May 2008 New Release DVD "In Their Own Words"
.........this is a story of passage. And it is the story of a place.. a place where a departing generation entrusts its cultural legacy to those who will carry on. A place where they tell - in some cases for the last time - what it was really like. The stories are as countless, yet as distinctive, as snowflakes. For just a little while longer we can hear them directly from the mouths of those who wrote them. We can hear many of them here.. in a forum called
"Warbirds in Review."
 David Hartman says: :.... "I smiled, I teared up, I laughed, I recalled history and friends and people lost whom I never met.. The writing is beautiful... on point, thoughtful, simple, clear, moving".
Click here for detail page     -   -    -   -  Click here for order page         

12-7-2007 We are pleased to offer the latest book from Paul Bowen's "Air to Air" collection.  The latest is
"Mustangs & Corsairs" - - - - arguably two favorite World War II vintage craft.... (hot off the press, arriving this week.)  For those of you who know the work of Paul Bowen, you know that you are in for a treat when viewing his fantastic photography.  For you "Mustang & Corsair" fans, great book! 
Click here to go to order page

October 2007 Gunther Rall invited "Sleeping Dog TV Productions" to his home in Germany to film his "story".  Ed & Connie were guest in Gunther's home for the week.
of Bavaria and the friendships while preserving history.  Visit www.sleepingdogtv.com they will have sample footage and more stories about the trip on their website in the near future.  They now have "hours" of High Definition tape on Gunther's life, that will be included in a TV special.  A special thank you to Gunther Rall for opening his home and telling his story - and to Kurt Braatz for his assistance during our visit to Germany.  Dr. Braatz is the author of the book about Gunther's life which is a very important recording of history....and enjoyable to read. 
 "My Log Book" - Gunther Rall

September 2007  Gathering of Mustangs & Legends 
This is event was an overwhelming success.  Visit the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends official website or www.airshowbuzz.com for details.  We were fortunate enough to participate flying two Mustangs.  "Miss Marilyn" and "Gentleman Jim".  Congratulations to all of the Mustang Owners, pilots and crew chiefs who made the trip with 84 P-51's.  The organizers, the legends and the hundreds of volunteers made this happen, but a special THANK YOU to all of the Owners for maintaining these "treasures" of our history and making them available for others to see. 

August 2007 EAA Oshkosh "Airventure" 2007 was a great event this year.  We were fortunate to enjoy the "Warbird" events with many friends who attended.  Special Guest for the "Warbirds in Review" presentations were C.E. "Bud" Anderson, Gunther Rall, Shorty Rankin, Joe Engle, Bob Hoover, Don Lopez, Dutch Van Kirk, Sen George McGovern, Col Gail Halvorsen, just to name a few.  David Hartman hosted a Friday evening program featuring the "Fighter Pilots" ... what great stories.   A special thanks to all of the participants who made this years event, one to remember. 

Gunther Rall was such a hit that all of the available copies of his book "My Log Book" were sold.   If you missed purchasing your copy at Oshkosh, you can find a signed copy of
My Log Book on this site by doing a search for Gunther Rall.

January 2007 Wings to Adventure !
The show aired on January 30^th and February 3^rd titled
“Living History”. Featured Bud Anderson, Tex Hill and Bob Hoover. 
We are proud of our friends, Jon Tennyson and Scott Guyette, with “Sleeping Dog Productions”.   They have produced a series of shows for the Outdoor Channel. “Living History” is a tribute to Bud, Tex and Bob with interviews from “Warbirds in Review” Oshkosh, Airventure as well as historical footage.  Jon and Scott spent a week here with us in October shooting footage that will be featured in several shows. 

May 2006.....  The T-6 is home! 
July - August 2005 mentions our visit to the restoration shop where our T-6 was being rebuilt by the gentleman who purchased it from the insurance company after it was "totaled" and sold at auction.  Well, sometimes you never know how things will develop.  The chain of events led to our purchase of the airplane in May.  This is a picture of our "Old" - "New" T-6G headed home and a picture on our ramp! 
Welcome Home....Good to have it back! 
 

