Story and photography by Robbie Culver
Flying to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is a rite of passage for pilots. Months of planning, sacrifices for good weather, and no small amount of emotional and financial investment are involved. Any pilot who has flown in will tell you tales of their adventure. (Most of them are even true!)
To do this in an open-cockpit 1941 Boeing Stearman from Tucson, Arizona, to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, takes the adventure to a new level. Tom Torchia, EAA 1207199, did exactly that for AirVenture 2024.
Tom’s Stearman was built right after Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and was originally sent to Canada for use as a trainer. It was returned to the U.S. soon after when the Canadians decided to use other aircraft for training after installing canopies on the Stearman — this changed the flight characteristics and “made it a horrible airplane.”
During World War II, the U.S. Navy used “recall” Stearman aircraft to notify flying cadets at training bases to immediately return to base. If a cadet saw the distinct blue-and-white-striped aircraft, they knew the weather or an emergency dictated their immediate return. The paint scheme is based on the recall flag used to notify flying cadets on student solo status that they should return. If circumstances were dire enough, instead of relying on students seeing the flags, the base would launch the recall aircraft. Many bases had the aircraft painted in their own distinct variant of the base color scheme, which has its roots in the recall flag from as early as 1777.
Tom flew his 220-hp Continental-powered Stearman on an epic dayslong journey that stretched across the southwest and into the heartland of America, low and slow at 80 to 90 mph. The trip took him from his home base in Marana, Arizona, through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, then into Illinois and Wisconsin. Density altitude and weather kept the trip challenging. Tom said he kept his days to three or four legs of flying about two hours each. Open-cockpit flying has a way of wearing one down!
Tom bought the airplane with the intention of restoring it but was “having way too much fun flying it.” He put off restoration until one day the airplane made the decision easy for him when he lost the engine on a close-in downwind leg to his home airport. After pulling the engine for a rebuild, Tom said he walked into the hangar and took a razor blade to the fabric, which he describes as a “sad day.” The rest, as they say, is history — he did a complete rebuild.
Tom is an A&P/IA mechanic and had previously restored four other Stearmans, an Interstate Cadet, and a J-3 Cub. He said this restoration took him about three years and 5,000 hours, with every piece of hardware being replaced. The results are spectacular, and the unique paint scheme certainly draws attention!
You can find Tom’s distinctly painted Stearman in the Warbirds area at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024.