Flying Fete

The night of June 25, 1996, is etched in the memory of a Valley man stationed at the time by the Air Force in Saudi Arabia. It was the night a truck bomb ripped through the Khobar Towers military housing complex, killing 19 Americans.

Air Force Maj. Chuck Mitchell vividly remembers shoving a buddy ahead of him under a pool table as the walls and ceiling crashed down on them. His buddy was not hurt, but Mitchell suffered injuries to his neck and back. Nonetheless, he didn’t wait for help.

He remembers running madly to save his pals in the barracks, dashing up seven flights of stairs in a building where the elevator shaft had been blown out.

He remembers pulling shards of glass out of a man’s leg and applying tourniquets.

For the next 36 hours, he worked to help evacuate the bombed quarters and move the operation to a “tent city” at Al Kharj.

But his injuries were so extensive that he required a year of therapy. And he was not allowed to fly.

Last week, for the first time since the bombing, Mitchell climbed back into the cockpit of an A-10 Thunderbolt fighter jet, affectionately called a “hog” by aviation enthusiasts.

Now stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, the art of flying is coming back to him quickly and easily. That’s because Mitchell, 39, has been flying for as long as he can remember.

On Saturday, the man who grew up in Reseda will return to his favorite haunt--the Van Nuys Airport--where he will be honored for his valor by an expected crowd of more than 300,000 visitors at the annual air show.

Mitchell will be receiving a recognition award at the show, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Air Force, said Stacy Geere, airport spokeswoman and show coordinator. She said Mitchell had regularly attended the Van Nuys air shows, missing last year’s because of his injuries. At the show, Geere said, Mitchell will be “standing out in the hot sun, shaking hands, signing autographs and encouraging young people to pursue their dream of flying.”

Mitchell’s father was a World War II Marine and later was among the first pilots in the Air Force. After his father returned to civilian life, the family maintained its interest in airplanes. Mitchell spent his childhood around airports, particularly Whiteman in Pacoima and Van Nuys Airport.

“I started flying when I had to put a book into a book pack to reach the rudders,” Mitchell said. “I was totally engrossed in it.”

He soloed in a glider at age 14, in an airplane at 16 and obtained his pilot’s license at 17.

“I always had the affinity and the love for flying, but I had never wanted to make it a career,” he said. A graduate of Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, Mitchell earned a degree in business administration from Cal State Northridge. He started a building maintenance company because he wanted to be his own boss.

Then, by chance, he was offered a ride in a World War II-era P-51 Mustang fighter plane. The rare vintage plane, which is still based at Van Nuys Airport, was among the fastest built at the time and served to bring a turning point in the war.

Soaring at 325 mph over Acton--more than twice as fast as he had ever flown before--he said he suddenly realized “this is something I really want to do. I decided I wanted to fly fighters for the Air Force.”

Mitchell had to wait almost two years for a slot to open, but was accepted into the Air Force in 1984, just before he reached the maximum entry age for pilot training of 27 1/2. “The dream part of it worked out,” he said. “I actually got what I wanted.”

In addition to his stint in Saudi Arabia, Mitchell also served in Korea and Europe, earning a Commendation Medal with Valor and a Purple Heart--both for the bombing incident--and five aerial achievement medals. He is an instructor pilot, teaching new recruits to fly supersonic jets.

Planes similar to the one that inspired Mitchell will be among the more than 75 on display during the Van Nuys Airport Aviation Expo ’97 next weekend. The show will be open both days from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Mitchell to be honored at opening ceremonies at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Highlights of the show will include demonstrations of the Marine Corps’ Harrier jet, which can hover, and take off and land vertically. The jet is “one of the most versatile aircraft in the United States’ arsenal,” said Van Nuys Airport Manager Ronald J. Kochevar.

The finale, expected around 3 p.m. on Sunday, will be a return flyover of a B-2 Stealth Bomber. The plane awed thousands of spectators into silence when it made its debut in the skies over Los Angeles at last year’s air show.

The popular exhibition will be open to the public without charge. Free parking will be provided at five remote lots, with free shuttle service to the show grounds. No public parking will be available at the airport.