God’s Bush Pilots in Africa

God’s Bush Pilots in Africa

A new airline, inspired by Vatican II, is un1t1ng missionaries of all faiths in the most inaccessible sections of East Africa

Darkness had fallen over the lonely expanses of the Turkana Desert as the new Cessna Super Skywagon began to ease itself out of the sky.

On the ground, at the remote Catholic mission outpost of Lorogumo in northwestern Kenya, jubilant natives saw the plane’s beacon in the night. A barefoot runner with a blazing torch dashed through the darkness and suddenly a long series of little piles of kerosene-soaked thorn bushes burst into crackling flames. It was a welcome greeting for the pilot, Brother Michael Stimac of the Society of Mary, who had been watching for the lights of the mission station. Softly he set his plane and its cargo of essential supplies down on the fire-brightened runway.

Brother Mike’s visit to Lorogumo was routine. The “Lorogumo Express” is a regular flight on the Marianist Brother’s schedule. He stops there each week, dropping off an often critical cargo including water, bread, milk, meat, vegetables, blood plasma, vaccines and medicines.

The next day’s flight might take this missionary pilot into any one of half a dozen nations of East Africa, bringing the critically ill to hospitals, surveying desert terrain for possible water hole sites, or transporting Catholic and Protestant missionaries in a few hours over distances that otherwise would require days and even weeks of tedious and often dangerous travel.

Brother Mike Stimac is at once a symbol and the central figure in one of the most unusual organizations and movements of our time – UMATT, United Missionary Air Training and Transport. Directed by the Society of Mary at Nairobi, Kenya, and Dayton, Ohio, UMATT is dedicated to wiping out through personal service not only the barriers of race, but also the isolation of Catholics and Protestants from one another in the mission fields.

That isolation has been more than geographical. Yet, UMATT proposes to span the distances of geography and of history as well. In a move without precedent, UMATT is establishing a transportation network linking missionaries of all faiths in the most inaccessible sections of East Africa as partners in a war against famine, disease and destitution. In its operations, the movement reflects the philosophy and spirit of Vatican II, especially by implementing the Decree on Mission Activity of the Church which calls for collaboration with all men in improving social and economic life in developing nations.

UMATT, little more than a year old, is already a legend in Africa. The Africans see it as part of the answer to their rising expectations; the missionaries regard it as essential to their future effectiveness; bishops call for its expansion; and Pope Paul himself has given it his blessing.

At the University of Dayton, the Society of Mary is stepping up its professional flight-training program under the leadership of UMATT’s acting director, Brother Tom Dwyer.

At Mangu Boys’ School in Kenya, Brother Paul Koller is intensifying the Marianist-conducted air orientation program for African youths. Plans are being studied to put five UMATT planes in East African skies.

A dramatic breakthrough that would extend the program to Latin America and Australia is being contemplated. The vision of the Marianists includes a 5O-plane woridwide mission air force.

Desert famine sparked the airline. How has Brother Mike’s shiny red and white Skywagon stirred the hopes for the future in so short a time? The answer begins to unfold with the story of almost incredible famine and misery in the Turkana Desert several years ago.

Until late in 1961 , the desert was a politically “closed area.” Missionaries were not admitted for any purpose.

Even had they been granted entry, they would have faced an almost impossible task. The hundreds of thousands of desert people are nomads, who for uncounted years have been on the move with their goats, donkeys, camels and cattle in search of vegetation and water. With their home as wide as the desert, they live on the blood and milk of their livestock and clothe themselves in animal skins.

Failure of the 1961 “short rains” in the desert and a plague of army worms caused widespread famine and disease. The United States sent emergency food. Famine camps were opened and mission relief workers welcomed at last.

Bishop Joseph B. Houlihan, of Eldoret, Kenya, and a member of the St. Patrick’s Missionary Society, sent two priests into the desert. They found thousands of Turkana tribesmen dying and the roaming people sunk in grim despair. Vultures circled above clusters of the starving, while wild hyenas lurked nearby awaiting their chance for human prey.

By bush “telegraph” the nomads learned about the famine camps. Their plight was gradually eased as truckloads of U.S. food began to arrive after a long safari from the south over the roadless desert. Bishop Houlihan desperately appealed to Mother Mary Martin of the Medical Sisters of Mary in Ireland to send some medical Sisters.

Within a short time, three nuns arrived, the first white women ever to live in the Turkana Desert. Their convent was a tin shack in the scorching, swirling sand, amid mosquitoes, scorpions and snakes, 10 miles from water.

Supplies were essential. Automobiles in desert environment have a short life and limited utility. In one instance in Turkana two vehicles lasted but a few days. If the Sisters’ program of assistance to the tribesmen was to continue, an airplane seemed to be the only answer.

Back in the U.S., a priest in Mercer Island, Wash., heard the news of the hardships of the missionary nuns. The priest passed the word along to two airline pilots, Jerry Fay and Everett Donovan, who with the active interest of friends in Seattle, purchased a Piper Super-Cub plane for the Turkana Desert Sisters. This marked the birth of the flying missionary “Peace Corps.”

