pilot in the airplane. I said to myself, ‘Please don’t call me while I’m on the approach because I can’t land this airplane and hold the wires together at the same time.’
“When I landed on the runway, I switched the radio to ground control, and the guy in the tower at Andrews told me, ‘For the oldest airplane on the field, you sure have the clearest radio.’”
While he wasn’t able to fulfill his dream as an Air Force pilot, Sergeant Brown
is proud of the role he plays in introducing air show passengers to his historic airplane and his work as a reservist in an aeromedical squadron. He especially felt the importance of his job while on annual tour with his squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
“That really hit home with me when we were working on a trailer with medical supplies that were going to Afghanistan to set up a field hospital,” he said. “I knew that [trailer] wasn’t going to be opened again until somebody needed it in a combat situation. When it got over there and they opened this thing up, they were going to be saving soldiers’ lives with this
equipment.
“I’m not flying [F-16 Fighting Falcons], but I’m in a flying unit, I still get to ride on the aircraft occasionally and I’m still associated with the best Air Force in the world.”