photos and words by Sean Rayford

People gather around a T-6 Texan (Harvard), a WWII-era advanced trainer aircraft, on Saturday morning at Eagle Aviation in West Columbia, SC. All photos made Saturday, August 16, 2025 in West Columbia.

“I actually started crying when I had to get out of the plane. Just kidding. Anyway — not kidding,” said Katherine McCaleb on Saturday morning after a flight in a Boeing-Stearnman Model 75, the primary training aircraft for the United State Air Force during World War II.

McCaleb has had here eyes on the sky since she was a child. She wanted to be an airline stewardess. Working as a contact programmer, she had chances to fly for work some — but she says those days are long gone.

So when McCaleb learned about the Fly For Foundations event — plane rides in one of two vintage WWII era airplanes at Eagle Aviation in West Columbia, SC — in exchange for a charity donation, she jumped at the chance.

Taking her into the clouds on the blue bodied yellow winged biplane — was Rick Mantei, a stock broker and retired Lt. Colonel from the South South Carolina Air National Guard. A Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal recipient, Mantei flew 35 combat missions during the Gulf War.

As the event organizer, Mantei has been working with charity organizations for more than 20 years and also uses these events to build relationships with clients and ROTC cadets.

“Last year I flew like 105 cadets, and they all signed up. We got a pretty good damn track record. We take them up. They get excited, and they go, ‘listen, let's sign up,” said Mantei, “We need somebody to run the military for the next 40 years, you know, and these kids are okay.”

Mckenzie Wannamaker also flew in the Model 75 with Mantei. She planned to move her things into the East Quad at the University of South Carolina on Saturday morning, but the plane ride got in the way.

“It's so much fun because he'll have me grab clouds, so I will reach my hand out and grab a cloud, which is amazing. But it feels so nice, to be kind of — just free”

Charity organizations participating in Saturday’s event included Sole Stepping, Food Share South Carolina, Carolina Wildlife Care Center, Final Victory Animal Shelter, Home Works of America and Midlands Orphan Relief.