Rexburg pilot receives prestigious FAA award for more than 60 years of flight
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REXBURG — The founder of a local museum received a prestigious award from the Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday, after more than 60 years of flight.
The Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, one of the most prestigious awards in aviation, was given to John Bagley, founder of the Legacy Flight Museum in Rexburg. One of the award requirements is having at least 50 years of flight experience.
The FAA joined the Rexburg man’s friends and family at the flight museum on Saturday night for a presentation and ceremony.
The night began with a presentation led by Bagley, showcasing his 61 years of piloting aircraft. The slideshow featured his past airplanes, flight shows and anecdotes.
Bagley began his piloting career in 1965. He has flown for more than 10,000 hours in a range of aircraft — anything from a Douglas A-3 Sky Warrior to an F-16. He noted in his speech that he has owned and operated well over 40 airplanes. Bagley soloed at 17 and, after returning from a church mission, earned his certificate to fly at 21.
When asked about the lessons he had learned through his years of flying, Bagley said, “The only time you get too much fuel is when you’re on fire. I think fire’s the pilot’s worst nightmare.”
Bagley continued, “I had a T-28 in ’95. I trusted the plane. We hadn’t got to the river yet when I smelled something. Now, old airplanes smell—they smell of gas, oil, mice or dust — but this one smelled of burning wire. I went into a hard turn to the right to head back to the airport. The amp meter was jumping, and then the cockpit filled with smoke and blew up. I was sitting in a fire.”
Among his flight achievements, he founded the Legacy Flight Museum in 2006 with his wife, Terry Bagley. It houses the oldest de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou, among other historic aircraft.
According to one of the museum’s mechanics, Corey Radford, the Caribou was built in 1958 and could hold anything from paratroopers to vehicles. Built as a military transport aircraft, it weighs more than 20,000 pounds with a fixed wing multi-engine.
Radford recalled working on the aircraft, and he told EastIdahoNews.com, “We worked on her back at the Willow Run bomber plant in Michigan, where World War II B-24s were made. It was kind of ironic that we were putting together the world’s oldest Caribou in the exact same plant. The nostalgia of not only working on history, but being at a historical site putting together an aircraft we can share with the public is better than getting paid; that’s payment enough.”
Also owned by the museum is “Ole Yeller,” the P51-D Mustang. It had previously been owned by the famous World War II fighter pilot, Bob Hoover and was purchased by Bagley in 1997. According to the flight museum, the plane is powered by a Rolls Royce Merlin 12-cylinder engine and has made over 1,000 air show appearances across the nation.
“Bob Hoover called me and he said, ‘You want to buy a plane?’ I said, ‘I just bought a Sea Fury, can’t handle that.’ He said, ‘Well, come down and have dinner with Colleen and me’. I said, ‘I can handle that.’ And we flew down to Torrance, California, and I made a deal on Old Yeller.” Bagley said.
In Bagley’s closing statement, he told the crowd, “I feel like the luckiest man in the world. With me are my friends, many of my grandchildren and I get to fly. There’s a poem that talks about to reach up and touch the face of God. You know, when I fly in the clouds and above the clouds, it is joy. It is peace. When you’re up there, whether you’re alone or you got a group of people with you, life is wonderful.”