Glen Strandberg
Staff Writer

A quick glance at Tom Doherty’s obituary provides a perfect example of someone who led a full life.

An Air Force Veteran of 40 years, the 89-year-old Doherty, “began serving in 1937 with the 109th Observation Squadron at Holman Field” in St. Paul. That alone is 70 remarkable years for a man who died peacefully at his Forest Lake home on Thursday, July 5, 2007.

Doherty had been ailing for a few months, so in what turned out to be his final flight, Doherty was taken along for a ride in his old Biplane on June 17, 2007 by longtime friends Rick Ashbach and Don Shipp.

Ashbach said Doherty was more of a passenger rather than actually piloting the airplane, but Doherty was in his element and full of grins.

“His hand was on the throttle,” Ashbach shared.

Flying lessons, History lessons

Before 1937, Doherty was a young man, growing up in St. Paul, whose interest in flying would lead him to working at Holman Field, and then taking flying lessons.

As a member of the Air Force, Doherty would go on to serve his country during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

During the China-Burma-India Campaign of World War II, Doherty learned to fly some of the earliest helicopters of the Air Force.

In Minnesota history, Doherty was the second state resident to be licensed to fly a helicopter. The first person was Charles Lindbergh, the world famous aviator.

In one obituary, it stated: “In 1943 he was chosen to work in secret Project Nine, described as a dangerous mission in which there was a slim chance of return.”

Doherty was one of 25 men selected for the project.

After Project Nine, Doherty was one of just 10 men who were picked to form the Second Air Commandos.

At this time, Doherty was awarded the Air Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross.

From the early 1960s up until 1998, Doherty, his wife Kay, and her son Dan, operated Forest Lake Airport.

It was during the late 60s that a very young Ashbach met the Doherty family and this is where he found his love for flying. He says he got the “bug” from them.

“He had a lot of good lessons that he used aviation to help people around,” Ashbach said. “Those same lessons, with aviation as the theme, were lessons you could bring forward in most every other aspect of life.”

A little more than two years ago, Doherty was acknowledged on the state and national level for his contributions to aviation with the Charles E. Taylor Master Mechanic Award.

The award recognizes individuals who have logged at least 50 years in aviation maintenance as a mechanic, repairman, avionics, manager, inspector or teacher.

Ashbach mentioned how Doherty would find the humor in things, and that the old stories about war, or civilian life, or of his decades wrapped up in aviation all had some “reinforcement” to them.

“As a teenager, you know, you see things differently than you do as an adult,” Ashbach said. “Some of the words of wisdom or advice that he would give me, it didn’t ring so clear as it should have back then, but it’s ringing loud and clear now.”

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