Tuesday, June 24, 2003
By ERIC CARPENTER
The Orange County Register

FULLERTON - John McAllister is losing the ability to pilot an airplane and is rapidly being robbed of life.

Lou Gehrig's disease has taken away most of the strength in his arms and legs. His vocal cords are so weak, he can barely talk.

The 80-year-old World War II veteran had just one more wish before all his strength is gone: To take to the sky one last time - with his son and grandson by his side.

On Monday, he got his wish.

McAllister, with the help of pilots at Air Combat USA, took off from Fullerton Airport in a single-engine Marchetti with Air Force Col. Bran McAllister, 51, flying on one wing, Air Force Cadet Dan McAllister, 20, on the other.

The men glided into formation over Los Alamitos, marking their first - and likely their last - flight together.

"This is a dream he's been talking about since he was diagnosed with ALS last fall," Bran McAllister said. "Getting into formation like that with all of us in the air together, you could see it in his eyes, he'd reached the mountaintop."

Just being in the air together was the dream. But not the whole story. This is a family of combat pilots. So of course, there was competition.

The trio of planes headed about 10 miles off the coast of Long Beach for some old-fashioned aerial dogfights - the specialty of Air Combat USA.

John, who needed assistance getting to the plane and lifted into the cockpit, had few physical limitations once in the air.

His ability to maneuver a throttle has hardly diminished. He handled the Marchetti 260 much like he handled a P51 Mustang fighter in Japan more than a half-century ago.

His co-pilot helped him navigate but gave John full control of the gear.

"Once he's in the cockpit, he's home," his son said.

John's co-pilot, Jim "Nails" Newbauer, couldn't believe the change from the ground to the air.

"I started to tear up," said the Vietnam-era Navy pilot, who's now the chief pilot for Air Combat. "He made that plane dance."

John climbed to 5,000 feet with Bran alongside him in the same style plane.

Bran's mission: to get his dad's plane in his sights and simulate shooting him down.

Sounded like an easy task for an F-15 pilot with 21 years' active duty in the Air Force and 29 years younger than his competition.

Bran used his air speed to get behind his dad, but John angled his plane to outmaneuver his son.

"Dad turned hard left and I thought I had him, but I turned so hard I ham-fisted the throttle and ended up going the other way.

"I just couldn't catch him. And I was really trying. He's still got the skills."

Dan, 20, who is used to flying glider planes at the Air Force Academy, took to the simulated combat in a more aerobatic plane than the elder McAllisters. He was able to catch up to his dad and grandfather's planes and virtually shoot them down.

"To be up in the air with these guys, I can't think of anything more thrilling," the youngest McAllister said. "My dream is to one day be able to fly like these guys."

Back on the ground, 14 members of the McAllister family gathered around television screens at the Air Combat headquarters to watch video of their flights.

The family lives far apart - John in Claremont, Bran in Florida and Dan in Colorado Springs. So such extended family gatherings are rare.

But they new time was getting short. Since John was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis last fall, his condition has rapidly deteriorated. The disease causes a progressive deterioration of motor nerves in the spinal cord and brain. John's mind is still sharp, but his body is failing fast.

"We knew if we were going to do this, we'd have to do it now," Bran said.

Back on the ground, John was too weak to talk about the experience. But his smile as he watched the video of him flying with his son and grandson said it all.

"That's the way dad is," Bran said. "He always looks at the positive. He doesn't think about this as his last flight. He thinks about what it meant to fly with us and to fulfill another dream."