By Danielle Haynes The Tonawanda News The Tonawanda News Sun Sep 04, 2011, 02:00 AM EDT
NIAGARA FALLS — North Tonawanda will welcome back one of its own when Col. Steve Brodfuehrer, who lives in North Carolina these days, accompanies an MV-22B, or Osprey, to Niagara Falls for the Thunder of Niagara Air Show.
The event, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sept. 11, will host roughly 100 mostly military aircraft in both static and performance displays. The Osprey will be one of the planes lined up on the tarmac at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station available for viewing while the colonel and his crew are on hand to answer questions.
“It’s a family event,” said John Cooper, chairman of the air show and vice chairman of the Niagara Military Affairs Council. “The reason behind doing this type of thing, from a military perspective, is to let people know what is out there, what our military does and the professionalism that they show each day. Also from a recruitment perspective, many young people who grew up around air shows chose the military as a career.”
Brodfuehrer graduated from North Tonawanda High School in 1982, left town for college at RPI in Troy and because of his career in the Marines, he hasn’t looked back. Sure, he’s been back home to visit for special occasions and holidays, but since his parents moved to Florida, he doesn’t often get the opportunity to come back to his hometown.
Which is why this summertime visit is one he’s especially looking forward to.
“For all the great benefits of being down south, the weather in the wintertime and the great springs and falls, I so miss the beautiful low-humidity nature of summers in Western New York,” Brodfuehrer said. “You miss going down to the river with the wind blowing and 75-degree temperatures.”
Brodfuerhrer fondly remembers days of heading down to Old Man River on River Road to enjoy ice cream and says he plans on hitting up Ted’s Hot Dogs on Sheridan Drive while he’s in town — he doesn’t often get the chance to enjoy a Sahleen’s hot dog in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
“Whenever someone visits from Buffalo they always make sure to bring me a package of Sahleen’s,” he laughed, mentioning that he has a 5-pound package sitting in his freezer at the moment.
While Brodfuerhrer might be a bit of an expert on what makes a good hot dog, his real specialty lies in testing aircraft for the military. He’s the commanding officer of the Marine Tilt Rotor Test and Evaluation Squadron, meaning he leads a group of guys who fly and test the Osprey, the aircraft he’s bringing to Niagara Falls next weekend.
The Osprey is the big deal in the military these days, something between a helicopter and a more traditional airplane. The aircraft can take off and land using very little space like a helicopter, but has the ability to travel as fast as an airplane, close to 300 mph as opposed to the 200 mph a helicopter can get to.
“If you think about what’s going on in Afghanistan, we can take off in a forward operating base, go a couple hundred miles and land in the middle of a field like a helicopter. (We can then) pick up a wounded soldier and quickly go a couple hundred miles in under a hour and get (a better) level of care and that’s saving marines’ and soldiers’ lives in some cases,” Brodfuerhrer said.
“We’re certainly proud that this marine has come home,” Cooper said. “Certainly proud to know that someone from North Tonawanda has gone on to that mission.”
For more information on the Thunder Over Niagara air show, visit www.thunderoverniagara.com.
Contact features editor Danielle Haynes at 693-1000, ext. 116.
Copyright 2011 Tonawanda News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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