Valley native to fly in air show

One pilot is returning home to participate in the Thunder Over The Valley air show this coming weekend.

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

WARREN — Air National Guard Lt. Col. Anthony Montecalvo patrolled the skies over a “major American city” enforcing the no-fly order for unauthorized aircraft after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Shortly after the terrorists crashed hijacked commercial airplanes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., all commercial and private airplanes were ordered on the ground.

F-16 fighter jet pilot Montecalvo, a Warren native, and three others at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, went airborne to ensure that the no-fly order was obeyed.

At the time, he was an F-16 instructor pilot stationed at Springfield Air National Guard Base, Springfield, Ohio, but flying out of Wright-Patterson because of runway construction at Springfield.

“We hoped we would not have to shoot anyone down,” Montecalvo said. “Our job was to identify planes that didn’t respond to the order to land. The only planes authorized to be airborne were military and helicopters taking people to hospitals.

“It would not have been our decision to shoot any planes down. ...That would have come from a lot higher up than us.

“When the terrorist attacks occurred, we didn’t know how long we’d be up or if there would be more attacks. We refueled in flight and returned to Wright-Patterson not long after that. We didn’t see any airplanes other than the tanker we took fuel from,” Montecalvo said.

Normally, with thousands of planes in the air, there is a lot of radio chatter.

“The airwaves were very quiet that day,” he said.

Montecalvo, assigned to the 178th Fighter Wing at Springfield, has a more peaceful mission this weekend.

He is returning to where he grew up to participate in the much-anticipated Thunder Over The Valley air show Saturday and Sunday at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna.

He will not be flying his F-16 as part of the show, but the jet will be one of the show’s many displays, and Montecalvo will be with it to talk to show visitors. Some 40 thousand spectators are expected each day of the show.

Montecalvo said he asked to be part of the air show.

“I contacted the base officials and said, ‘Hey, I grew up in Warren.’ I offered the services of two planes and they accepted,” he said.

Montecalvo, one of eight children of Carmen D. and the late Rosemary Ellis Montecalvo of Warren, graduated in 1984 from Ohio State University with a degree in aeronautical engineering and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force through OSU’s Reserve Officer Training Corps program.

He said he was “lucky enough” to be selected for pilot training at Reese AFB, Texas, and F-16 training in 1986 at Luke AFB, Ariz., and then become an F-16 instructor pilot.

Montecalvo left active duty in 1991 to join the Air Force Reserve and was stationed at Wright-Patterson, where he flew the F-16 for three years and then the C-141 transport when his squadron was converted to that plane.

He joined the Ohio Air National Guard in 1997, re-qualified in the F-16, and is an F-16 pilot trainer. The 178th is one of only three units in the Air Force that train Air Force F-16 pilots.

Additionally, in 2007, the Royal Netherlands Air Force brought a squadron of F-16s to Springfield to have its pilots trained. Montecalvo, commander of the Dutch squadron, said one of the Dutch F-16s also will be on display at the air show.

A 1980 graduate of Warren Western Reserve High School, Montecalvo had wanted to be an astronaut since grade school, his father said.

“I did some research and saw that the astronauts were all pilots and then I made that my goal as a way to become an astronaut,” Montecalvo said. The space program was cut back, however, “so from high school on I wanted to be a pilot,” he added.

“We’re very proud of Anthony,” said his father, who worked 38 years as a letter carrier for the Warren Post Office.

“He was an ‘A’ student all the time and a member of the National Honor Society at Reserve,” Carmen said. He was also a member of the school’s track team and was a yearbook photographer.

Montecalvo said he has fond memories of growing up on Stephens Street on Warren’s West Side, which he still thinks of as home and where his father lives.

He said sharing one bathroom with his siblings - three sisters, Janet and Karen Montecalvo and Valerie Toro, and four brothers Dan, Ed, Allan and Tom - was an experience.

“My sisters had to get up real early to get time in the bathroom. When we get together, we laugh about growing up in a four-bedroom, one-bathroom house. We had a lot of fun,” he said.

Montecalvo plans to do some visiting with family while he is in town and to also hit Warren’s Italian-American Heritage Festival, which is Thursday through Sunday, the same weekend as the air show.

“I think the last time I was at the festival was 1987 or 1988. I have lots of cousins in the Warren area, too. That will be fun, too,” he said.

Montecalvo has a combined 25 years on active duty and in the reserve and the air national guard and needs another 18 months to have the equivalent of 20 years of active duty, after which he can retire or stay on.

“I’m honored to have served my country in the Armed Forces for the past 25 years,” he said.

He said part of the reason he switched from active duty to the reserve and guard was so he could continue to fly.

“If I would have stayed on active duty, I would have had to take a staff desk job,” he explained.

Also, he said in the active guard and reserve you get all the benefits of active duty, but you don’t have to move all the time.

In the meantime, at the age of 47, Montecalvo is still doing what he dreamed of as a child, flying fast planes.

alcorn@vindy.com

Anthony J. Montecalvo

Some fast facts associated with Montecalvo, a Warren native, who is participating in this weekend’s Thunder Over The Valley air show at Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna.

PERSONAL

Age: 47

Residence: Cedarville, Ohio.

Hometown: Warren.

College: Ohio State University, graduated 1984 with a degree in aeronautical engineering.

High School: Warren Western Reserve, graduated 1980.

Family: Wife, Brenda; son, Andrew; daughters, Clarice and Natalie.

Parents: Carmen D. of Warren, and the late Rosemary Ellis Montecalvo.

Siblings: Three sisters, Janet and Karen Montecalvo and Valerie Toro; and four brothers, Dan, Ed, Allan and Tom.

Military

Rank: Lieutenant colonel in the Ohio Air National Guard.

1984: Commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force.

1984-85: Pilot training, Reese Air Force Base, Texas.

1986: F-16 fighter jet training, Luke AFB, Ariz.

1986-88: F-16 pilot, Torrejon Air Base, Spain.

1988-91: F-16 instructor pilot, Homestead AFB, Fla.

1991-94: F-16 instructor pilot, Air Force Reserve, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

1994-97: C-141 pilot, Air Force Reserve, Wright-Patterson.

1997-present: F-16 instructor pilot, Ohio Air National Guard, Springfield Air National Guard Base, Springfield, Ohio.

2007-present: Commander of the Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 squadron, Springfield Air National Guard Base.

Source: Anthony J. Montecalvo