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How eighth-grader Carter Vincent helps history come alive at the Combat Air Museum

Rafael Garcia, Topeka Capital-Journal
·4 min read
Carter Vincent stands in front of his favorite plane, a Douglas C-47D Skytrain named "Kilroy" at the Combat Air Museum last week. Carter has been giving tours at the museum as he pursues his interest in the vintage aircrafts.
Carter Vincent stands in front of his favorite plane, a Douglas C-47D Skytrain named "Kilroy" at the Combat Air Museum last week. Carter has been giving tours at the museum as he pursues his interest in the vintage aircrafts.

Carter Vincent's life has been a series of tours.

For as long as he can remember, Vincent, an eighth-grader at Shawnee Heights Middle School, has had a passion for learning, especially about science and history. When he was in second grade, he sent a letter off to the CEO of the then-named Wester Energy Co., who invited him for a personal tour of the Jeffrey Energy Center.

Later, when Vincent began reading extensively about the F-22 airplane, he sent off another letter, this one to the manufacturer Lockheed Martin. That letter also ended up in a tour of the company's Fort Worth production facility, where the successor F-35 is designed and manufactured.

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It kicked off a love of airplanes that has now translated to additional tours, but with Carter as the guide.

Carter, 13, is the youngest of a cadre of volunteers who guide visitors through about 90 minutes of planes and aviation history at the Combat Air Museum at Forbes Field. An avid and lifelong visitor to the museum, he started giving tours earlier this year.

Stairs up to the cockpit of a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21PF Fishbed D aircraft allows those in Boy Scout Troop 1 to get up close and personal with the Cold War era fighter plane housed within the Combat Air Museum last week.
Stairs up to the cockpit of a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21PF Fishbed D aircraft allows those in Boy Scout Troop 1 to get up close and personal with the Cold War era fighter plane housed within the Combat Air Museum last week.

"I’d gone out (to the Combat Air Museum) periodically over the years with my family, and I’ve always loved walking around and seeing the airplanes, so when I heard that they needed volunteers, I jumped at the chance," Vincent said.

Carter — who also keeps busy as a Life Scout working on his Eagle Project — has mostly been giving tours on the weekends, although he gives the occasional weekday tour after school, particularly when it's a tour geared toward younger visitors.

"You get a lot of satisfaction from (young visitors), because you get them more and more interested. You’re basically inspiring the next generation," he said.

Teaching a group of Cub Scouts a lesson in turbine engines, Vincent Carter uses a working model at the Combat Air Museum to illustrate how the three basic parts of the engine operate.
Teaching a group of Cub Scouts a lesson in turbine engines, Vincent Carter uses a working model at the Combat Air Museum to illustrate how the three basic parts of the engine operate.

Most of Carter's tours are primarily to older visitors — people aged 55 and older and many of whom are military enthusiasts. But Carter appreciates the chance to interact and learn just as much from his visitors as he can teach them about the aircraft on display in the museum's hangars.

"It’s pretty neat, because I’m not only teaching them, but a lot of them served and have their own stories to tell not just about the aircraft in our museum but others as well," Carter said.

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Over the past year, Carter has gotten more intimately familiar with the museum's various holdings, and his favorite thing to teach visitors about is "Kilroy" — the museum's Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft, many of which flew paratroopers behind enemy lines as part of the Normandy landings.

Carter Vincent instructs a troop of Boy Scouts to sit alongside the benches inside a Sikorsky NCH-53A Sea Stallion helicopter at the Combat Air Museum last week as he gives details to a story featuring the very helicopter in action during the 1960s and 70's.
Carter Vincent instructs a troop of Boy Scouts to sit alongside the benches inside a Sikorsky NCH-53A Sea Stallion helicopter at the Combat Air Museum last week as he gives details to a story featuring the very helicopter in action during the 1960s and 70's.

Carter has also developed a deep appreciation for the communications and public speaking skills he's developing as a tour guide, especially in tailoring his tours to all age and interest levels. He hopes to one day study aeronautical engineering, possibly at Wichita State University, and later on work at Lockheed Martin's renowned, if secretive, Skunk Works aircraft design program.

"It feels good to know I’ve done something good for my community and for these visitors, who are coming from all over the nation and even the world," Carter said.

Chuck Watson, a fellow 59-year-old tour guide, said he's been happy to see a young person like Carter take such a keen interest in aircraft.

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"He really relates to young kids," Watson said. "Some of us older guides can get really technical and long-winded sometimes, but he knows how to handle the younger people really well, and they relate to him."

From a Grumman F11F-1 Tiger Blue Angels plane, bottom middle, to a Fokker E.IV replica German WWI fighter, top left, the Combat Air Museum at Forbes Field features two hangers stocked full of unique aircraft as Vincent Carter leads a night tour through the facility last week.
From a Grumman F11F-1 Tiger Blue Angels plane, bottom middle, to a Fokker E.IV replica German WWI fighter, top left, the Combat Air Museum at Forbes Field features two hangers stocked full of unique aircraft as Vincent Carter leads a night tour through the facility last week.

"These hangers, while they might look old and rusty — they’re not full of junk," Carter said. "What Chuck has taught me to do on these tours is to include lots of stories, not only to make it interesting for the visitors but to also give them an appreciation for the value of what’s in these hangars.

"It makes them realize that this is history, coming alive in front of their eyes."

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at ‪785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Shawnee Heights' Carter Vincent guides Combat Air Museum tours