GREEN: The A4 Skyhawk was already on the MAPS Air Museum’s bucket list, so when it showed up on the inventory of an Illinois air museum that was closing, MAPS moved quickly to claim it.
The intent was always to paint it to reflect its most famed role on the U.S. Navy Blue Angels precision flying squad.
But museum volunteers have always tried to connect their historic fleet of 45 planes to local aviators, and when they turned their focus on the Skyhawk, they quickly discovered the tale of Stuart Powrie.
At a special veterans dinner on Saturday, MAPS unveiled the renovated plane that now bears Powrie’s name under the cockpit for reasons both sad and inspiring.
Powrie — who graduated from Akron’s Firestone High School in 1966 with classmate and future astronaut Judith Resnik — was a member of the Blue Angels whose rising star fell on Feb. 22, 1982, when his Skyhawk crashed in a California desert during practice.
His sister, Cynthia Tyson, still lives in West Akron. And while the memories bring back a sense of loss, the museum’s efforts have also picked up the spirits of an entire family still very proud of their fearless hero.
Unusual career path
Powrie’s career path was, in some ways, accidental.
The Vietnam draft made the military a likely destination for many young men graduating in 1966, but Powrie never expressed an interest in military life or the desire to fly planes.
He only came to the attention of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., because of his swimming skills. Proficient in the breast stroke, he was a member of Firestone’s state champion swim team and was named Akron’s outstanding swimmer.
Tyson, two years younger than Powrie, has a vague recollection of officials looking for someone local with football strengths to apply to the academy, Powrie’s name coming up as an alternative because of his swimming achievements, her mom’s resistance to his application, and his eventual acceptance into the academy.
“He excelled in everything he got near. He was vocal and outgoing and did great in school,” she said. “Bright as a dollar.”
He swam for the Navy, even breaking a couple of school records, but he turned down an opportunity to join the Olympic swim team to pursue a new passion: flying.
His spinoff into aviation surprised the family.
“I can’t answer why he did it, but he started it and he loved it,” his sister said.
He served as a pilot aboard the carriers Midway and Coral Sea, flying helicopter escort missions in Vietnam.
Then in 1980, at the age of 32, Powrie applied with 49 other pilots for an opening on the Blue Angels, a six-man demonstration team that entertained up to 8 million people a year with their acrobatics.
He won the seat. His late mother, Gladys Powrie, told a Beacon Journal society reporter about receiving the announcement in a phone call.
“He sounded like he was about 10 feet off the ground. He didn’t need a plane to fly just then,” she said.
Powrie’s mom and sister watched him perform in Kitchener, Ontario, and again in Champaign, Ill.
“My brother went ballistic,” Tyson said, laughing at the memory. “He flew by at 500 feet above the ground flying like a bat out of you-know-where. My mother was dumbstruck. She was like, ‘What was that?’ Then he did it again, upside down. My mother loved it. She just loved it. She would have done it herself if she could.”
As much as Powrie loved the thrill of it all, he also loved the way he could inspire others, Tyson said. He enjoyed visiting hospitals, giving talks at schools and patiently signing autographs after every show.
But on Feb. 22, 1982, Powrie’s family got the kind of phone call that all Blue Angel families dread.
Powrie and another squad member were practicing a maneuver called “clean loop-dirty loop” near El Centro, Calif., in preparation for an air show at Yuma.
The stunt called for the two jet fighters, — one at an altitude of 8,000 feet, the other at 4,000 feet — to complete 360 degree loops before turning simultaneously out of the loop in the same direction.
Powrie, a veteran of 320 aircraft carrier landings and more than 2,000 flying hours, crashed into the Imperial Valley desert after completing his loop.
News reports at the time said he was the 21st Blue Angel pilot to be killed since the group was formed in 1942. The inherent risk in what he did was all the more evident because just one month earlier, four members of the Air Force’s Thunderbirds were killed in a similar accident.
After Powrie’s death, Judith Resnik sent the family a sympathy letter. She and Powrie spoke together often about space careers, Powrie confiding that his ultimate ambition was to be an astronaut.
Resnik herself died four years later when the space shuttle Challenger exploded.
Local connection
MAPS volunteers knew none of this when they decided to acquire the Skyhawk.
Valerie Kinney, program coordinator for the museum, said the plane was on their wish list because “it’s one of everybody’s favorite,” loved for its style and maneuverability.
“But we’re not just about planes,” she said. “We tell stories, and we want to tell the stories of local heroes around here.”
So after acquiring the plane, some folks were sitting around during a coffee break and one guy opened a computer to see if an internet search would turn up any Northeast Ohio connections to the Blue Angels that could help them personalize the newest addition to their fleet, Kinney said.
Almost immediately they came across the story of Stuart Powrie.
Kinney said she left her phone number with staff at Firestone High School, and that same night Powrie’s sister, Cynthia Tyson, returned her call.
MAPS volunteers made the trip to the Chanute Air Museum in Illinois to retrieve the plane, taking it apart, putting it onto two truck beds, hauling it to Green, reassembling it, then painting the entire thing an appropriate shade of blue.
Meanwhile, Tyson accepted an invitation to visit MAPS and learn more about the museum and their intentions for the plane.
Kinney said the excitement continued to build as they learned that Powrie’s widow, Linda; his son, Scott; and daughter, Elizabeth; their spouses and children and some extended family intended to fly in for the dedication from as far as Hong Kong and California.
The Fairlawn VFW Post 349 and Ravenna American Legion Post 331 donated money to pay for their hotel rooms.
Even Powrie’s former squad mates pitched in on the project.
Jim Horsley of Oregon (No. 4 in the formation) sent a portrait he painted of Powrie. Dave Carroll of California (No. 1) sent the flight suit he used in 1982 to be part of a display. And Bob Stephens (No. 3) came from Tennessee for the dedication. Powrie flew in the No. 6 position — the solo plane flying in opposition to the other five.
While Powrie’s and Resnik’s classmates honored them with a tree planting in the 1990s, Tyson said she doesn’t recall any other memorials for her brother, making the MAPS dedication all the more special.
“It’s just so wonderful to have him remembered again,” Tyson said.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.