Lt. Colonel John Brick

I wanted to Post a note about John. A number of us attended his service yesterday at Tahoma National Cemetery as we said our good byes. John was a natural teacher as he helped all of us build better airplanes, and fly safely. John taught me both RV construction when I was starting my 9A, then later taught me formation flying so I could do it safely. So many good memories that we can share.

This is how I'll always remember him, in flight lead position.



At the service we had an amazing group of RV's doing a flyover. It was perfectly timed with one pass during the flag ceremony followed by the missing man at the end of the playing of taps. It could not have been done better!



A1 Randy Albritton
A2 Jeff Bloomquist
A3 Marv Scott (MM Smoke)
A4 Dave Babcock (Smoke)

B1 Steve Payne
B2 Dan Miller
B3 Pete Forsyth
B4 George Ford (Smoke)

C1 Marty Foy
C2 Gary Goebel
C3 Rich Morey (Deputy Lead)
C4 Stephen Christopher (Smoke)

-=-=-
Brick, John Edward

September 26, 1940 - August 1, 2014

John was born in Minneapolis, Minn., on Sept. 26, 1940, to Mary Lou (Leonhard) and John Howard Brick. He grew up in Askeaton, Wis. He was the oldest of nine children. He died in his home on Aug. 1, at the age of 73 with family members at his side. At age 16, he began flight lessons which would soon develop into his life-long career and passion.

He graduated from Parks Aeronautical College as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force. After graduating he met Pat. They were happily married for 52 years.

John served a 28 year career in the Air Force, accumulating 6,000 hours of flying time in a variety of aircraft such as T-37, T-33, T-38, F-100, 01-E, OV-10, A-7D and the A-10. He earned the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit among other medals. He retired as a Lt. Colonel in 1990.

In his retirement he built his own airplane (RV4) and flew whenever he got the chance. He said that his wife Pat was the best passenger he could ever ask for! They flew across the country many times visiting family and friends. He was an active member of the EAA, editor for his local chapter newsletter for 15 years and also worked with the Young Eagles. He made many great friends at Pierce County Airport Thun Field.

Brick was a great guy

Andy, thanks for posting this. John Brick was a great guy. I too had the pleasure of flying on his wing many times. He was a real gentleman. I will miss him! It was an honor for me to participate in a MM flyover for him. I am happy that we looked good for him.

Dan Miller
RV-8 N3TU
Battle Ground, WA

Godspeed Brick. Won?t ever forget the flight time with you in the ?4? across the U.S. in support of the ?40? RV flyover at OSH.

Break

Thank you to all that participated in that flyover.

Brick

Wow, thanks for posting this. Did not know him, wish I had.

I vividly remember being in extended trail maneuvering behind John's red tail rv-4 thinking... I need to build a better plane for this that's when I started thinking about swapping my 9A for an 8!

I didn't know John nearly as long as a lot of these guys but I can say he was a real role model for not only what a pilot can become, but also what a man can become. I had such a great time flying with him and learning about formation the last couple of years.

I was honored to be a part of his formation yesterday!

Slightly spaced out 4-4-4 over Lake Tapps about halfway to the cemetery.


Our first pass over during the Honor Guard flag portion.

Him, him. From one 20+ year USAF Vet to another, rest in peace sir.

Ridin' with the King

We're really going to miss John. For a form lead, he always had a smooth stick and was a joy to fly with.

I put this together a couple years ago, lots of video with John in the white/red tail RV-4 - the title now seems somewhat appropriate:

http://vimeo.com/14578089

I will really miss having John around. He was a great pilot, builder, mentor and friend. You could always count on John for interesting facts. I swear he spent most of his day researching things on the internet. He was always eager to share what he had learned, some of it would wind up in our newsletter.

John really liked formation flying and took the lead in bringing organized formation flying to our chapter that we now call Cascade Flight. He was a believer in FFI and several of our members have attending the FFI training with John. He was a great lead and a good instructor. His shoes as lead will be hard to fill, but he left us a good example.

John was also involved with our TeenFlight Puyallup program up until his illness made his participation too difficult. He took his involvement seriously and was always prepared for the build sessions. He really enjoyed working with the kids and the kids enjoyed their time with him. When his family flew in to visit with him, he was proud to show them what the kids had accomplished.

John was very active member in our chapter. As was mentioned by Andy, he served for 15+ years as newsletter editor. A position nobody wanted, but John stepped in and filled the position and did an incredible job. John was there to help no matter what our chapter was doing. You could always count on John being there with his truck for whatever loading/moving needed to be done.

I will miss talking with John and hearing about what new things he read about. I will miss camping with him at Arlington and sitting out in the morning drinking our coffee as the rest of the campers are asleep. I will miss learning formation flying with him and just marveling at how he could hold a position.

