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For people around the globe, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced things to change. For one woman, the pandemic meant she had more free time on her hands, which gave her the opportunity to think about and evaluate her future. The result was that Linda Crooks decided it was time to make a change.

This change was no small decision. She spent roughly 1-1/2 years trying to make up her mind. "I cried a lot, got excited about [the future], I cried some more. I’m sure going to miss it," Linda stated.

She announced her decision on September 3, 2021, a sunny Friday morning, in front of a group of pilots, their warbirds, and their callers at the International Aeromodeling Center (IAC) in Muncie, Indiana. "I got done reflecting, and it was time to think about the future," Linda said to the circle of modelers at the pilots’ meeting. "So, I’m here to announce that this is the last Indiana Warbird Campaign, but you guys have made it one [heck] of a ride."

As the pilots’ faces clearly showed that they were shocked by the announcement that the event would end and Linda would no longer be its event manager (EM)/air show boss, Linda’s eyes filled with tears.

After making this announcement, her husband, Dennis, held up a poster designed to commemorate the final Indiana Warbird Campaign. It had "Indiana Warbird Campaign 2021, The Final Mission" printed on it. One was given to each of the roughly 95 registered pilots at the 2021 event.

"I want you guys to keep flying," she said to the Scale warbird pilots. "We’re not going away—I’m just lightening my workload a little."

Dennis, who was the flightline boss, event coordinator, and contest director (CD), concluded the meeting by saying, "If some group chooses to pick up the event and run with it, we’re open to having people talk to us about it."

Some of the pilots congratulated the couple on their retirement with handshakes and hugs, while others seemed at a loss for words. By that afternoon, word had spread among the pilots that someone had stepped up and offered to take over the event.

Processing the Announcement

"It was sad to hear," Sam Parfitt stated, after taking some time to digest the news. "Dennis and Linda have done such an outstanding job of organizing this." Sam estimated that he has attended the Indiana Warbird Campaign since 2003.

"It’s nearly a full-time job for her," Dennis said about his wife of 47 years. "She wanted to go out on top, so to speak."

"If I continued on with anything less, I just couldn’t do it," Linda shared. "It was just time.

"Right now, it’s the crowning achievement of what I’ve done with my life. Dennis retired from ownership of Robart Manufacturing on December 31, 2020. We started talking about all of the things that we wanted to do, and I realized that I needed to retire too.

"I just realized that I was the one now who couldn’t go [on vacation]."

Dennis recalled talking with his wife at length while she was trying to make her decision. "I wasn’t really surprised. The month or so leading up to the event [each year], things really start getting hectic. It just got to be too much. It was time. We don’t need the stress anymore," he explained.

Jennifer Whitaker, who has helped the Crooks’ with the event, said, "I am happy for [Linda] because everyone needs personal time, but I’m sad because I will miss her."

A Labor of Love

Linda and Dennis began running the fun-fly in 2013 after the Henry County Wright Flyers RC Club decided to no longer hold the event. The first Indiana Warbird Campaign took place in 2003 and the Crooks attended it. Linda said that the fun-fly has always taken place at the IAC.

One of her first goals of the Indiana Warbird Campaign was to increase attendance. She soon realized that other similar gathereings were taking place in neighboring cities and states, but there was no cross-promotion. "I started the Warbird & Classics Alliance," she commented.

"Every event [was] working on a tight budget, so you can’t do a lot of advertising. I proposed that you have an announcer say the names and dates of other shows [in the alliance] and I would create a flyer of all of the shows for the pilot packets." Other events at the time included Warbirds and Classics Over Michigan, Warbirds and Classics of the Midwest, and an event in Chatham, Ontario, Canada.

The announcements began, and roughly three years later, attendance at nearly every event in the Warbird & Classics Alliance had doubled in size. But Linda didn’t stop there. To help the gathering thrive, she came up with a way to further encourage pilots to attend events in the alliance. "We wanted all pilots to go to all of the events." Thus, the Warbird Warrior program was born. Pilots were awarded ribbons, pins, shirts, or plaques based on how many events they attended each year. The awards varied throughout the years.

Matt Teresinski is one of those pilots who is considered a Warbird Warrior. Years ago, he attended the Warbirds and Classics Over the Midwest and remembers later seeing an advertisement for the Indiana Warbird Campaign in an issue of Model Aviation. "I said [to my wife], ‘How would you like to go to AMA for the weekend?’ and she bit," Matt shared. He attended his first Indiana Warbird Campaign in 2007.

