Jacquie WardA
The Lady and Her Pitts Special…The Red Eagle
Determination and spunk are two words that come to mind when I think of Jacquie Warda or Jacquie B, as you might know her as. She has an energy about her you simply can’t ignore and she flies a plane that is only one of three out there.
She doesn’t have the dramatic story of flying from the time she was knee high, nor did she sneak off to the local airport and wash planes in order to fly. She simply came to a point in her life that it was her turn to do what she wanted and what she wanted was to fly and eventually perform and that is what she is doing. She has the complete support of her husband and family. Her dad gets a big charge out of watching her fly and her husband, David, is a major advocate of her continued push to follow her passion.
Jacquie was raised in a rather protected environment. She was a serious student of ballet and couldn’t take part in anything that she might be able to injure herself while doing. Although her Dad was an avid aviation enthusiast, Jacquie had always thought that flying was for men and the only way a female was going to get in a plane was by being a stewardess, or flight attendant, as they are called today. That didn’t interest her, but the thought of flying never left her as she was growing up and going about her life. One day she picked up Patty Wagstaff’s book and read it several times and was inspired to finally do something about the dream she had for so many years. Patty’s huge success proved that women could fly and fly well. Patty Wagstaff has been a huge influence on Jacquie and her drive to fly and to her delight, they have become friends over the years. She was an adult when she started flying and has been flying formally for about 24 accident-free years. She started ground school one night and two weeks later she was in a plane taking lessons. It is an expensive passion, as we all know, but she persisted. Once she got “her wings” so to speak, she started flying competition and became accomplished in that and then she decided to go into air show flying. She worked with Wayne Handley and her first show was at a winery in Salinas Valley, California in 2003. She has done that show every year since.
Jacquie flies a 1986 factory built Pitts. It is a very special plane, as there were only three built at the time and given the same eagle paint job: one red, one white and one blue. Jacquie flies the Red Eagle. They were built to fly around the Statue of Liberty on July 4, 1986 when the refurbishment was completed and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty standing tall in the New York Harbor.
The Pitts is a partial fabric plane and they are required to have a fabric strength test annually. The fabric used in 1986 wasn’t as strong as the fabric used now and in 1993, the Red Eagle was recovered and repainted. The eagle on the sheet metal cowling was repainted in December 2008 by Nick “Dutch” Ward, former crew chief for the Strike Eagle Demo Team out of Seymour-Johnson AFB in North Carolina. After 22 years and 1600 hours it was getting a bit worn. If you haven’t seen this airplane, you are missing out on one of the nicest and most patriotic paint jobs you will ever see.