I'm sure he's already forming a formation group with the angels.

John was one of those quiet, naturally gifted pilots. Anyone who came into contact with him learned something new if you just listened. He was a consummate instructor and a great friend. We all learned a lot from him...

And as far as I know, he still has the highest flying RV on record...

Tailwinds John Brick....

My Formation flying instructor, 2nd time around

Hey All,

I am a former member of EAA Chapter 326 (2000-2011) as well as it's former president from 2007-2008 (I think the years are right). During my tenure as president, John Brick was simply listed as newsletter editor. Hog wash! He was the meat and bones of the chapter. As an active Air Force pilot at McChord AFB flying the C-141 and the C-17A, I immediately took to John and his wisdom as a retired Lt Col pilot type. He was essentially my executive officer of that chapter and "he" made me look good as it's president. What a class act.

After getting my RV-8 up and flying in spring 2008, about 6 months later, John started a small formation flying clinic in our chapter. I bit with vigor. I hadn't flown formation since pilot training in 1988-1989 in the T-38. John made it feel like pilot training all over again. Formation briefs were dead serious, no messing around. We were professional even as a hobby. A passion. I got to fly one missing man four ship with John as lead and me as left wing. We had a 1230 TOT right over Spanaway Airport, Washington and as lead, he shacked it almost to the second. My GPS proved it. I was so proud that day to have a chance to feel like a team member in that formation. I slowed down and then stopped flying formation because life got in the way. But not John. He went on to get his FFI, teach other members of the chapter, and then partake in numerous big show multi-ship formations. The guy was crazy about flight.

I am blessed to have known, worked with, and flown with LtCol John Brick. He will be forever etched in my memory banks as a fellow aviator. God Speed John Brick and please save me a spot in your hangar up there.

Oh, and a P.S. on a John Brick factoid. Some in the chapter knew about one of his flying accomplishments. Some time back in 2007-2009 he took his RV-4 with I think a IO-360 on a couple hour round robin flight around the Olympic Peninsula. Big deal, right? But he also managed to file the flight IFR and topped out at somewhere around 28,000 feet (FL280). He had a cool oxygen system in his -4 that he used a lot on x-countries. Somebody saw the flight on flightaware.com and saw his N number on there. So we confronted him one evening at our chapter end of month dinner and beer call. He fessed up. He said the biggest challenge of the whole thing was it was so **** cold up there that his glasses kept icing up every time he exhaled. After that, he requested lower and chopped the throttle for warmer air. What a man. We lost a real treasure on August 1, 2014.

Jeff Liebman

Remembering John Brick

Hi,

My name is Randy Albritton and I was fortunate enough to know John Brick for many years. I still vividly remember the EAA meeting that Jeff L. was presiding over when John announced that he would be conducting a basic formation training course for our chapter and would anyone be interested. About 30 hands went up, including mine. John was swamped but he methodically went through the list giving priority to those that had some experience flying formation. Finally my turn came after about a month and after the first flight with John in my back seat flying off Smitty's RV6 the hook was set. I went on to fly with John as a member of his Cascade Flight for about five years. I was with him on the last big flight that he led which was our chapter Burger Burn last year. About a week later we flew down to Van's Homecoming and participated in the formation flyover with some of the Ravens. To my knowledge that was his last formation flight as PIC.

John was a constant source of encouragement and knowledge and just dripped with leadership. He led me and several others into formation groups outside our local Cascade group and I was fortunate enough to participate in events such as the annual West Coast Ravens Madera clinic, the 50 ship formation at Phoenix this past spring, and went on to get "patched" into the Blackjacks Squadron.

When news reached us about John's passing there was no doubt in my mind that we needed to give him a first class MM flyover and that it had to be led by his beloved Cascade flight crew. Marv Scott and I "drew straws" to decide who would lead and who would do the pull. I had the honor of losing the draw and became flight lead. Our twelve ship was composed of 3 flights each representing pilots from Cascade, Ravens, and Blackjack formation groups. My heartfelt thanks to those that flew it and made us all look good for John's sake.

Godspeed John Brick

Madera Formation Clinic

a few years ago is where I first met John. He was in a 4-ship I was leading. While briefing and learning each others call sign and flight experience, I looked at John and asked, "Sir, what's your call sign?" In a stern voice, John replied, "Brick." I said this should be interesting, how did you get the call sign Brick? That's when I learned Brick was his name -- we had a good laugh. We had many conversations about formation flying and the number of people he had trained. I enjoyed talking and flying with Brick. He will be missed.

Rest in peace my friend,

BeeGee

It was an honor to fly with John. Team, humble, inquisitive, kind, thoughtful, are just a few words that come to mind when I think of John. We miss him.