Matt went to all of the Warbird & Classics Alliance events that took place in 2020. The 2020 Indiana Warbird Campaign was canceled because of the pandemic. "I’m still flying the same planes that I flew in 2007," Matt added. These include a Republic P-47 with 950 flights on it, a Fokker D.VII with 525 flights, and a Corsair with 415 flights. "At least half of these flights were put on at these events," he added.

Allen Whitaker, air boss at the Indiana Warbird Campaign and co-CD of Warbirds and Classics of the Bluegrass, shared some of his history with the event. "I started coming in 2005 or 2006. We started helping out and it just kind of evolved." His wife, Jennifer, added, "Linda is so generous and giving, so you just want to help out." She helped register pilots at the 2021 event.

A New Leader Emerges

"I thought there would be other people who had more experience in warbirds who would step up and continue the event," stated Tony Stillman, AMA’s Technical/Safety director, who has attended the Indiana Warbird Campaign for three years. When no one stepped up to the plate, he decided that he was up for the challenge. "There are a lot of really good builders who come [to the event]," Tony stated. "You’re always learning something. The common denominator is the people and watching them fly. I enjoy learning new things."

News quickly spread among the pilots that Tony would be the new EM/CD of the event. As part of Linda’s decision to end the Indiana Warbird Campaign, she made its name a limited liability company, so the event can no longer have that name.

Tony said he plans to call the resurrected event Air Power Over the IAC. It will still take place during Labor Day weekend, September 1-3, 2022, at the IAC, he said. "The main goal next year is to have the event," Tony shared. Beyond that, he has several ideas, including incorporating some of the past activities from the Indiana Warbird Campaign. Linda, Tony, and some of the pilots reminisced about the special events that previously took place at the Indiana Warbird Campaign. Most of the activities were a hit with the pilots.

"We’ve had fireworks, movie screenings, popcorn, Chinese lantern [lightings], and hot air balloon burnouts," Linda remembered. "One year, we made a racecourse for mini warbirds. I’ve never laughed so hard!

"We’ve always wanted to do something a little extra at the Indiana Warbird Campaign," Linda said. Other special activities have included a pizza dinner for pilots, gaggles, dawn patrols, and special flights of airplanes made from Balsa USA kits.

For a time, Applebee’s sponsored the event, and pilots were encouraged to eat there. She remembered 30 to 50 pilots going to Applebee’s for dinner one Thursday night during the Indiana Warbird Campaign.

There have also been several guest speakers at the pilots’ dinner each year. Among them were former U.S. Navy fighter pilot Tom Huff, a World War II pilot, a Tuskegee Airman, representatives of Robart Manufacturing and Balsa USA, a Vietnam veteran, and model airplane designer Nick Ziroli. In previous years, awards were handed out to some of the pilots for their airplanes.

"I used to like to do the noontime show," Matt said, when thinking about past Indiana Warbird Campaigns. In previous years, a noontime air show was held for the spectators. There was not one at the 2021 event.

"This is my favorite event," Sam added. "It’s only about 100 miles from my house, plus they have showers." (The IAC has a bathhouse and showering facilities at the National Model Aviation Museum.)

Tony said he would like to see the fireworks show return in the future, donate some of the event proceeds to a veterans charity, and invite veterans to the event. "That’s my idea, to make it a little more of a veteran-related event."

He also has ideas for how to operate the flightline efficiently and safely and plans to have RJ Monroe as his flightline director. RJ is the CD of the Air Supremacy Over Goshen event, in Goshen, Indiana.

Tony added that the event will be sponsored by AMA but won’t be considered an AMA-run event.

The Crook Family’s Next Mission

As Tony began to make plans for the 2022 fly-in, Linda and Dennis were making plans of their own.

Linda said in September that she and Dennis planned to use their RV to visit places other than aeromodeling events. They hoped to also go on trips with Dennis’ sister, Sandy Appelhans and her husband, Jim. They live on the family farm with the Crooks and help take care of it.

The four previously took a trip to France and hoped to return. Dennis said he would also like to visit Alaska and England.

Linda, an only child, hoped to delve into her family’s genealogy. "I like that feeling that things are wide open, and I think Dennis likes it too," she stated. Other plans that the Linda and Dennis have in mind include getting more involved in their church and possibly starting a gospel group. By mid-October, the couple was already on vacation in the west.

When thinking about one chapter of her life closing and another beginning, Linda said, "I look at it as I’ve been blessed for 18 years. I love it and that’s what makes it hard to retire."

The couple added that they still planned to attend some aeromodeling events. "We’re retired from the management side of it, certainly not the fun side of it," Dennis said. "It’s been a (generally) fun experience, but I’m glad to be done with it."

SOURCES:

Indiana Warbird Campaign

www.indianawarbirdcampaign.com

Warbird & Classics Alliance

www.warbirdandclassics.com