{"id":2436,"date":"2013-11-07T17:39:37","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T01:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=2436"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:57","slug":"87-just-fly-da-plane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/87-just-fly-da-plane\/","title":{"rendered":"#87 \u201cI Just Fly Da Plane!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

I first met Earl Cherry when I was doing an airshow back in 1986 in South Bend, Indiana.\u00a0 It was actually a real landmark event for me\u2026 I also met Tom Jones.\u00a0 Tom and I would be fast friends until his death a few years later.<\/p>\n

\"paula<\/a>
Paula straps into the wing stand atop the Stearman.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Earl impressed me right off the get-go primarily with his wonderful sense of humor.\u00a0 Now, before I go any further, it\u2019s appropriate to deal with an issue that always arises when the subject turns to Earl Cherry:\u00a0 With a sparkle in his eye, Earl often lapses into a pattern of speech that sounds very familiar to those of us who followed classic cartoons for years.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where the confusion often arises.\u00a0 When I first heard this style of speaking come from Earl, I immediately thought:\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s FOGHORN LEGHORN!\u201d\u00a0 Yup, to me, Earl was doing a flawless impression of the irrepressible cartoon rooster.\u00a0 I was wrong.\u00a0 When Earl was young, he became captivated with \u201cAmos n\u2019 Andy\u201d.\u00a0 He was carried away with an appreciation for the writing, the characterizations and the timing, first of the radio actors and later with their counterparts on television.\u00a0 And, just as Polish polka music can sound just like Mexican Mariachi music, Amos \u2018n Andy\u2019s \u201cKingfish\u201d can often sound just like \u201cFoghorn Leghorn\u201d.\u00a0 So I went on my way for years, thinking that Earl was doing Foghorn when in fact he was \u201cthe Kingfish\u201d.<\/p>\n

At South Bend, I was doing my comedy act.\u00a0 It was called \u201cThe Acme Duck Company\u201d and featured the adventures of my canine companion, Ace, The Wonder Dog.\u00a0 Earl fell for Ace.\u00a0 He thought she was great and he gained a real appreciation for Border Collies.\u00a0 He would later adopt a pair of border collies and they became his lifelong pals.\u00a0 Their names?\u00a0 Why, \u201cAmos \u2018n Andy\u201d of course! When I met Earl at that airshow in Indiana, he was married to Paula.\u00a0 Paula rode the wing while Earl flew the big Stearman biplane he\u2019d dubbed \u201cGeneral Smoke\u201d.\u00a0 Paula was a pretty woman with a slender figure.\u00a0 I always kidded her about her \u201cpointy\u201d face.\u00a0 She had fine features and I maintain that she did have a pointy face, which I claimed made her streamlined and the ideal wingwalker.\u00a0 Reporters were always more interested in Paula, who rode that wing.\u00a0 They were attracted by her looks and the courage it took to ride up there on that wingstand.\u00a0 It seemed like they felt that the skill of the pilot who made her ride possible was secondary.\u00a0 Earl adapted to their attitude very easily.\u00a0 Earl understood show business and marketing.\u00a0 If the reporters wanted to make Paula the star, it seemed that it was okay with Earl.\u00a0 As long as they got the publicity for their sponsors.\u00a0 Earl was a master at it.\u00a0 He always showed up early at the show site and usually scooped all the other performers for the publicity.\u00a0 His sponsors loved him for it.\u00a0 He was criticized by other performers not only because he got their first to get most of the media, but also because he\u2019d put damned near anybody on the wing in order to get the publicity.\u00a0 If he could get a front page picture on the local paper by putting the Mayor on the wing and flying him over downtown, he\u2019d do it.\u00a0 He caught a lot of flak in the biz, but he got the publicity and that is half the job of an airshow performer.\u00a0 I will never forget Earl\u2019s memorable statement.\u00a0 When someone, in the wake of all Paula\u2019s fame and attention, asked Earl just what HE did in the act, Earl shrugged and replied, \u201cI just fly da plane\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Earl<\/a>
Earl’s Stearman had one of the best smoke systems in the air show biz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Earl and Paula eventually divorced but remained good friends.\u00a0 He kept the act, though, and added even more attractive women.\u00a0 At one point he had about three gorgeous females traveling with him.\u00a0 He called them \u201cthe Roll Models\u201d.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t matter that only one of them actually rode the wing.\u00a0 It seemed that Earl appreciated the fact that the more attractive women he had in his act, the more attention it got.<\/p>\n

Earl\u2019s flamboyant personality always made him a larger-than-life character.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I modeled one of the characters in the Screenplay for \u201cAir Show\u201d after him.\u00a0 He was perfect for a major character in an action-filled script.<\/p>\n