July & August 2005  Most of our time in July and August was taken up with the annual visit to Oshkosh for the  "Airventure" Fly-in -  Airshow - Convention.  It is always great fun to attend this event to see our many Aviation friends.  After Oshkosh, we attended the Yankee Air Force fly-in where there were eight B-17's in attendance.  They all flew together.  What a great sound.  Congratulations to the Yankee Air Force on a great show.  It was successful for their fund raising efforts to replace their museum building which burned last year.  After Detroit, we made a trip that included a stop to see the progress on the restoration of the T-6 that we owned for over 20 years.  It was damaged when a "friend" ran off the runway during landing in 2003, but will fly again soon... Congratulations to the new owner and restorer who is doing a really nice job of the restoration.
       
NTSB Report of Accident
Probable Cause         Factual , Probable Cause

September 2005   September was a very busy month, full of fun trips and exciting flying - visiting with friends and family.  Bicycle trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains and flying the "Liberty Belle" B-17 were the highlights. 
We flew the B-17 by the World War II Memorial and then had it on display at the Smithsonian, Udvar Hazy Facility at Dulles. After talking with every agency in Washington "several" times and filling out a lot of forms, we were given permission to fly by the World War II Memorial.  It was a beautiful day as we flew East at 500 feet following the Potomac River, then turned to parallel Independence Avenue, between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials.  Members of the 390th Bomb Group from World War II were enjoying a visit to the Memorial when they looked up to see a B-17 fly by that is painted just as theirs was in World War II.  Congressman Sam Graves was on board with us for the memorable flight.  Thanks to he and his staff for their assistance in making a great memory for the veterans and for us.  Thanks to the Smithsonian staff for their wonderful hospitality and for inviting us to visit their facility.  They are only allowed access from the airport to the museum four times each year, so we were very pleased be one of those.  For the remainder of the week, we were hosted by "NextFlight" at Manassas airport---a special thanks to Owen Williams, FBO Manager for their hospitality  www.nextflightjets.com 
Visit the Liberty Belle website www.Libertyfoundation.org to see their schedule. 
 

The Potomac, the Washington and Lincoln Memorials as seen viewing past our prop blade. 
We did not fly by just once, we turned around and came back...
while FAA Air Traffic Control stopped All Flight Operations at Reagan National Airport. 

July 8, 2005 We meet the greatest people in Aviation.  Today, Ruth Richter Holden left Griffin, Georgia in her newly acquired Lockheed 12A.  She says that the airplane found her... Her Dad flew this airplane in the 40's when it belonged to TWA...he was one of the founders of Transcontinental Western Airlines...later name change to TWA.  She remembers riding in this airplane as a child.  She is now an instrument rated pilot.  Her friend, Curt "Rocky" Walters came to Georgia with her to fly the airplane back to California.  Bob McSwiggan, who is well known around the country for his DC-3 knowledge, is flying back with them to give them the necessary time in the aircraft and the instructor "sign off".  All the best to Ruth and Rocky...they'll have a great time in this classic aircraft paying tribute to her Dad.   This beautiful picture of the Lockheed was taken by Brian Silcox:  

July 2005 We continue to add items to our inventory that we hope to have displayed on our website very soon.   Some of the items that we have added are "Old Crow" T-shirts, cloth belts depicting Warbird Aircraft, a P-40 mouse pad signed by Tex Hill, 1/72 scale models with signatures, and a nice profile print of the P-51 "Old Crow" signed by Bud Anderson.

The Liberty Foundation B-17 recently received an FAA exemption allowing the Foundation to offer flights in the aircraft.  We had a great trip to Gatlinburg / Sevierville TN last week (June 25th) where we were hosted by Neal and Rhonda Melton at the Tennessee Aviation Museum.  There were a lot of happy people who rode with us in the B-17.  You can check out the Liberty Belle schedule at www.Libertyfoundation.org
Learn about 2005 EAA "Airventure" by visiting www.warbirds-eaa.org

December 7, 2004   We had a great time visiting with Tex Hill this week at his home in San Antonio.  While we were there, we were invited to another friends ranch to help eliminate the wild game that is a menace on his ranch.  We could not imagine quite what it would be like hunting from a helicopter.  It was great fun thanks to the generosity of our friend and a talented Helicopter pilot, Yates Parsons who put us right where we needed to be to get a good shot!  We continue to enjoy great friendships and great adventures with our friends....we are very fortunate and Thankful! 
We wish all of you great friendships and fun with family and friends !

