Wounded vets and terminal children on plane flights
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HURON — Wounded veterans and children with a terminal illness are flying high above Las Vegas thanks to a nonprofit corporation its president calls Wings For Heroes.
Sean Donnelly is a retired police lieutenant who is married to Huron native and physical therapy physician Tina Baum.
“I wanted to do this for the individuals and families that have given so much of themselves or have gone through so much,” Donnelly said. “I wanted to say thanks for the military service or the heartache you have endured during tough times.”
Baum’s father, Dan, of Huron, was in Las Vegas for the Mecum vehicle auction when an opportunity arose for him to get a ride on Donnelly’s jet fighter, an L-39 Albatros. Made in Czechoslovakia, it is used primarily as a training aircraft. Donnelly purchased his jet about two and a half years ago.
“It’s still flown to this day in different countries around the world,” he said, including Syria, Hungary, the Ukraine and Thailand.
One of the pilots who flies wounded veterans and ill children is Fred “Spanky” Clifton, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.
When he had Donnelly’s father-in-law back on the ground, Clifton told Donnelly that Baum had done well on the flight.
“They did quite a few aerobatic maneuvers,” Donnelly said. “He (Baum) did them all, which is really quite remarkable. Spanky said ‘wow,’ and that he was impressed.”
Donnelly, a native of Cheyenne, Wyo., spent 26 years with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, retiring as a watch commander.
Photos:
Dan Baum and his daughter, Tina, are shown with the L-39 Albatros fighter jet that her husband, Sean Donnelly owns and uses to fly wounded veterans and terminally ill children over Las Vegas.
Next is Sean Donnelly.
Photos contributed