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<h3>Flyovers planned at Moving Wall</h3>
<h4>Reconnaissance plane with ties to Vietnam War will be piloted over the fairgrounds by Thyra Stevenson</h4>
<p>By SANDRA L. LEE of the Tribune | Posted: Thursday, August 11, 2011 12:00 am</p>
<p><em><img alt="movingwall" src="images/stories/movingwall.jpg" height="298" width="450" /></em></p>
<p><em>Tribune/Barry Kough<br /> Pilot Thyra Stevenson and crew chief (and husband) Walter Greenham will fly their Cessna O-2A Military Skymaster over the Moving Wall today at the Nez Perce County Fairgrounds</em></p>
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<p>A small twin-engine plane that once flew reconnaissance missions over Vietnam will fly over the opening ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Moving Wall today and again Saturday at the Nez Perce County Fairgrounds.<br /> <br /> The Cessna O-2A was used between 1968 and 1971 on low-flying missions over the deltas and jungles, looking for convoys or other tasks as assigned. When the target was identified, it would lay down smoke that would guide the F-4 Phantom jets waiting overhead in to complete the mission, said Thyra Stevenson, the present owner and pilot.<br /> <br /> This one still has the bullet holes from those missions, she said. <br /> <br /> The previous owner, who bought the aircraft from a military boneyard in Arizona, wanted one that had flown in specific areas of Vietnam and that still had battle damage, she said. This one came with all the military records of its flight dates.<br /> <br /> It has all the original avionics used for surveillance, and simulated bombs, miniguns and rockets that would have been on board 40-plus years ago. <br /> <br /> The previous owner restored it and flew it at the dedication of a memorial in Sheboygan, Wis., to the Hmong people who fought on the side of the United States in Vietnam. <br /> <br /> The same kind of aircraft was featured in the 1988 movie, "Bat 21," about a downed pilot in Vietnam, Stevenson said. It starred Gene Hackman, Danny Glover and Jerry Reed.<br /> <br /> After the airplane's Vietnam service, it was used by the FBI for 10 years flying drug interdiction out of Point Mugu Naval Air Station in Southern California before being retired and finally released for civilian life, Stevenson said. <br /> <br /> She and her husband, Walter Greenham, bought it about two years ago. Since bringing it to the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport, Stevenson said she has been approached by an employee of the Idaho Transportation Department Aeronautics Division and a man fueling his plane en route to a fishing trip in Alaska, both saying they believed they had flown it in Vietnam. <br /> <br /> Stevenson, a Lewiston city councilor, said she was a military contractor during those years, based at Torrejon Air Base near Madrid. <br /> <br /> Stevenson, with Greenham as spotter, will fly over the 7 p.m. ceremonies today and Saturday, and do another pass sometime Friday afternoon. They plan to fly out of the northeast at about 1,000 feet, she said. <br /> <br /> Lee may be contacted at <a href="mailto:slee@lmtribune.com">slee@lmtribune.com</a> or (208) 848-2266.</p>
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