Ken Kalstad of Santa Fe Top Gun Adventures
Ken Kalstad’s father Henry, the only child of Norwegian immigrant parents, began training as a Naval Aviation cadet in June, 1942, six months after the Pearl Harbor attack. He had declined a U.S. Military Academy appointment, opting for a path that would allow him to fill a meaningful role in the war effort, rather than sit it out in the classroom. After earning his navy wings in February, 1943, Henry Kalstad joined the Atlantic based VPB-52 PBY Catalina Squadron bound for the Pacific, and duty as one the famous “stealth” Blackcat Squadrons. In late November, 1943, on his first night combat patrol near the Solomon Islands, his crew tracked down an enemy heavy cruiser on which, as co-pilot and bombardier, Henry unloaded a string of 1000lb bombs. The weapons found their mark and inflicted severe damage to the hostile combatant, but during re-attack the stealth PBY nearly lost the opportunity to tell its heroic story. Struck by in excess of 100 rounds of enemy anti-aircraft fire, and with severed flight control cables, only well managed differential engine power allowed the crippled aircraft to sustain flight throughout the night and to return to base for a safe dawn landing. During his Naval Aviation career, Ken’s father flew many great naval aircraft, and trained in the venerable advanced navy trainer known as the SNJ.
Ken Kalstad reported to the U.S Naval Academy in 1968 with the dream of a Naval Aviation career of his own. He graduated in 1972 and served aboard a destroyer before entering flight training. Ken earned his navy wings in 1974 and was immediately selected for duty as a flight instructor, followed by a myriad of diverse and challenging aviation assignments.
In his naval career, Ken achieved over 600 carrier landings on several carriers and nearly 4000 hours in tactical and training jet aircraft, including the T-2, TA-4J, A-4KU(Kuwait), A-7 Corsair II, and F/A-18 Hornet. In the competitive arena of naval aviation, he was consistently recognized for weapons delivery excellence and culminated his final carrier operations as “Top Hook” for best carrier landing performance from among the approximately seventy five pilots in the USS Saratoga air-wing.
After leaving active naval service, Ken had a stint as the Naval Science Instructor at Santa Fe High School before heading to Palmdale, California to join Lockheed Martin (Skunkworks) as a flight instructor and system evaluation pilot on a tactical aircraft program. Since returning to Santa Fe in 1998, Ken has enjoyed thousands of flight hours in FAR parts 135 and 91 piston, turbo-prop and jet operations, particularly enjoying work with the forest service, and the incredible opportunity to step back in time to fly tail wheel and antique aircraft, like the Lockheed 10E (of Amelia Earhart fame), the PBY-5A, (amphibious version of the PBY-5 seaplane flown by his father), Stearman biplane, and of course, the SNJ. Ken has over nine thousand accident/ violation free flight hours.
Ken has three siblings, a sister and two brothers, who are all professional aviators with airline careers. Ken’s sons are both USNA graduates and Naval Officers; Lt. Kendall serving in the naval reserves in Austin, TX, and Lt Kristofer aboard the USS Essex on duty in the western Pacific. Two of his siblings are Continental Airline captains, and a third an ex-navy/ex-airline pilot who is the Director of Test and Flight Operations at “Javelin”. His sons are both graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy. Of the SNJ, Ken says “its grace and magnificent handling characteristics are almost incomparable, and I can’t believe that I’m flying an aircraft that my dad flew during WWII. In it’s presence, one can’t escape the nostalgia of the war years, arguably the most fascinating period in the history of aviation. I love being able to use this incredible SNJ as a vehicle for sharing with civilians some of my own naval aviation experience in a way that was not possible when I was on active duty”.
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