A Living Piece of World War II Aviation Takes on Double the Muscle at the Cleveland National Airshow
CLEVELAND, OH — Stepping into a hangar along the flight line at Burke Lakefront Airport is always like walking into an active laboratory of aviation history, but every once in a while, timing delivers something truly poetic. Just a moment before our crew walked through the hangar doors to catch up with seasoned airshow pilot Susan Dacy, an original, stock World War II primary trainer taxied in and parked directly across from her iconic aircraft, "Big Red". In an instant, the open bay became a living before-and-after exhibit of American ingenuity. Side by side, the contrast between the gentle, yellow military workhorse and Dacy’s muscular, ruby-painted biplane told a decades-long story of survival, power, and transformation.
"This is what happens when you put that lovely Stearman on steroids, and here you have this one with double the horsepower," Dacy remarked with an infectious smile, gesturing between the two machines. While the factory trainer across the bay relies on its original 220-horsepower radial engine, Big Red has been transformed into a Super Stearman, packing a roaring 450-horsepower Pratt & Whitney radial powerplant on the nose. It turns a dependable primary trainer into a high-energy aerobatic powerhouse capable of pulling massive loops, crisp snap rolls, and billowing trails of white smoke high above Lake Erie.
For Dacy, a retired Boeing 787 airline captain with nearly 40,000 hours in the sky and aviation practically running through her veins, these biplanes represent far more than airshow showmanship; they are a vital link to the Greatest Generation. As thousands of young American cadets prepared for combat in the skies over Europe and the Pacific, the Boeing-Stearman Kaydet was where they earned their wings. "10k of these were made for training purposes for the war effort and luckily many of these survived because after the war they became wonderful crop dusters," Dacy explained. When the war ended and thousands of military surplus airframes were phased out, agricultural pilots recognized the rugged, forgiving design of the Stearman as the ultimate platform for low-altitude field work, keeping the fleet flying, maintained, and preserved until aerobatic pilots like Dacy gave them a second lease on airshow life.
Watching Big Red fire up on the Burke tarmac brings all of that heritage together in a single, throaty rumble. As the radial engine coughs awake with puffs of blue exhaust before smoothing out into a deep, rhythmic purr, it commands the attention of everyone along the flight line. In an era dominated by fly-by-wire computers and composite jets, Susan Dacy and her pumped-up Stearman remind the crowds on the Cleveland lakefront that real barnstorming grit, fabric wings, and pure horsepower will never go out of style.
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