(cheerful music) - [Jim] For our summer of "Living St. Louis" favorites, the only story we ever did about a knight in shining armor.

- You can move around in it quite well.

- [Jim] Custom built for a man on a mission.

America's first astronauts were the stars of the show, but it was St. Louis's McDonnel Aircraft employees that built the capsules.

And at what might have been their last reunion, we heard about the pride, the long hours, NASA was happy with the results but not about the souvenir smuggling.

- The dollar bill from-- - I wasn't in on it.

- Don't you.

(laughs) What do you mean you weren't in on it?

- [Jim] And sometimes the story means you just gotta do what you gotta do.

- I mean, okay.

(laughs) - [Narrator] Sometimes that means turning your world upside down.

It's all next from the archives of Living St. Louis.

(upbeat music) (funky music) Our first story lends itself to some introductory puns, a night to remember, he's got mail, and yeah, I used them both in 2006, when this story first aired.

As part of our "Living St. Louis summer of favorites," Anne-Marie Berger literally finds a knight in shining armor.

(upbeat music) - [Anne-Marie] You know what I've been looking for?

A knight in shining armor, a protector.

Someone to remind us that chivalry is not dead.

Hmm.

(upbeat music) Well, I don't have to look too far.

There's a real life knight living and working right here in St. Louis.

And this Knight lives by the knightly code, protecting the weak, defenseless and helpless and fights for the general welfare of all.

(upbeat music) - Now boys the way to become a knight in this country is a little different than the way you became a knight a long time ago.

But its pretty much the same, the way it goes is this-- - [Anne-Marie] Now this knight, who's real name is Karl Kindt, didn't arrive here by time travel.

He's a modern day knight, living by the ancient oath.

And according to him, if you want to become a knight, you must take this oath and swear it to God.

An oath which is about 1000 years old.

Since a knight is an armed guard, you must also have a suit of armor made to fit your body.

And thirdly, you must be dubbed a knight by those who have the power to do so.

- [Karl] Now in America, we don't have a king or queen like they did in the middle-ages.

But that's because in 1776, the American people took that power away from kings unto themselves, and they ones that can dub their own knights.

So about 10 years ago, I put a article in the news paper that said, "Karl Martin Kindt the third, a would be knight for hire, I have armor, I will travel."

And since then I've been dubbed a knight by not only five mayors and a lot of children but about, I've served about 10,000 people here in this country.

- [Anne-Marie] But what does that mean?

What service does an ancient knight in modern times offer to people of today?

Well at the beginning, even this knight wasn't so sure.

- The first call I got was from a woman who, it was an older woman, and she said, "are you the knight?"

I said yes and she said, "could you come over and help me my sink is leaking."

And I said well, "what would a knight have to do with a sink?"

She said, "well, I don't know, I didn't know what knights did today."

Which was a good question, you see.

(laughs) - [Anne-Marie] So knowing his calling wasn't to become a plumber, Karl narrowed down his knightly duties to match his armor.

- [Karl] I promote the cause of chivalry.

- [Anne-Marie] What is chivalry?

- Chivalry, simply defined means to learn what the right thing is to do and how to go about doing it.

- [Anne-Marie] I think just at important as the how he promotes chivalry, is the why.

- [Karl] The knights in history and today-- - [Anne-Marie] Karl shares his story on his website, knightforhire.com.

And while it may seem kind of funny, a grown man dressed in a suit of armor, his reasons behind it are sincere.

- [Karl] When I was a little boy, growing up I was told by my step father and my mother about my natural father, who was killed before I was born in World War II.

And a letter was presented to me that he wrote to me, he knew I was on the way, and it was addressed to the new one, since he didn't know if I'd be a boy or a girl.

And he, in that letter inspired me to in a sense to become a knight by saying he wanted me to grow up to be a person of chivalry, that he'd prayed for me, that he I would come to, you know, serve god.

- [Anne-Marie] So ten years ago, on the 50th anniversary of his father's death, Karl visited the site in Germany where he died.

And It was at his fathers grave where he became inspired.

- [Karl] I just was inspired, I think by God to try to think of a way, you know, a sort of a humorous, maybe, way as well to promote the cause of chivalry but also to seriously honor those who do defend us and our freedom.

- [Anne-Marie] And boy did he get inspired.

So inspired he had this suit of armor made for a mere $4763.17.

Is that comfortable?

- It isn't too bad.

It was made to fit my body So it... After you get used to the weight, you can move around in it quite well.

It's better if you're up on a horse like this so.

- Metal dude, are you a real knight?

Bring it on, metal dude.

- [Anne-Marie] So now lets get back to the how.

How does an ancient knight promote chivalry in today's society?

Well, kids are a good place to start.

