I brought my sprawling aviation collection this weekend to Aviation Discovery Fest (ADF) an annual event by the Commemorative Air Force located south of downtown at the Dallas Executive Airport (for you old-timers you’ll recall it as the Red Bird Airport). I don’t have a private jet. I lost the keys once and forgot where I parked it. It was towed and I never saw it again.
But anyway, when I arrived at the Commemorative Air Force Museum, I immediately felt at home! My friend Craig showed me around and introduced me to so many people. These people are the heart and soul of this organization in Dallas/Fort Worth. What I noticed as I spoke with each of them was the infectious enthusiasm for their work. There is no greater gift in life than loving what you do for a living! Don’t get me wrong. Money is also a great gift in life, and it is never too big. But loving what you do is a reward all its own.
My poor little camera couldn’t capture how fast the blades were spinning on FiFi. To the naked eye, the blades were spinning at full force, but the phone’s frame refresh rate is very slow by comparison.
For my exhibit, I was bestowed what I consider a place of honor, alongside the legendary Tuskegee Airmen exhibit in the main lobby. As a budding historian I long to curate museum-grade exhibits. But that is what exhibitionists do! <don’t let anyone tell you otherwise>
This was my very first time presenting at an aviation show and I didn’t quite know what to expect. To date, I’ve mainly worked with civil aviation and commercial airlines. The aircraft you need to remember is relatively finite and easy to get down. But the noble mission of the CAF is to educate, inspire and honor the legacy and aircraft that helped assure we are still a free country.
Knowing this event was coming, I’ve been beefing up my understanding of military aircraft, but found I was no match for even some 7-year-olds, who would point to pieces of aircraft overhead and ask questions such as, “is that from a P-19?”, “Is this from a bomber?” (Or whatever combination of letters and numbers that would be appropriate).
There is a phenomenon I learned so much about this weekend called “Nose Art.” No, it’s not a tattoo or piercing, but a painting near the front nose of a plane that served as inspiration to the pilot of that plane. The CAF has one of the most comprehensive collections of Nose Art available anywhere, thanks to a scrap dealer in Arkansas who just wanted to save it because he liked it. He didn’t realize he was creating a museum worthy collection. He was just doing what he loved.
One very young boy of about 7 pointed at the art over our heads and asked, “Why are they always women?” <deep sigh>
That’s a very complicated answer for a 7-year-old to understand. Fortunately, I’d overheard one of the staff members explaining a similar topic. So, I knelt down to get on an equal eye level with him and explained that these were created a long time ago and back then all the pilots were men. This was the art that spoke to them and kept them motivated.
I don’t recall exactly where we are in the process of allowing women in combat, and this was no time to delve into that nuance. His parents were nowhere to be seen to help either. I don’t specialize in conversations with children, but I was proud of myself, nevertheless.
The Tuskegee-Braniff Connection
So, here I am with my collection of Braniff, TWA, AA, SWA & Pan Am historic memorabilia right next to the Tuskegee Airmen. There were more than a few puzzled faces as people tried to reconcile how these black WWII aviators flew the Concorde & Braniff’s “Big Orange” 747 to London and destinations unknown.
Regardless, I had a marvelous time and learned so much about what I still need to learn. There is an entire alphabet of acronyms for which I’m not familiar involving military aircraft and tonight I’ve got more letters and numbers floating in my head than are covered in a season of Sesame Street.
Extra Special Thanks
I’d like to call out a few extra special staff members who made my visit so great! If you have the chance to meet them, tell them I said thanks!
-Craig, who helped make this a reality in the first place!
-Nathan, who gave me the lay of the land!
-Austin, gift shop manager extraordinaire, who lent me a model of a P-38 to help explain my Braniff Pilot narrative on Paul R. Morton, chief test pilot in the China, Burma, India (CBI) region, who almost lost his life when the tail end of his P-38 plane was cut off by a British Hawker “Hurricane” during a test flight. It helped me relate the harrowing story to dozens of visitors.
-Leah, who besides being amazing, introduced me to a couple that served as the historians for BOEING for some combined amount of about 800 years. I forget exactly.
Yanno, with the most amazing smile and can-do attitude helped me through a series of snags that could have derailed me exhibition.
Libby, for bringing her entire family to my exhibit to show off the fun things I had on display.
A delightful lady, whose name I cannot recall, who wanted to see all the unframed treasures in my collection. We spent a good bit of time discussing a few artifacts in my collection that were actually touched by Charles Lindbergh! #AviationGold
I had a marvelous time, and I highly recommend you attend this event next year. If history matters to you, I encourage you to add the CAF to your list of organiations you donate to. They are doing the most important work. My work is based in paper. Theirs is based in rivets and aluminum and is far more rare than anything I traffic in!