Commemorative Air Force Museum

In December I wrote of my father in law's WW2 experience and used a couple of photos from my visit to the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Museum in Mesa AZ.  Last week I returned to the museum accompanied by Ed Bearss and two members of our Scottsdale Civil War Roundtable.  I wrote of my last experience with Ed in Bearss & Stripes Forever.  As the new Program Chair for the Roundtable I'm responsible for booking monthly speakers, arranging logistics, and managing their appearance at our Roundtable, one of the largest in the U.S. with normally between 125 and 275 attendees.

Ed has been coming every January for the last twenty years, speaking on Tuesday nights, and then on Wednesday seeing a museum or other attraction he's never visited before.  Even at the age of 95 he remains intellectually curious and seeks out new experiences.  This past week our tour guide at the museum was Dennis Fennessey, who leads the CAF. 

The CAF was founded in 1953 in Texas and consisted for a few years as a motley collection of historical aircraft.  The group's original name was an inside joke, the Confederate Air Force (the name was changed in 2002).  During the 1960s the members realized that historical, particularly WW2 aircraft were not being preserved and made it a mission to do so.  Today the CAF consists of 175 aircraft at 71 bases across America, with the Mesa outfit being one of the largest.

Visiting is a wonderful experience.  There is a museum section with aircraft on exhibit ranging from WW1 biplanes to F-4's and Mig 21's, along with many displays explaining the history of the American air force.  The Museum also has a lecture series and we were fortunate to listen to one during our visit - on the origin of the DC-3, the most famous plane in aviation history and a tale I wrote about several years ago (see TWA Flight 599).  You can also tour the maintenance hanger and walk among the aircraft as they are being worked on.  The Mesa museum has a B-25 and its star attraction a B-17 which flies passengers on short rides much of the year, but was in the hanger when we visited. 

Don't miss it!  Some photos below starting with the B-17 landing when I visited in December.