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thedrifter
04-18-09, 06:26 AM
Marine major flies home for Beale Air Show


By Laura Brown
Staff Writer,

Young boys ran to their windows looking skyward Thursday evening as Marine Corps pilot Maj. Mike Manifor made a thunderous return home flying a Cobra Attack helicopter over house rooftops in western Nevada County.

Locals can visit with Manifor and the helicopter he pilots at the Beale Air Force Base Open House and Air Show from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Sunday.

Maj. Manifor, 33, is the son of Richard and Armida Manifor of Nevada City and a 1993 graduate of Nevada Union. This was the first time he flew over his hometown piloting a military helicopter.

“It looks much smaller from the air,” Manifor said. “What was neat was flying over my parents’ and brother’s house and seeing them outside waving.”

Manifor remembers going to the Beale Air Show as a boy. This is the first year he has attended as a Marine and been allowed to fly “cross country” in the Cobra.

“This is the first time daddy’s given me the keys to the car,” he mused.

The Cobra helicopter is typically armed for combat with missiles, rockets and a 20 mm Gatling gun. It is the front-line attack helicopter used in operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

Two other Marine attack helicopters, the AH-1Z and the UH-1Y Huey, will also be on display at the air show.

Both Mike Manifor and his older brother, Brian, are majors in the Marines, a rank that sets them apart from other active servicemen and women from Nevada County.

Mike Manifor has been a Marine for 15 years and is a flight instructor at Camp Pendleton in northern San Diego County. He lives in Oceanside with his wife Elin and two young daughters, Emily and Lindsey.

Growing up in the 1980’s as a fan of “Top Gun,” Manifor long held a fascination with airplanes and an interest in military history spurred on by his father, a Navy Vietnam War veteran. Shortly after high school, he joined the Marines.

“I had that early of a focus that I wanted to be a Marine pilot,” he said.

Being a Marine has taken Manifor around the globe to places like Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and Spain. Combat called Manifor three times to Iraq, where he served in 2003, 2005 and 2006. He provided overhead air support to ground troops.

“It was full-blown war,” Manifor said of his first deployment in 2003 when ground forces were moving at a fast pace to Baghdad. The countryside of Iraq was heavily militarized and “target rich.”

As a helicopter pilot, Manifor served as the eyes for the “grunts” on the ground, controlled other aircraft that dropped bombs, helped with casualty evacuation and escorted choppers filled with wounded Marines.

“There’s nothing better to hear than the sound of roto-blades because you know someone’s got your back,” Manifor said.

Three years ago he began training other Marines “the envelope” of piloting a helicopter just a few hundred feet above the ground or near a mountainside without making a fatal mistake.

“I’ve had many friends killed,” Manifor said, well aware of the risks associated with the career he has chosen. “I think about it daily.”

Yet despite the danger, Manifor couldn’t be happier with his life right now, overseeing 20 other Marines and flying every day.

“I’m living my dream job, I really am,” he said.

To contact Staff Writer Laura Brown, e-mail lbrown@theunion.com or call 477-4231.

Ellie