This retired rescue helicopter and hot rod Mustang are a tribute to a US Air Force mechanic

When Senior Airman Logan Staib wasn’t turning wrenches on a helicopter for the US Air Force, he was usually elbow-deep working on his Mustang.

The lifelong mechanic often raced the various cars he fixed up at a local drag strip, taking life one quarter-mile at a time.

But tragedy struck in 2023, when the young airman was killed in a motorcycle accident in Okinawa, Japan.

His father, David Staib, honored his memory by bringing together Logan’s final two projects: a 1986 Ford Mustang and a retired HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter.

VISIT SBX CARS – View live supercar auctions powered by Supercar Blondie

Logan’s love for machines started young.

At 12, he was already helping his dad, David Staib, rebuild a 1964 Ford Falcon.

From there, it snowballed to four-wheelers, dirt bikes, Jeeps, and even a Corvette, which he tore down by himself as a teen.

If it had an engine, Logan could fix it.

He joined the Air Force in 2019, and getting a maintenance job was like a dream come true for him.

Stationed at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, Logan became a crew chief in the 41st Rescue Generation Squadron, working on the Air Force’s rescue helicopters.

According to his teammates, he was one of the most skilled technicians around, but he also had a great sense of humor.

Logan would race on weekends, sometimes visiting his mother in Charleston to race on local tracks, where he would occasionally blow the motors.

In 2020, David gave Logan the perfect Christmas present: a motor for the 1986 Mustang the two had found in Tallahassee for $2,800. Almost as good a find as the first Mustang ever made, found in a barn.

Logan had grand plans for the Mustang, such as swapping the transmission from an automatic to a stick, and adding a blower.

However, these plans had to wait, as in 2022, he received orders to Okinawa, Japan.

Logan bought a motorcycle in Okinawa, and would send his parents the pictures he took as he drove along the Pacific coastline.

On May 30, 2023, the young man was involved in an accident while riding his bike, and passed away.

It was a shock to all his family members, and everyone honored his memory in their own way.

David, however, knew what he had to do.

Upon hearing of his son’s passing, he immediately sold his own drag car, vowing that Logan’s Mustang would be the last drag car he would ever own.

He got to work restoring the beast, aiming to push the machine to a 5.5-second quarter mile.

In March 2025, he drove the Mustang to Moody Air Force Base, where he parked it next to a helicopter with the tail number 26356.

This helicopter was once maintained by Logan, and he personally signed as its last crew chief before it was decommissioned.

Seeing his son’s name written in Sharpie on the side of the helicopter’s cabin, David signed his own right next to it, as a touching farewell to his son.

Today, the helicopter sits on static display in Moody’s air park, with Logan’s name freshly painted on its side.

Both the Mustang and the helicopter serve as living memorials to Logan, but David is not done with the car.

“I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me,” he said. “But it’ll sit in my garage. Untouchable.”

DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie