Local seniors got the thrill of a lifetime on August 17th when they each had the chance to ride in a WWII-era plane.
Residents of The Lakeshore, a Renton retirement community, were the lucky recipients of the flights. They traveled to nearby Auburn Municipal Airport to experience the freedom and exhilaration of soaring 1,000 feet above the ground in the open-cockpit plane.
Included on the flights were 95-year-old Lucy Sato and 98-year-old Homer Yasui, both former residents of Japanese internment camps during WWII, and 84-year-old Latvian immigrant, Andy Perlbachs.
Dream Flights is a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring seniors and military veterans. The foundation provides flights in a Boeing Stearman biplane, the same aircraft used to train many military aviators in the late thirties and forties. The pilots, who primarily fly for major airlines and are active duty or retired military veterans themselves, volunteer their time to fly these veterans in the largest fleet of stored and fully operational Stearman bi-planes.
At the same time, the organization works to preserve and share the seniors’ stories with others.
For information about Dream Flights, visit http://www.dreamflights.org
