Fearless
like
The stearman
Michiel Gooijer has always been drawn to things with a past. Not antiques, but tools, engines, objects that once had a purpose and now wait for someone to give them a new one.
Machines like this weren’t built to be pretty, they were built to teach
Michiel Gooijer
The Stearman 75 caught his attention for that exact reason. As the primary trainer from the 1930s and ’40s, it prepared thousands of pilots for their first flights, their first mistakes, their first real sense of courage. It reminds you that ambition starts small. You don’t leap into greatness. You learn into it. That thought shaped the restoration as much as the mechanics.
Courage doesn’t always look like risk,
Sometimes it looks like consistency
Bringing the old trainer back.
Restoring a Stearman isn’t glamorous. It’s careful work. Sanding, patching fabric, aligning struts, adjusting control cables that once saved young pilots from their own inexperience. Every part has a memory. You handle it with patience.
Progress came slowly. Some days he felt like he was putting more time into the plane than into himself. But the Stearman had taught so many others how to keep going; so Michiel figured it deserved the same patience in return.
What Michiel admired most about the aircraft wasn’t its age, but its character. The Stearman wasn’t fast, sleek or revolutionary. It was sturdy. Honest. Predictable. A trainer that brought men into a sky they weren’t sure they belonged in, and helped them believe they did.
Progress came slowly. Some days he felt like he was putting more time into the plane than into himself. But the Stearman had taught so many others how to keep going; so Michiel figured it deserved the same patience in return.
What Michiel admired most about the aircraft wasn’t its age, but its character. The Stearman wasn’t fast, sleek or revolutionary. It was sturdy. Honest. Predictable. A trainer that brought men into a sky they weren’t sure they belonged in, and helped them believe they did.
Forever learning.
When Michiel first approached the aircraft, its age was obvious. Fabric worn thin, wooden ribs tired, metal fittings dulled by decades of stillness. None of it discouraged him. If a machine carried so many people through their first take-off, you don’t give up on it easily.
He respected the Stearman’s history: built tough, deliberately simple, intentionally forgiving. A plane designed not to impress, but to instruct.
He respected the Stearman’s history: built tough, deliberately simple, intentionally forgiving. A plane designed not to impress, but to instruct.
I don’t need clothing to change who I am,
I just need it not to quit on me
Finally airborne again.
When the engine finally roared to life and the aircraft lifted from the runway, it wasn’t dramatic. It was steady. Exactly how the old trainer was meant to fly. No show, no heroics, just a machine doing what it was built to do, and doing it well again. In that moment, the Stearman’s history and Michiel’s work met in a way that felt right. A past restored. A purpose renewed.
Michiel isn’t driven by big statements. He’s driven by the quiet discipline of doing things well and seeing them through. It’s this steady kind of ambition; the kind that builds, repairs, and moves forward. He lives a life built on purpose, not noise.
Michiel isn’t driven by big statements. He’s driven by the quiet discipline of doing things well and seeing them through. It’s this steady kind of ambition; the kind that builds, repairs, and moves forward. He lives a life built on purpose, not noise.
Driven by persistence.
Michiel values things that make sense. Clothes included. Wearing United Icons felt natural to him: pieces crafted with the same principles the Stearman was built on; durability, clarity, and a quiet kind of confidence.
The garments move with his day. They’re not delicate. They don’t ask for attention. They simply do their job. Something Michiel appreciates deeply.
The garments move with his day. They’re not delicate. They don’t ask for attention. They simply do their job. Something Michiel appreciates deeply.
