Lit by the blazing sun and a wide grin, mechanic Harman Dickerson looked skyward as nearly a dozen brightly colored Travel Air aircraft swooped in.
The planes made a stop Wednesday in Fulton as a quick detour from a barnstorming tour across the Midwest, thanks to an invite from Dickerson. He said it might be the largest gathering of the antique aircraft in modern times.
Dickerson can often be found at Elton Hensley Memorial Airport. He is an expert in the vintage planes, primarily built in the late 1920s. Boxes of Travel Air parts line the wall of his hangar, and he's had a hand in restoring some of the aircraft present Wednesday.
"See that yellow one?" he said, pointing to a plane. "I built its wings."
That particular restoration job took from 1992-2013, said Richard Zeiler, who owns the craft dubbed the Sun Siren. It and its sister plane, the Sky Siren, are painted with Art Deco motifs designed by retired architect Jim Bruni, Zeiler said.
Between 1,000-2,000 Travel Air planes were built in Wichita, Kansas, from 1924-29, a huge number for the time. According to the Kansas Historical Society, the company was founded jointly by Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech and Lloyd Stearman - all prominent names in aeronautics. To meet the incredible demand for the planes, the company employed up to 650 workers at once.
Unfortunately, many Travel Air planes that survived the decades are in shoddy shape. One is resting in Dickerson's hangar as just a heap of pieces.
"I've got quite the project for myself," Dickerson said.
His fellow enthusiasts speak of him in awed tones. Many expressed excitement to finally meet him and put a face to his name.
"He's built them just from the plans," said Don Miles, of Columbia. "He welded the parts together, built the wings from wood, and they're flying around out there."
Pointing to the heap of parts, Miles added that when Dickerson's done with it, it be an aircraft worth a half-million dollars.
It's easy to see the appeal of the little biplanes. Fully restored, they gleam in unique, eye-catching color schemes from orange to red to burgundy. According to their pilots, Travel Airs are fun to fly, too.
"You can actually barnstorm in these, as long as you're careful," Zeiler enthused.
He said one of the pilots in a group from California stayed just 100-500 feet off the ground during a cross-country flight - far below a plane's typical cruising altitude. Some Travel Air enthusiasts travel with barnstormer groups to give rides across the nation and beyond. Two of the pilots in attendance had even flown their planes across Africa.
The California group didn't have the longest trip to Fulton, however. That honor goes to pilot Tom Leaver and his friend Jonathon Whaley, who trekked all the way from England. First, Whaley said, they had the plane shipped by sea to Florida. After reassembling the craft, they flew 1,015 miles to Jefferson City.
"We just do it for the adventure," Whaley said. "Tom and I have a lot of adventures."
Leaver said he purchased his Travel Air about three years ago, when the maintenance demands of his other airplane grew too steep.
Dickerson's fondness for the Travel Air is more personal.
"The airplanes were born with me," he said. "I was born in 1936, and I bought my first Travel Air in 1974."
To see the planes, visit the Jefferson City Memorial Airport between today and Saturday. The American Barnstormers Tour will offer rides between 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily for $80. Aerial demonstrations will be at 1 p.m. each day. Static displays will be 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily.