MESA – The sound of airplanes soaring into the sky echoed around Falcon Field Airport in Mesa Thursday morning. Below the spectacle, an audience of several hundred stood under a canopy of two grounded Apache attack helicopters that provided the backdrop for a 50th birthday unlike any other.
On Sept. 30, 1975, the Apache, also affectionately known as the Monster, took off for the first time, and on Thursday current and former Boeing employees gathered to commemorate that first flight. They wore matching beige T-shirts sporting the helicopter hovering, with its impressive statistics on the back to celebrate a half century of the iconic aircraft.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, U.S. Reps. Greg Stanton and Andy Biggs as well as Mesa Mayor Mark Freeman came to commemorate what employees described as “the best damn attack helicopter in the world.”…