Once, we were doing an air show in Show Low, Arizona.\u00a0 The promoter arranged for several of us performers to fly over to a dirt strip at the nearby Apache Indian Reservation and do a little promotion.\u00a0 Earl was the first to land.\u00a0 He taxied into the parking area and, with his usual disregard for any political correctness, called up to the rest of us who were inbound.\u00a0 His distinctive voice crackled over the VHF:\u00a0 \u201cHey, Krashbern, ya better circle da planes when ya land\u2026 there\u2019s Indians down here!\u201d<\/p>\n

The first to arrive, Earl was also the last performer to leave that little press show.\u00a0 Lots of young kids who lived on that reservation and who may have never dreamed of flying got the chance to sit in Earl\u2019s Stearman and learn a little bit about flying from their new best pal, Earl Cherry.<\/p>\n

Earl never got much attention for his consummate flying ability.\u00a0 He probably should have.\u00a0 He was a pro.\u00a0 A former helicopter pilot in the Viet Nam War, he made the transition to that lovely 450 HP Stearman Biplane and flew it with panache and the smoothness that is required of a wing act.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just his piloting skill that impressed me.\u00a0 His faith in ME also made a big impression.\u00a0 Earl had a gig with an entrepreneur who was promoting turbine-powered motorcycles.\u00a0 A publicity campaign was planned that would require two 450HP Stearman Biplanes bearing the company logo to travel to air shows across Texas.\u00a0 When Earl needed a pilot to fly the second Stearman, he called me.\u00a0 I\u2019ll bet he\u2019d called some other guys first, but I\u2019m not going to go there\u2026 I was just delighted that he called me!\u00a0 I met Earl at his place in Louisiana and we launched from there in the brace of biplanes.\u00a0 We took off in formation, we stayed in formation and we landed in formation at every stop. Did I mention that I had no 450 Stearman time?\u00a0 Well, I think that Earl asked me if I had some Stearman time and my hero, Al Heuston, HAD let me fly his once, so I could answer truthfully that I did.\u00a0 I like to think that Earl just figgered I would do okay, regardless of what was in my logbook.\u00a0 It worked out.\u00a0 I was a bit out of my element at first, but I learned so much so fast and I absolutely loved the experience. Not only was the flying great, but when Earl and I swooped into Las Cruces, New Mexico, he introduced me to his friend, astronaut Frank Borman.\u00a0 Earl has fascinating friends.<\/p>\n

Earl and I had some of the earliest General Aviation GPS units for that flight.\u00a0 Mine was a Trimble which actually had a rudimentary moving map.\u00a0 I remember flying along near the Mexican Border and telling Earl that I thought one of us had a wing in Mexico.<\/p>\n

There is a sword hanging over the head of every airshow performer.\u00a0 Occasionally the thread supporting that sword parts.\u00a0 It did for Earl one day while practicing with one of the Roll Models.\u00a0 The engine quit on takeoff.\u00a0 The big Stearman headed for the ground.\u00a0 Earl did the best he could to land the crippled bi-plane with as little damage as possible.\u00a0 But the landing in the trees was catastrophic.\u00a0 The wingwalker\u2019s stand was ripped from the center section and the young woman was hurled like a ragdoll into the trees.\u00a0 Earl\u2019s shoulder harness failed and his face became one with the instrument panel.<\/p>\n

Both pilot and wing walker recovered after extensive reconstructive surgery.\u00a0 In fact, after years of pain and surgery, Earl, who was always a handsome man, is just as good-looking as ever and most who\u2019d seen him before the wreck would not even see any sign of that devastating event.<\/p>\n

\"Earl<\/a>
Emily and Earl Cherry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By that time, Earl was going with Emily.\u00a0 She was great.\u00a0 They came to see me at Fernandina Beach once and I decided to refer to her as \u201cThe Divine Miss Em\u201d.\u00a0 They\u2019re now married. \u00a0He now has two new Border Collies, who carry on the tradition started by \u201cAmos \u2018n Andy\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0Earl is now flying C-130\u2019s so you might say that his career has changed in terms of the equipment he operates.\u00a0 But certain things have not changed:\u00a0 Earl Cherry still has that flamboyant personality that made him a great air show performer.\u00a0 And, although he is a business man of some acumen, I like to think that when asked what he does, he can still truthfully answer, \u201cI just fly da plane\u201d.<\/p>\n

I will always remember some of the best flying of my career when swoopin\u2019 with Earl.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brian<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

” The wingwalker\u2019s stand was ripped from the center section and the young woman was hurled like a ragdoll into the trees. Earl\u2019s shoulder harness failed and his face became one with the instrument panel.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35,56,136,141,178],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}