An SnF23 Favorite: The Stearman Storyteller

A young Dutch boy looked on, rapt with amazement, as a T-6 pilot flew an aerobatic routine during an airshow long lost to time and obscurity.

Up and around the T-6 flew, climbing and diving, rolling and pirouetting, its engine’s unbroken song rising and falling in a chorus of snarling and shrieking that resonated in the lad’s ears, imagination, and viscera.

The T-6 landed and its pilot clambered out its cockpit to a coda of hot-engine pings and down-spinning gyros. Mustering his resolve, the boy approached the aviator—hand outstretched, a thousand questions on his lips—only to be brusquely brushed aside and left to watch the pilot stride away amongst a crush of adult admirers.

The young Dutch boy choked back his humiliation, anger, and disappointment, caching the bitter emotions, harnessing their fire and forging therein a dream that saw him progress from student pilot to CFI, from CFI to commuter airline pilot, and from commuter airline pilot to a 28-year cockpit career with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

“I still remember that day,” states 62-year-old Hans Nordsiek. “At that time, I said to myself, ‘something is wrong in his house, and if I will be in his position sometime in my life, I’ll promise I will talk to that child. About ten to 15 years ago, I stepped out of my Stearman at an air show, and there were the children—bingo! Here was my angel reminding me I have to keep my promise.”

In the years since that angel’s manifestation, Mr. Nordsiek has cultivated a persona beloved of airshow goers and aviation enthusiasts worldwide—a persona known as the Stearman Storyteller.

As the Stearman Storyteller, Mr. Nordsiek interacts with young people for purpose of inspiring them to achieve their dreams—aviation-related or otherwise. Hans’s guiding ethos reflects and is loosely based upon that of “The Little Prince,” the character created by Antoine de Saint-Exupery who famously set forth: “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. … All grown-ups were once children…but only a few of them remember it.”

Mr. Nordsiek describes his Stearman Storyteller presentation thus: “It’s a bit of a strange mix what I do. I’m acting, I’m storytelling, but I’m not like a regular theater actor playing somebody else. I’m pretty good now at playing myself. We’ve traveled through Europe, we’ve done many slapstick-like shows, and it’s also clowning around with a little bit of magic here and there. Really, it’s entertainment with a message: Become who you are. I tell the children, ‘you have to do what’s inside your heart and give full power to your God-given talents.’”

The aircraft around which Mr. Nordsiek builds his performances is a 1943 Boeing Stearman, registration N9912H, the fuselage of which is adorned with a stylized rendition of a tuxedo-and-top hat-wearing crow deriving of the vintage advertising icon of Kentucky’s Old Crow whisky. It is from this image that the aircraft takes its Old Crow sobriquet.

Starting life as a Boeing N2S-3 Kaydet, the aircraft known today as N9912H was delivered to the United States Navy in 1943. The aircraft was stationed at a U.S. Naval Training facility and, until 1946, helped train hundreds upon hundreds of fledgling U.S. and Canadian WWII pilots. In 1947, the Kaydet was retired from military service, registered as a civilian aircraft, converted to a crop duster, and flown as such until 1968. Thereafter, the plane was converted back to a two-place configuration and utilized as a scenic-flight platform until it was purchased by Mr. Nordsiek.

Years would pass before Hans received an email from a California man with an interesting story to tell.

“He said in the late 1970s when he [the California man] was 15, the Stearman’s [then] owner gave him some paint and told him to do something funny with the airplane. So he painted the Old Crow on it,” Mr. Nordsiek recounted. “My theater entrepreneurship in Europe began around that same time, and now the airplane is like a magnet for people, especially young people, who have all kinds of questions about the Old Crow. So I started telling stories and answering questions, and that’s how my theater has evolved.”

Mr. Nordsiek continued: “This airplane has a name and a personality; it’s a character. So I took it into another realm from flying because I found the tools to connect with people more in the world of theater than in the world of aviation.”

In 2006, N9912H underwent a ground-up restoration by Antwerp, Belgium’s Raymond’s Aircraft Restoration.

“I bought the engine from Pete Jones at Air Repair,” Mr. Nordsiek explained. “I had already started my theater and traveling through Europe with a lot of equipment, and I needed more power to get off small airports. So I made the big jump and had a 275-horsepower Jacobs with a Hamilton Standard 2B20 controllable pitch propeller installed. That really makes a difference in takeoff and climb.”

Notwithstanding the Stearman’s extensive restoration and modernization, Mr. Nordsiek faithfully maintained the Old Crow theme, adding only the following statement to N9912H’s updated livery: The Old Crow is dedicated to people of all times and nations who strive for world peace.

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