Our Wing Walking Alumni Gallery...
Listed here are all the wing walkers/riders that have flown with Walt (Wayne) Pierce over the years. Some we have been able to locate and have included further information about (or from) them. Others we have not heard from in many years and would love to know where they are and what they are doing these days. If you know any of them, please have them get in touch with us....
Sandi (Pierce) Browne
1969-1978
Pat Trenner
1978 (one-timer)
"I must have tossed out the Oshkosh Daily that carried my story about wingwalking with Wayne in 1978. But I can recall the exhilaration I felt as we lifted off the runway, and, shortly thereafter, total panic as we went inverted. The fittings atop the wing were designed for larger feet than mine, so my feet slipped just a bit when we went over. I was securely strapped in, but scared stiff anyway. I don't recall if I showed my heel to Wayne, as he noted I should do if I was uncomfortable, but he somehow knew I was not okay, and we landed right away. I remember ending my story with "I take my hat off to all the ladies
of the wing. They are among the fearless." Thanks for the memories!"
Pat Trenner, February 2007
Pat Trenner is currently a Senior Editor at
Myrt (Strong) Rose
1976-1980
Marie Stivers
1978-1980
WAYNE PIERCE AIRSHOWS
WALT PIERCE FLYING
OL' SMOKEY
1969-1975
1976-1979
1979-1981
1981-1989
1990-1991
1991-present
Patti Deck
1971 (one-timer)
Clydene Gunnerson
1975-1976
Betsy Brown
1976-1977
Chizuko Ueno
1977 (one-timer)
Natalie St. John
1978 (one-timer)
Ett (Shalin) Wilson
1978
Kathy Prucek
1978 (training only)
Carol X. Lynne
1980-1988
Shawn Dell (Chandelle) Pierce
1981-1989
Lorraine Gillette
1989 (WILDCATS with Shawn Dell)
Lori Lynn Ross
1990-1991
Lisa Pardue
1991-1994
Jessie Davenport
1995-2003
Michele Hahn
1998-1999
Cristobalina Velasquez
2001-2002
Debra Hodge
2002
Melissa Hawks
2004-2005
Myrt (Strong) Rose
2002 (Birthday wingWALK)
Judy Cole
1977 (one-timer)
Around 1980 Jessie Woods (right) worked with Walt to turn his wing riding team into a wing WALKING team. She ground-trained Carol (below) to become Walt's first wing walker.
Myrt and Walt are on the right, with Bill Barber/Judy Cole and Bob & Pat Wagner in the other two planes.
(Oshkosh 1976)
Clydene was Sandi's choice to replace her as the wing rider in 1975/1976.
Currently, Clydene & her husband are retired and having a good time traveling. In Clydene's words,
"We are having almost as much fun as I did in the good ole days."
Chizuko was a college student from Japan that Walt took out and did the complete routine with on the wing. The Dean of the College wasn't happy about it, to say the least. (Greencastle, IN)
Judy Cole's 20th Anniversary ride on the wing. She began as a wing walker with the Cole Brothers Airshow. Her son was even her pilot for a period of time.
(Luck Field / Ft. Worth, TX)
Natalie's hometown was Montreal - this photo was taken at
Wenatchee, WA.
Walt's airshow career began in 1963 and in 1969 he and his then-wife, Sandi, began the era of wing riding for the team.
Sandi now lives in Texas with her current husband, Stan Browne.
Shawn Dell is Walt and Sandi's daughter. Together they were among the few Father & Daughter Wing Walking Teams to take to the skies. They were also part of the WILDCATS team together in 1989 in which Walt flew 2 wing walkers on his plane simultaneously.
Lori Lynn was a Hollywood stuntwoman and also flew with other pilots, including Jimmy Franklin and Eddie Andreini.
Jessie wing walked at an all-female airshow in Quakertown PA (left) during her several years with Walt's team.
Jessie left the team to go back to college and get her Master's in Oklahoma City. Her only Email back to Walt was lost in a computer change. Since she was such a good wingwalker for 8 years we would love to hear from her!
Debra had a skydiving background and performed 3 shows with the team.
Myrt likes to go for a "birthday ride" every several years. She performed with Walt during the wing riding years, so this one here was her first wing WALK.
Jill Gernetzke-Hays
1996
John Garrard, SSgt.
Kirk Brimmer, Capt.
Tim Matthews, TSgt.
1974 (all one-timers)
Bill "Burner" Beardsley
Chuck Newcomb
1975 (one-timers)
Gil Mook, Capt.
