Michael Rutledge
President

Michael is a Galesburg, IL native and has been at the President of the Stearman Restorers Association since 2016 and the Secretary for years prior. He recently retired in 2019 from a 30-year military career as a Navy SEAL and Army special operations helicopter pilot. Mike’s first flight was at age 5, off the grass at Galesburg in the very Stearman he now owns. Coincidentally, that Stearman (“Navy 404”) is also the co-founding Stearman of the National Stearman Fly-In. He also owns a J-3 Cub, a Cessna 195, and the last known flying, R-1340 powered Stearman still in crop duster configuration. Michael now resides in Casa Grande, AZ with his wife. He is an active crop duster and owns an aerial application operation and Single Engine Air Tanker business flying on fires throughout the U.S.

Brett Anderson
Vice President

Brett’s grandfather, a P-47 pilot in WWII, taught him how to fly at a very young age. He soloed on his 16^th birthday on a small grass field in an Aeronca Champ.  His father introduced him to Stearmans in 2008 and he has never looked back. The National Stearman Fly-in is one of Brett’s favorite times of the year – it’s always great to see old friends and meet new people with similar interests.

Flying the Stearman has motived Brett to pursue a career in aviation. He works for Delta Air Lines as an Airbus A320 First Officer. While he was continuing along with his aviation career, he received a degree in supply chain management that will prove to be useful for the administrative side of the SRA.

Brett resides in La Crosse, WI with his wife.

Brian Rosenstein
Secretary / Membership Director

According to his mother, Brian's first word was actually “plane”. At the age of 13, Brian attended an airshow called The Flying Circus in Bealeton Virginia, a weekly barnstorming style airshow. He went back every Sunday for a year until they hired him onto the ground crew. He then began his flying lessons in a Cub and a Stearman on the field. He soloed at 16, got his Private at 17, and began flying rides in Stearmans and Cubs at the Flying Circus after attaining his Commercial at 18 years old. 

Brian lives in Charlotte, NC with his teenage son and Great Dane, and flies the Airbus A319/320/321 for American Airlines. He owns a 1943 Stearman N2S-5 and is a current flight instructor and enjoys helping new Stearman owners get proficient in their airplanes.

Ben McMahan
Treasurer

Ben was born and raised in Potomac, Illinois near Danville in eastern Illinois. He attended Eastern Illinois University and graduated in 1974 with a bachelors degree majoring in accounting. Upon graduation, he joined RSM US, LLP, a national CPA firm in their Peoria Illinois office. He retired from RSM as a tax partner in November 2015 after 41 years. He was located in the Galesburg office for the last 31 years. He and his wife, Mary, will soon celebrate their 47th wedding anniversary. They both love Galesburg and plan to stay there many more years.

While he was at RSM, their office prepared the IRS and Illinois tax filings for the Stearman Fly-In for many years. During that time, he worked closely with Scott Boyden. Following Scott's untimely death, he was asked to become the treasurer for the Fly-In and became part of the Fly-In board in April 2016.

Tye Hammerle
Technical Editor/Historian