A picture of an antique silver Ryan Sport Trainer (ST) airplane gleaming in the sun will adorn the fabric patch given to pilots taking part in New Carlisle’s 2016 Heritage of Flight Festival’s “Parade of Planes” on Oct. 1. The Ryan ST is locally-owned by Ted Teach and mechanic Doug Smith spent several years restoring it to its former glory.
Duane Jones, a pilot from New Carlisle’s own Andy Barnhart Memorial Airport says Teach’s 80-year-old Ryan ST was chosen for this year’s patch, in part, because it won the 2016 “Antique Grand Champion” Gold Lindy award at the annual “AirVenture” event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The premier aviation event annually attracts thousands of aviation enthusiasts from all over the world. During the gathering, the airport’s control tower is the busiest in the world.
Also, says Jones, the Ryan is simply just “a sweet plane.”
The Ryan ST was built by the Ryan Aeronautical Company (RAC). The company was founded in San Diego in 1934 and Teach’s plane was built two years later.
The company played a key role in aviation history. The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum has pictures of the modified Ryan NYP used by Charles Lindbergh, better-known as the “Spirit of St. Louis,” that made the first solo transatlantic flight.
RAC had a longstanding relationship with the U.S. military as well and, during its peak production years during WWII, RAC had 85,000 employees and production that exceeded $55 million a year. According to airminded.net, at the time Teach’s Ryan ST was built, the factory’s workforce only consisted of 27 men who produced a little over one plane every other week.
Jones says the rarity of the elegant pre-war Ryan ST makes it extra-special. After WWII, a glut of civilian airplanes from several manufacturers flooded the market, built with the idea that for all of the war pilots coming home would want to continue to fly.”
“But after spending years getting shot at in airplanes and not seeing their families, there weren’t a lot of guys coming home who wanted to keep flying...at least not for a while” explains Jones.
Heritage of Flight Festival (HOF) Committee President, Mike Lowrey, says the patch Teach’s 1936 Ryan ST is featured on joins the series of patches given out in past years, and serves a similar purpose as the dash plaques given to drivers who participate in cruise-ins and car shows.
“Pilots get a new patch every year, so they can kind of keep track of which Parade of Planes events they have been a part of...the patch can be sewn onto a jacket or anything else the pilot wants to put it on. It’s a nice memento that also lasts a long time.”
Lowery and Jones both say the most special thing about the yearly patch is that the local pilots have no idea whose plane will be featured from year to year. The patch is unveiled right before the HOF festival, “The first few years we used a generic plane on the patch; then we decided using a local plane would make the patch special...it’s great to see how excited the pilots get when their plane is chosen,” says Lowery.
The HOF Parade of Planes and Community Parade takes place at 11:00 am on Saturday, Oct. 1 in downtown New Carlisle. WWII veteran and local resident, Dewey Brosey is serving as the Grand Marshall for the event and the parade information will be announced from the main stage. For more information visit heritageofflight.com.