1976 (also a T-Bird one-timer)
"Several years have past since Capt Kirk Brimmer, Tsgt Tim Matthews and I flew on your aircraft. But beleive me, there's never a day that goes by that I don't think about that wonderful flight. So much so I decided to try and find you on the internet, and there you were. Hope that you and Sandy are doing well. Attached is a PDF file of the pictures Sandy took of us, hope you enjoy them."
John Garrard, November 2006
Crew Chief #5 Solo aircraft
USAF Thunderbirds 1972-1976
John, Kirk, Tim, Gil, Chuck and Bill are the only MEN to ever get a ride on the wing of Ol' Smokey.
Bev Turner
1978 ("special guest" rider)
Betsy worked for Tilford Aviation at West Palm Beach. Her boyfriend at the time was the famous author, Richard Bach, who wrote Johnathon Livingston Seagull, which later became a movie.
May 2009 update!
We heard from Betsy and she tells us she is currently residing in the San Diego area. She is joining the aviation ranks again this summer as a volunteer for the
Wings Over Gillespie Airshow.
Kathy was from Central Wisconsin.
Marie came from the Jerry Lewis Telethon and her hometown was Detroit. She later became a marketing manager for Bic Pen Corp. Last we heard she had been in a bad car wreck and came out of it with a swedish accent - we would certainly like to hear her updates!
Anita Bowen
1990 (training only)
a.k.a. Nita Lane,
she was from Kentucky.
Melissa currently lives in Texas and works at her husband's
chiropractic office.
Cristobalina is currenlty residing in Highlands County, FL.
Michele currently resides in the Tampa Bay area, FL with her husband and their three children.
Lisa is from Lakeland, FL and was working at a restaurant shortly before joining the team. After her experiences on the wings, she wrote the book, Let's Take a Wingwalk, a cute short story. Today, Lisa continues to write & illustrate stories, and also paints landscapes on antique windows.
Bev Turner was Mrs. EAA 1977.
"I remember I was so scared my hands were tingling. Walt warned me to keep my chin tucked, I got up on Ol' Smokey, cabled in, and we rolled down the runway. I thought my heart would pound out of my chest with anticipation, but as soon as we started climbing all fear disappeared."
Leana Mendenhall
(a.k.a. "Wendy Knight")
1976
(Photo not available.)
Tracy Pilurs
1973 (one-timer)
Tracy was an aerobatic performer with her "Pretty Purple Puddy Tat" which is now in the International Women's Air & Space Museum in Cleveland.
(Awaiting first-hand story)
(Awaiting first-hand story)
(Awaiting first-hand story)
"The years I spent growing up in the Air show industry were all wonderful, but my years wing walking were like no others, before or since. I truly loved every moment of it. It was the most wonderful sense of freedom I have ever felt. I miss the takeoff the most. That is always my favorite part of flying: the engine revs up, the smoke comes on, I smile and wave, and away we go! There is nothing else like it in the world. I would like to say a big hello to everyone I used to know who might be reading this now. Happy Flying!"
Chandelle Pierce
Texas, November 2007
We lost track of Patti when she married and moved to the Ft. Bragg, NC area. We'd certainly like to know where she is now...
Jill and her husband are in the import radial engine business (M-14P, Inc.) in Arizona and she will take time to update her current lifestyle when business slows down. She is a A&P/IA aircraft mechanic.
Kalle Dedolph
1997
Took a wing walk with Walt as part of MTV's Road Rules show - unfortunately, we've lost most of the details.
(No photo available at this time.)
Jessie Woods and Carol X. Lynne, 1982.
Jessie D. with Jessie Woods and
Linda Duncan (trainer), ~1994.
(Photo not available.)
Diane Baxter
1976 (one-timer)
Diane is the wife of the former Gordon Baxter who was a senior writer for FLYING magazine. She rode the wing at the Lake Charles Airshow. Diane now resides in Silsbee, TX.
The older photos were provided by John Garrard of his flight experience. The photo directly to the left was taken at the Vidalia Onion Festival Air Show where we met up with Alumni Bill Beardsley 33 years after his flight experience.
Bill "Burner" Beardsley and Chuck Newcomb were two former Blue Angels who got into the airshow production business in 1975 at Dallas Texas. They both took a one-time ride on the top of Ol' Smokey and made it through the entire routine as a publicity stunt.
They both remained involved in the industry for over 20 years.
Nicole Hansen
2006-2008
Nicole is Walt's granddaughter and worked with the team for a few seasons. She got married at the start of the 2008 show season and welcomed a daughter into her family in July 2009. As priorities allow, she may someday return to the wing...
40 years later... Walt (2nd from left) and Sandi (purple shirt in center) gather together with their spouses for their granddaughter's graduation from US Marine Corps boot camp.
October 2009.
