YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz. - Countless youngsters dream of becoming a professional football player or a military jet fighter pilot. Few achieve either, which puts U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground's Richard Smith in elite company.
As a pilot supporting the post's Military Freefall School, Smith has notched more than half of his well over 10,000 career flight hours in his nearly 15 years at YPG, flying as many as 21 lifts in a single day.
"I fly in direct support of the Freefall School and I couldn't ask for a better mission," Smith said. "They are an awesome bunch. Their spirit and morale never changes, and their enthusiasm is infectious. They are always up."
But Smith had plenty of excitement in his life prior to joining the YPG workforce in 2001. A native of Downers Grove, Ill., Smith's excellence as an offensive guard on his high school team earned him a football scholarship to Southern Illinois University (SIU), which also happened to have a well-regarded aviation program. Though he had only flown in an airplane once in his life, Smith thought it would be fun to take a three credit flight instruction class as an elective toward his degree in physical education. He was shocked to find himself in a Cessna 150 with a flight instructor the very day he signed up. Intensely nervous, the plane made a slight dip in an air pocket and the 270 pound football player instinctively seized the door handle in a tight grip.
"The instructor looked and told me, 'Relax! Planes are designed to fly, not crash,'" he recalled with a laugh. "That made a lot of sense, and by and large it's true."
Despite the rocky start, Smith was quickly hooked on flying, but focused the bulk of his attention elsewhere.
"Flying was a sideline," Smith said. "My main ambition was to be a professional football player."
The promising young offensive guard was redshirted to extend his eligibility, and spent five grueling years training and playing for the SIU Salukis. By the time he was invited to the Pittsburgh Steelers' training camp in 1972, he had endured broken fingers and a broken knee, as well as a broken foot on three separate occasions. When he reported to camp in Latrobe, Pa., he found himself on a team under legendary coach Chuck Noll that was on the cusp of becoming one of the most dominant in National Football League history. Present were future hall of famers Franco Harris, Joe Greene, Mel Blount, Jack Ham, and the exuberant quarterback Terry Bradshaw. Smith recalls sitting on a training table getting his ankles taped when Bradshaw walked by.
"He's everything you see on TV," Smith said with a smile. "He said, 'Hi, rookie! Welcome to the Pittsburgh Steelers!' and tore off some tape and a big hunk of my leg hair with it."
Like the rest of the team, Bradshaw was all business on the field, however.
"In camp we ran wind sprints and Hanratty and Bradshaw would throw passes," Smith said. "I must have been 65 yards downfield from him, but Bradshaw hit me with a pass that stung my hands. He was an excellent, excellent quarterback."
Smith held his own in camp, but near the close he suffered another broken foot. This one required surgery and a bone graft to repair, which ended the ambition he had pursued since adolescence.
"I got cut right after picture day," Smith recalled. "After all those years playing, one day the coach calls you into his office and says you're done. It ends that quickly."
Worse, his backup plan of using his flying experience to join the Air Force was impeded by a significant reduction in force that took place after the Vietnam War. He considered becoming a bush pilot in Alaska, but lacked start-up capital to get his venture off the ground. He completed his student teaching for his degree and attempted to join the Navy, but found the branch reluctant to accept him because of his age. It was at this point that he received a life-changing phone call from a Marine Corps recruiter.
"He called my home and asked if I wanted to fly with them," Smith said. "I said, 'You guys have airplanes?'"
He quickly learned that they did. During his career, Smith flew virtually every contemporary fighter aircraft in the inventory of the American military. He graduated from the famed 'Top Gun' Navy Fighter Weapons School, and became an instructor in both weapons and air combat tactics. He served several stints at Marine Corps Air Station-Yuma, with his last post before retirement being that installation's executive officer. Though the job was more office-centered than Smith preferred, he simultaneously served as a pilot in the base's aggressor squadron, which simulates enemy aircraft in realistic training.
"I was still flying three missions a day in an F5 at 50 years old," Smith said. "It was a hoot."
Smith has never had an accident in his lengthy career, though he has had a few close shaves. A student pilot once collided with his plane near MCAS-Yuma, but he managed to land safely. Aircraft carrier qualifications in foggy weather off the coast of California saw him experience a tail hook skip while attempting to land, the loss of all his instruments while circling for another attempt and incorrect directional information from an air traffic controller before landing on an auxiliary airfield on San Clemente Island with a dangerously low fuel tank.
"The radar intercept officer in back was clearing the cockpit and getting ready to eject," Smith said. "When we landed, the fuel gauge showed 200 pounds left, and the F4's gauge was only accurate within 400 pounds."
Smith retired from the Marine Corps as a lieutenant colonel at age 50. He had no definite plans, but knew that flying would be part of whatever he did next.
"Flying is like a drug," Smith said. "When I'm not doing it, I'm miserable."
He acquired a rating for a 737 passenger jet in preparation for a career as a commercial pilot, but found the airlines reluctant to consider him because of his age. He settled for a job as a private pilot.
"I flew the rich and famous around in a Beechjet," Smith said. "Some were extremely nice and some were extremely difficult."
His passengers included baseball hall of famer Reggie Jackson, professional golfer Fred Couples and television personality Martha Stewart. But Smith found the job tedious, especially when it took him away from his family for days at a time.
"I spent more time in hotel rooms watching snow come down than anything else," Smith said. "That's why I quit. I wasn't flying enough."
An opportune pilot's slot at YPG gave Smith all the flight time he craved. Though the Casa propeller plane he currently uses to ferry elite parachutists lacks the performance characteristics of the fighter jets he flew while in uniform, Smith says flying is rewarding no matter what kind of aircraft he's in.
"The Casa is different, but it isn't a let-down-- you are still flying," he said. "I enjoy turboprop planes, and the Casa reliably serves the mission."
Smith sees retirement on the distant horizon and assumes he will quit flying for good whenever that day comes. Surprisingly, the veteran pilot has never owned a plane of his own and has no plans to buy one. Nor does he intend to take up aerial activities like parachuting.
"The free fallers frequently invite me to jump with them," Smith said with a smile. "I tell them, 'I ain't jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.' I've never had to and I never will."
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