Four small acrobatic planes flew in formation over Lawrence Municipal Airport on Sunday afternoon, discharged smoke and then one by one peeled off in different directions before landing.

Aboard a red, RV 6A two-seater was Tennessee National Guard Capt. Pat Stuber, a Lawrence native who recently returned from 12 months of duty in Iraq. His dad, Al Stuber, a pilot and Navy veteran, taxied the plane toward a crowd of about 30 people waiting to welcome them.

“This is splendid,” Pat Stuber said moments later, after climbing out of the plane and being greeted by cheers and hugs from friends and family members.

“It’s going to take some getting used to,” he continued. “It’s going to be a lot more relaxed.”

Just before the plane landed, Pat Stuber’s mother, Gayle Stuber, stood anxiously waiting and scanning the skies.

“You can’t beat this,” she said. “We’re very, very happy.”

Capt. Pat Stuber, a 1998 KU ROTC graduate, right, is greeted by his mother, Gayle Stuber, Lawrence, after Stuber and his father, Al Stuber, left, flew into the Lawrence airport Sunday from Memphis, Tenn. Pat Stuber recently completed his second tour in Iraq.

Pat Stuber spent 12 months in Iraq with an armored combat unit. He returned to the United States in early October. His parents visited him in Tennessee a couple of weekends ago. This weekend, Al Stuber flew to Tennessee to get his son and fly him to Lawrence for a short visit.

Al Stuber arranged to have three friends who also are pilots fly their planes in formation with him upon returning to Lawrence. They conducted their own “missing man” formation over the airport, in honor of the veterans who won’t be returning home from Iraq.

It all made Al Stuber even more thankful for his son’s safe return.

“”It’s a relief,” Al Stuber said, noting that his son’s unit took casualties, including some who were killed. “Everybody sees the news. They are killing people over there all the time. We’re just very happy that he’s unscathed.”

Pat Stuber spent much of his duty in the city of Khanaquin, about 250 miles northeast of Baghdad. He described that area as “stabilizing at a very quick pace.”

“The Iraqi police, they are becoming more professional,” he said. “The Iraqi army in our area could operate independently and they did.”

Pat Stuber, 35, served in Iraq in 1990-91 during the first war and he also has served a peacekeeping tour in Bosnia. His wife, Susan, on Sunday remained at their home in Memphis, awaiting the birth of twins in about three weeks.

“Everything has just kind of hit real fast,” Pat Stuber said. “There’s a lot going on but it will be a change of pace.”

The Stubers and their entourage enjoyed refreshments in an airport hangar before going home.

“We’re going to put our feet up and relax,” Gayle Stuber said. “He’s done his duty, and he’s done it well.”