Sister Michael Therese, a Boston girl with a radiant smile and a wealth of energy and enthusiasm, became the “flying nun” of the desert, taking to the air on missions of mercy with only a little more than 40 hours of pilot time behind her. Her plane, now used for short desert flights, is integrated in the UMATT system.

Brother Mike, at this point, had already made aviation history in Kenya for his pioneer training work with African boys. In response to Bishop Houlihan’s appeal, the Marianist now entered activities in Turkana. Both Bishop Houlihan and Brother Mike were quick to see the miracles that might be wrought in the desolate desert vastness with the airplane.

Inspired by the bishop’s story of tragedy in the desert, a group of St. Louis men laid the foundation for the support of air mission service in Turkana. Following the bishop’s 1963 appeal, Joseph Fabick of the John Fabick Tractor Co. and William D. Edwards, a manufacturer’s representative, started the Turkana Desert Fund.

Meanwhile, in Dallas, an influential aviation publisher, George E. Haddaway of Flight Magazine, a director of the fund and a Protestant, spearheaded a drive to supply the medical missionaries with a workhorse plane.

“In all my 30 years of aviation publishing I’ve never found a greater need for an airplane,” Haddaway told private plane owners throughout the country. The publisher envisioned aid to the Sisters and to other missionaries as well.

In April, 1965 – just a year ago – efforts reached fruition with the purchase of a $30,000 Skywagon. On that date, Brother Tom accepted the keys to the plane in behalf of UMATT and stressed that the air mission service would be nonsectarian in its operations.

“This is a service for men of good will in all faiths, working to help those whose lives and hopes will take on new dimensions because of the miracle of the airplane,” he said.

“It means fleetness to the doctors to heal the pained; it guarantees transport of bread and milk to feed the hungry; it means dignity to the youth of emerging nations, and it gives strength to the energies of the dedicated missionaries and Peace Corps workers in the field.”

The plane, “69 Foxtrot,” was to be based in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city and busy gateway to the outside world. Brother Mike would be the first full-time pilot and administrator of the program in Africa.

The plane would link all remote missions of all faiths with one another, in addition to serving Turkana. At Turkana, where Sister Michael Therese had permanently established the value of mission aviation in the desert, the new plane would be especially welcome.

The Sister’s plane, wrote Bob Considine in a syndicated column, “has more patches than a bum’s pants.” The reason: Hyenas chew the fabric of the little Piper. The new plane would be all-metal and when placed in service the smaller craft then could become a “local” rather than an “express.”

In St. Louis, the big Cessna was prepared for its 9,000-mile trip to Nairobi. A world-famous pilot, Max Conrad, the “flying grandfather,” who has 10 children and 18 grandchildren, came from Arizona to pilot the plane to its destination.

On May 25, an interfaith dedication ceremony was held at Lambert-St. Louis Field. A specially designed UMATT flag was presented to Conrad for delivery to Brother Mike overseas. The flag, symbol of peace, showed a white dove on a blue background.

Conrad, accompanied by Marianist Brother Robert Thompson, piloted the plane to Dayton, UMATT’s home base, where another interfaith ceremony was held. Then Conrad headed for Africa, with Rome and the Vatican as one of his stopovers en route.

The Very Rev. Paul Hoffer, superior general of the Society of Mary, Conrad, and Brother Mike were granted a private audience with Pope Paul. He listened carefully to the UMATT plan, extended his blessing to those of all faiths who support it, and blessed the “dove of peace” flag.

At the end of its triumphal flight to its African home, “69 Foxtrot” was given a grand reception. On hand were members of the Protestant and Jewish communities, representatives of the Catholic bishops who then were in Rome for the Council, Bishop Houlihan in person, and civic, business and aviation leaders. After another interfaith, interracial homecoming in the bishop’s see town of Eldoret, the bishop and Brother Mike took off for the heart of the desert.

There they were greeted by Sister Michael Therese, the intrepid nun whose quiet service, played a vital role in the launching of UMATT. Her hands stained with the melting plastic from her Super Cub’s control stick, Sister delightedly examined the new plane.

The roomy plane immediately went to work, hauling cargo in and out of the desert. A medical airborne safari visited Turkana outposts with a nun-physician. Sick mothers, children needing transport for eye operations in Nairobi, and the elderly requiring special medical attention were typical passengers.

A government party was taken to Catholic and Protestant outposts to study health needs and housing. Another flight carried an official 180 miles over a dry river bed in search of water sources and irrigation opportunities. The two-hour flight saved a month of ground tracking to accomplish the same purpose. The aircraft performed beautifully despite the turbulence that buffeted the ship as it roared 50 feet
above the burning and eddying sand.

Still another typical desert assignment was a one-day sortie to complete plumbing work on facilities in an operating room of the medical Sisters. Without the flight, the job would have exhausted five days of overland travel and work, a prohibitive project.

More pleasant yet, Brother Mike eagerly accepted the task of bringing a desert worker at a Protestant mission, his wife and four children out of the bush to the capital city of Uganda where they were to begin their leave.

Into the plane went a mound of baggage, on top of which the entire family climbed. Instead of a dismal, uncomfortable ride of a full day over the scorching desert, the family made the trip in 90 minutes. Their clothing escaped the desert dust of a conventional tedious journey. The children, including one in a bassinet, completed the air trip without weariness.

In Nairobi, the Christian Council wanted to supply an African speaker for a convention three days journey toward Mozambique. Brother Mike delivered her in less than six hours.

On another occasion, five busy men climbed aboard in Nairobi for a Lutheran Synod meeting in Tanzania, arriving four hours later. On the return trip, “69 Foxtrot” dropped down to 50 feet 200 miles from Nairobi and a box of medicine was kicked out the door for a mission hospital. The hospital had radioed the Flying Doctors, who make use of UMATT schedules on every possible occasion.

Once, deep in Masaii territory, a radio nurse from the Flying Doctors got a message through to the plane that a priest had been shot and needed to be removed to Nairobi for deep surgery. The plane promptly headed for “restricted” territory and 90 minutes later the injured priest and a companion were in the aircraft.

Back in Nairobi, surgeons found that the bullet had narrowly missed the spinal cord and had perforated the intestinal tract. The damage was successfully repaired.

Supplemental fuel supplies for the UMATT plane now are maintained at numerous locations in East Africa.

Flying is not easy in East Africa. “Maps are a headache,” said Brother Mike. “They are incomplete in many ways and often one goes 150 miles between possible landmarks. You do a lot of intense staring at the horizon and must religiously watch the compass.

“One of the most useful instruments is the clock. When you run out of ETA (estimated time of arrival), you just don’t keep flying five minutes more out here. Find the strip or head for known ground. Many times the radio comes in handy. The pilot calls out the landmarks to the mission station and the station directs the plane home.”

A fascinating story. Pilot George Raymond, assistant UMATT African director in Nairobi, and his wife, Helen, both Protestants, are advancing the work of the mission air service at their headquarters in Nairobi.

The remarkable story of how they went to that part of the world, leaving behind a responsible post in an aircraft company and a comfortable California home, begins with a Christmas Eve flight in a helicopter. Raymond, with 1,500 hours of flying time, and his wife were en route to Bakersfield from Culver City when they were forced low by a fog bank.

The rotor blade failed and the copter plunged to the ground with a resounding crash.

“It ended up in a mess,” he said. “We had no business walking away from it, but we did.”

Their amazing escape from serious injury prompted them to reflect deeply on the meaning of their lives. They were certain they owed something for their good fortune and they sought repayment in service to the poor in the mission fields.

They wrote to UMATT and offered their services. Now, in Nairobi, they concede that they have never been busier or happier in their lives.

Raymond, a jolly personality with a facility for making friends easily, envisions UMATT as a world venture, stretching from the University of Dayton through Latin America, across the Atlantic through Africa, and then through India, Australia, into New Guinea and across the Pacific, forming vital “life lines” for Christian missionaries.

The immediate future, however, calls for expansion in Africa and solid support from friends of the missions everywhere. East African bishops have received a grant from the Propagation of the Faith to operate one of the UMATT planes.

The bulk of funds needed for growth, however, must come from industrial and secular philanthropic sources. A program has been initiated to secure a million and a quarter dollar endowment to support the UMATT fleet.

Private city and regional groups are forming in the U.S. to provide backing for individual planes. Following the example of the pioneering St. Louis group, supporting clubs are being activated in at least three major cities this spring.

At the University of Dayton, Brother Tom is overseeing the U.S. operations of UMATT, including training of pilots. The Society of Mary, who operate the school, has a core of 11 pilots.

In addition, he offers to all interested mission-bound personnel an aviation “ground school,” plus a few hours in the air, to enable non-pilots to handle the basic operation of a plane in an emergency. The latter program conceivably could save passengers in case the regular pilot became incapacitated through sudden illness in the air.

Part of the “back up force” for these UMATT pilots is another Society of Mary program called Front Line, a movement to supply lay missionaries. At the University of Dayton, Front Line, under the leadership of a Marianist priest, Father Philip Hoelle, conducts a mission training course throughout the school year.

Front Line also operates a settlement house in a Dayton poverty area where its members can engage actively in the apostolate to the poor. One Front Liner is Bill St. Andre, a graduate of Holy Cross college, who had flight training in the Navy. St. Andre works with Brother Tom in the UMATT headquarters at the university. He is scheduled to be the next UMATT pilot assigned to African duty.

In addition to Brother Mike, the pilot personnel in Africa includes Brother Joseph Fagan and Raymond at Nairobi, Brother Paul at Mangu and Sister Michael Therese in the Turkana Desert.

In Brother Tom’s headquarters in the basement of new and imposing Miriam Hall on the University of Dayton campus is a sign which reads: “The Grace L. Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Co.” This is the line “that goes to fields other airlines shun.” The Marianist “air force” makes jokes about the sign, but in a way it typifies the light-hearted optimism that permeates UMATT, a spirit determined to create from a modest beginning a movement with a worldwide impact.

UMATT’s pioneer effort to provide basic training in the principles of aviation is more than a Marianist recognition of the dignity and aspirations of the African. It is a practical means to assist in the development of Africa by developing African skills and talents. For it is, ultimately, the African who holds the key
to this Continent.