Pangborn's Festival of Flight Back in the Air

Aug. 8, 2022

Aug. 6—EAST WENATCHEE — As a kid, Del Herring had a chance encounter with a pilot during a visit to his grandparents' home in Ritzville that sparked a lifelong interest.

"I was 8 years old and I walked down to the airport and (a pilot) said, 'Would you like to sit in the pilot's seat?'" Herring said. "So that's why I had to build a replica."

Now retired, Herring is a member of the Wenatchee Red Apple Flyers, a hobbyist group that builds and flies remote control planes. The flyers on Saturday brought a group of model planes to Pangborn's Festival of Flight — including Herring's replica of the plane from Ritzville: a yellow Cessna T-50 Bobcat.

The festival, formerly called Aviation Day, is the first public event hosted at Pangborn Memorial Airport since 2019. COVID-19 restrictions forced cancellations in 2020 and 2021.

"When the pandemic hit we weren't able to hold these events so we're back to holding them again," said airport director Trent Moyers.

About 20 airport tenants put their aircraft on display, as Moyers said, "to just let people take a gander." The event also featured food vendors, performances, information booths and helicopter rides.

"I think it's a great opportunity for the locals, or anybody in the community, to come out and see what we're doing at the airport," Moyers said.

He noted, "As a commercial service airport, security is paramount — we take that seriously. This is one day during the year where we get to open the gates and let everyone that's not getting on an airline flight to come in and see what's going on."

There was mix of small planes, including Spirit of Wenatchee's replica of Miss Veedol, the plane flown by Clyde Pangborn in 1931 in what was the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean, as well as helicopters from the Life Flight Network and Airlift Northwest and from future tenants, the Washington Army National Guard.

A restored World War II-era B-17G Flying Fortress bomber was scheduled to appear at the festival but cancelled due to a mechanical problem.

Some visitors, like 11-year-old Kyler Mecham, took helicopter tours of the Wenatchee Valley from Lake Chelan Helicopters.

"It was fun," Kyler said. He added, "I've basically been into anything that flies for the last five years."

What piqued his interest? "I guess just all the stories my grandpa told me," he said.

Flying is in their heritage. Dan Carr, Kyler's grandpa, said his father was a World War II pilot who later owned 17 airplanes. Carr earned his license for gliders, or sailplanes.

For Herring, a career in the sky as a professional pilot was grounded by his eyesight, specifically a red-green color deficiency, but he was still able to earn a private pilot license. He eventually owned a couple planes and operated a flying club at Pangborn through the 1970s.

"And then life got in the way and I didn't have time to fly," Herring said.

As he neared retirement, Herring picked up a hobby similar to one from his youth.

"I used to fly line control airplanes that you fly in a circle as a kid," he said. "So I've always had a love of airplanes."

He joined the flyers more than a decade ago. Club planes must be replicas and can range from "small, foamy ones that are inexpensive to get started or something like this (his replica Bobcat) that you spend two years building," Herring said.

Years of tinkering isn't a requirement, but it can be part of the fun.

"Some of the guys just buy airplanes or get one that you can get out of a box that's pretty well put together and some just build and don't fly anymore," Herring said. "And a lot of them, like myself, do both: build them and fly them."

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