(children applauding) These are boy scouts from the Sacred Hearts School in Fenton and tonight Karl Kindt is teaching them how to do the right thing through story telling.

- And so then he went back home and he walked down to the ocean, he looked out on those waves and he said, "I wish that watermelon that bounced up and hit me in the head and pushed my face in the mud when I was a little boy would come back now."

There are things that are right and there are things that are wrong and that there is a way to know, you know, what's right and wrong and that they can be empowered to do the right things in their lives and that that's the best way to go.

Year after year after he stood there on the beach looking for the watermelon.

The children would come up-- - [Anne-Marie] Do other people take what you do very seriously as well or do they just think of it as a joke?

- Most children do, you know, and some adults.

The mayors of five cities did, including the mayor of the city of St. Louis, so I tend to think that being serious about chivalry but in a humorous way, a lot of people believe in that, you know, and that's what I try to emphasize.

(upbeat music) - [Anne-Marie] Remember he has armor and will travel and his lessons of chivalry aren't just for kids.

You're never too old to learn how to do the right thing.

(upbeat music) - It was back in 2005, when I got a call from somebody who said, there a bunch of people who were getting together for a reunion and I might be interested and I was.

Because these were folks who made history here in St. Louis.

And as somebody who grew up in the early days of the space age, these were people I really wanted to meet.

It's a Saturday afternoon in a modest neighborhood in St. Anne.

But its not just another Saturday afternoon because just around the corner a bunch of old friends have gotten together for a reunion to talk about the good old days, when they helped make history.

(inspirational music) Everybody knew the first American astronauts.

The Mercury Seven, they called them.

Shepard, Grissom, Glen, Schirra, Slaton, Carpenter, Cooper.

But thousands of other people were involved in this.

- [Man] Okay, John.

- [Jim] When an astronaut climbed into the Mercury Capsule, he was climbing into a craft built in St. Louis by workers at McDonnell Aircraft.

And the last people the astronauts saw before blastoff were McDonnell employees, who bolted on the hatch.

That's you here, right?

- [Cal] Yeah, this is me here with my back.

Hair was a little darker.

- [Jim] Cal Moser came up from Texas for this reunion.

He had worked with the space capsules after they arrived at Cape Canaveral to prepare them for the space shots.

- [Cal] We were just doing some modification and putting some brackets on for some wiring.

And this was before John Glenn's flight.

- [Jim] McDonnell Aircraft signed the contract to build Americas first space capsules for manned flight in 1959.

And some here were part of it from the very beginning.

What were you doing when you got called into this project?

- I was working on F101 and it phased out in 1958.

And after that phased out they said, "you're gonna get transferred over to a new program."

- Originally they took us all off the airplane and they sort of skimmed off the best.

Started astronautics and then we would all work from there.

- [Jim] What were your thoughts at the time?

- I didn't think it'd work.

- [Jim] McDonnell built jet planes but space capsules had to withstand greater stresses, the blastoff, the vacuum of space, the intense heat of re-entry and the splashdown in the ocean.

McDonnell's contract was for 20 capsules.

Only seven were planned for manned flights, the others would be used for various tests including flights with chimps on board.

(inspiring music) The capsules were small, just nine feet high, six feet in diameter at the base.

Just enough room for a single astronaut who could do little more than move his head and arms.

It made it a challenge for those who built these capsules.

As worked progressed and the capsule filled with equipment and controls, only one worker at a time could get inside with progressively less room to maneuver.

(inspiring music) It was demanding work, we were trying to catch up to the Soviet Union in the space race and they would put the first man into orbit around the earth.

- We were always, always rushed, always pressed.

Long hours, good crew, you know.

And everything was being done for the first time.

- You gotta remember now back there, everything was slide rule and pencil.

- [Narrator] And then came testing, more testing than had ever before been given a manned vehicle.

The first manned space craft was delivered in December 1960.

Only 23 months after the company had received the contract.

- [Jim] Those involved remembered the demanding deadlines and the long hours but they also remember the teamwork, the dedication, the problem solving.

They were pioneers.

No one had been here before, no one could tell them how to do it.

And I imagine every space program built on what you guys did.

- Yes, and we kind of had a saying that is was the model T of the space world.

- [Cal] Back then you didn't have all the red tape that you you had to go through 15,000 signatures to get something done.

And we did it, you know, it was all done like that.

Well, you can't... Later on in the programs you couldn't do it like that because they got too involved (mystical music) - [Narrator] It was February 20th 1962 that John H Glenn entered his space craft-- - [Jim] Something else they couldn't do after those first few space flights was hide souvenirs inside the space capsule, not after they got caught.

The ground crew would stash dollar bills before blast off, they'd be signed by crew members and astronauts and framed, verified as having orbited the earth.

- Signed by John Glenn.

- Yeah.

- [Jim] NASA officials were none too happy when they found out.

- [Cal] Yeah, all right, it was a scandal.

Remember that?

The guys coming down and investigating the dollar bills-- - [Joe] I wasn't in.

I wasn't in on it.

- Don't you.

(laughs) What do you mean you weren't in on it?

He is the one, Joe is the one that logged all of the-- - [Jim] That's Joe Trammell on the right.

He hosted this reunion.

His memories of those important and exciting times are slipping away.

He's in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and he wanted to see his old friends while he still remembered them.

His wife Ruth made all the arrangements.

- Go ahead.

- I really appreciate you people coming out for this and being with us.

The best group in the world and all of you, God bless you.

- [Woman] We love you, Joe.

(people applauding) - [Jim] It's been a long time since the first days of the space program.

They remember the good things now and mostly laugh at the bad.

They're proud of what they did and proud of how well they did it.

- I had so much faith that we built it, it was gonna work and that's what I went on, you know, we just instead of saying, "oh boy, I worry about this and worry about that," we knew when it was ready to launch, that the spacecraft was ready to go.

Because everybody had done their job.

- And I know that the way it was put together and the way the mission worked out, there was more went into it then just a wage that you were earning here in the plant.

Your hearts went into it as ours did down to keep too.

- [Jim] John Glenn, the American to orbit the earth and later U.S. senator was invited to the reunion but sent his regrets.

In a hand written note to Joe Trammel he wrote, "they were great days none of us will ever forget.

It was a great team we were all part of and we did a good job for this country."

- And I can imagine no action, no adventure which is more essential and more exciting than to be involved in the most important and significant adventure that any man has been able to participate in, in the history of the world and it's going to take place in this decade.

And I congratulate you on what you have done and I congratulate you on being part of this adventure, thank you.

(people cheering) - I'm just thankful I was part of it now.

Even though I was kind of apprehensive when I first started.

But now, the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life.

(inspiring music) - Joe was the catalyst that brought us all back together.

A lot of us have died, we have members that are 91, they just couldn't make it.

And most of us have one illness or another but it put us back together probably for the last time.

(inspiring music) - Finally a story about something that's fun to watch but you're probably never gonna have a chance to actually do and even if you did, you might turn it down.

This story is from our first season of "Living St. Louis" in 2004, Anne-Marie Berger accepted the offer or maybe she was just given the assignment.

(upbeat rock music) ♪ Revving up your engine ♪ Listen to her howling roar ♪ Metal under tension ♪ Begging you to touch and go ♪ Highway to the danger zone ♪ Ride into the danger zone (rock music) - When I was a kid, my parents brought us down to the riverfront every fourth of July to participate in the celebration.

And I remember even then watching the airshow as the planes were dipping and dropping and spinning, and thinking to myself, "who in their right mind would ever fly in one of those planes?"

You'd have to be crazy.

Well, call me crazy.

You know, everything seems like a good idea when it's a week away which is why I agreed to take a ride in the Red baron in the first place.

But as the future turned into the present, my good idea turned into a little bit of panic.

There are two Red baron planes, I will be flying in one and my cameraman, Scott would be flying right next to me in the other one.

- Hey, Scottie.

- How you doing?

Nice to meet you.

- You're already sweating.

(Anne-Marie and Scott laugh) Not nervous, are you?

- [Anne-Marie] I thought that taking a moment to get to know my pilot, you know the man that'll be flying the plane upside down, might ease my nerves a little bit.

Despite my best efforts to hide it, he knew I was in agony and he loved every minute of it.

Okay well, since I'm getting up in this plane with you, tell me your background.

What's your experience here?

- My background?

Like crashes and stuff like that?

- No, oh God.

Why do people keep talking about crashes?

- No, I've been flying for about 18 years.

So I've been flying a long, long time.

I started when I was 16 years old, so I've been around these airplanes for quite long time.

- So you're a good pilot?

- I am a good pilot.

I think I am.

We're gonna find out though, aren't we?

- Are these planes supposed to do flips in the air?

- No, they really...

They weren't designed for it, we've actually modified-- - Oh no, that's not what I thought you were gonna say.

(Anne-Marie and Pilot laughs) Okay, so before we get on, you're a good pilot and is there anything I need to know before we go on there?

- Don't get sick.

(Anne-Marie and Pilot laugh) - Okay.

- [Pilot] Now we'll do a formation loop.

We'll start with that.

- Okay.

- [Pilot] And then we'll wave off Travis.

And they'll pull out, go that way.

We will do like a couple maneuvers, whatever you wanna do.

We can do some stuff straight up, straight down, whatever.