December 8, 2004 Congratulations to the Liberty Foundation.  Don Brooks and Ray Fowler on the first flight of the Liberty Bell B-17.  They successfully completed the first flight on December 8, 2004, after an extensive restoration.  The B-17 begins touring the country in 2005.  Check out their progress at:  

August 3, 2004 -  Oshkosh "Airventure 2004" This year's EAA convention was another great event! 
 
Photo by: Connie Bowlin Our friend, Jack Roush had both of his P-51s at "Airventure".  Col C.E. "Bud" Anderson flew the "Old Crow"
 Jack & Ed flew  for the "Warbird" show before Jack had to go racing.  When he left  for the weekend Ed & Connie flew them for the next three days....  The above photo was taken on an early morning flight when Nathan Davis gave a ride to Congressman Sam Graves who is an aviation enthusiast, pilot and a true asset to the Aviation Community.  
Ed is flying "Old Crow" and Connie was flying "Glamorous Glen III".  The camera was behind the seat of "Glamorous Glen III" and luckily within reach when the light was so perfect for a picture.    Some really great moments are just meant to be shared!!!!  Thanks Jack for the opportunity to continue flying the P-51s and especially the friendship.
We also thank our good friends Wiley Sanders and Kenny Campbell for the fun of flying the DC-3 to Oshkosh. 

Our Tribute to Aces Symposium was a great success!

Five of the most noted names in Aviation History were with us for the Aviation Autographs "Tribute to Aces" Symposium.
We want to extend special thanks to Aces
C.E. “Bud” Anderson, David Lee “Tex” Hill, Robin Olds, Günther Rall and Chuck Yeager, who attended our Aces Symposium!  Click here for Details and highlights.

March 2004:  We just added a wonderful book "Letters Home 1944-1945",written by: Bee Haydu.  Bee was a WASP during WWII and this is her story about the WASP as told through her letters home that her Mother saved.  You'll find that it is great reading and a great telling of the history of the WASP.  Signed by: Bee Haydu  

February 2004: Great Photo Shoot with Jack Roush to 35,000 ft in the Two P-51's.  Read about this on the Home page Contrail Page

January 2004:  We have Tex Hill's new book "Tex Hill, Flying Tiger", signed by Tex.  At the young age of 87, Tex continues to travel around the country and still loves to "hog" hunt in Texas or any other kind of hunting.  You'll enjoy his book.  He is a great friend and a truly a Great American!

October 2003: Now available the Günther Rall Biography, 2nd edition by Jill Amadio....Günther is a great friend and a delightful person who has served his country with honor.  We are very pleased that Günther's story has now been told and that we are able to offer it to you.  
The book is autographed by Günther Rall.  Click on picture for more information!  Gunther visited with us for 10 days in October...wish we could relate the wonderful warmth and interesting stories that we enjoyed.

See you at Sun N Fun April 14th 2004!

April 2003: We enjoyed taking the DC-3/C-47 to the Sun N Fun Airshow in Florida.  The airplane belongs to our friends Kenny Campbell & Wiley Sanders.  This photo was taken by Jennifer Henley as we made a formation pass with the lead C-47 being flown by Aubrey Hair owned by Cavannaugh Museum in Addsion, Texas. 

April 24th, 2003 Good News.....Ray is home! He stayed in touch via email, and we had no idea that he was  sending other messages while he was gone!!!!  Think you'll enjoy this picture.....

 

May  2003: Ray Fowler, Picture of Ray while serving his country flying the F-16 for a while!  We're glad that he is back home!  Our thanks to Ray for all of his help with our website!