- Okay.

- It's real simple.

- Okay.

- [Pilot] It's fun though.

You ready to go?

- I'm ready.

- All right.

Well, let's-- - Okay.

So as I concentrated on not throwing up, we got ready of our flight of aerobatics and I instantly fell into the role of the Red Baroness.

Oh, there really is a pair of shoe?

- Yes, there is.

- Oh, my God.

- This is the part where everybody freaks out.

- Oh, I thought you were kidding.

- No, I wasn't.

There's one part, there's the other part.

- Oh my God.

- There you go.

First of all, you're gonna take this strap, bring it across the front and we're gonna snap it in right there.

- [Anne-Marie] Now if I wanna use my parachute, do I have to remove the seatbelt?

- [Pilot] You do.

- Oh, that's a lot of work.

(Pilot laughs) - [Pilot] You're right, it is.

That's what we're gonna talk about next, is the safety brief.

We got it printed right here if we should have to bail out.

I say bail out three times, okay?

If that happened, the first thing you do, is you take your headset off.

Use the chin strap with a snap or snap it.

Take the headset off.

The second thing you do, you take your seat belts off and that's looking at lever up right there.

- And that'll take everything off-- - That'll loose the pedals, yep.

- Okay.

- And the third thing is jump out of the airplane and the fourth thing is called the deer in that's-- - You are kidding me, okay.

- That's it.

That's that one right there.

That's how you-- - Okay, okay, let's go over.

Bail out, bail out, bail out.

- Yep.

- Headset.

- Yep.

- Pull off the seatbelt, jump out of the plane and pull this button.

- That's right.

You got it.

- I mean...

Okay.

(pilot laughs) Oh my God.

- Anne-Marie, I'm gonna have you grab this headset, just lower that down over your ears, before that its okay.

Yeah, tuck the hair in.

That feel okay?

- Yeah.

- Now you can't hear anything?

- What?

- [Pilot] You doing good.

You doing really good.

- What?

- Your microphone stays right there and then your goggles are right here.

You can lower those down just before take off, okay.

- Okay.

- All right, you're all set.

- Um, thanks.

(plane engine revving) At that point, there was no turning back.

Because unstrapping myself wasn't worth the effort.

- [Pilot] Ground, Red Baron 722 fit coast to be a part to the South and returning, we'd like to go to the arch and then proceed South.

- [Ground Control] Red Baron seven and five, roger.

Back (indistinct) one, two, right.

- [Pilot] One, two, right, Red Baron seven.

- [Anne-Marie] And we were off.

(upbeat rock music) ♪ Revving up your engine ♪ Listen to her howling roar The Red Baron pilots fly in formations less than a wing span apart.

And thankfully, undergo annual training and safety programs.

These aircraft are fully restored historic Boeing Stearman bi-planes built between 1941 and 1943.

♪ Ride into the danger zone (upbeat rock music) ♪ Heading into twilight ♪ Spreading out her wings tonight ♪ ♪ She got you jumping off the deck ♪ ♪ Shoving into overdrive ♪ Highway to the danger zone ♪ I'll take you right into the danger zone ♪ ♪ You'll never say hello to you ♪ ♪ Until you get it on the red line overload ♪ ♪ You'll never know what you can do ♪ ♪ Until you get it up as high as you can go ♪ (rock music) Oh my God.

(voice gets muffled by plane engine noise) ♪ Highway to the danger zone ♪ Gonna take it right into the danger zone ♪ ♪ Highway to the danger zone ♪ Ride into the danger zone (plane engine revving) (Anne-Marie cheering) That was awesome.

Yeah.

Piece of cake.

That was crazy.

That was so crazy.

- All right, she made it.

- That was great, thank you.

- You're sure welcome.

- I can' believe you're afraid of the arch.

(pilot laughs) - [Pilot] Don't tell anybody that.

- He's afraid of the arch.

My experience as the Red Baroness is one I will never forget.

But I will leave the barnstorming up to the professionals from now on.

But I want my jumpsuit.

I still think you got to be crazy for going up in one of those things.

♪ Ride into the danger zone (upbeat rock music) ♪ Heading into twilight ♪ Spreading out her wings tonight ♪ ♪ She got you jumping off the deck ♪ ♪ Shoving into overdrive ♪ Highway to the danger zone - And that's "Living St. Louis, stories from the archives."

Thanks for joining us.

I am Jim Kirchherr and we'll see you next time.

(upbeat jazz music) - [Female Narrator] "Living St. Louis" is made possible by the support of the Betsy & Thomas Patterson Foundation, the Mary Ranken Jordan and Ettie A. Jordan Charitable Trust and by the members of Nine PBS.

(jazz music)