The High Sky Wing

CAF CEO Steve Brown flew in from Dallas yesterday to attend the monthly HSW membership meeting, and brought us up to date on happenings at HQ.  In addition to providing several fundraising ideas, he reported that the CAF is in good financial shape and that the development of the museum in Dallas is well under way.  From the “fly-through” video Steve presented, it is apparent that this new Aviation Attraction will be much more than your average museum.  Stay tuned for more developments as they are released.

CEO Steve Brown addresses the April membership meeting.

Current CAF information provided by Steve Brown

The 2017 version of  Warbirds & Wheels wrapped up Saturday afternoon with the traditional presentation ceremony.  Media coverage was provided by both Channels 2 & 9. Trophies were hand-crafted by HSW member Randy Skinner, and  Steve Clinton acted as Master of Ceremonies. Thanks to all, including coordinator Bill Coombes, for all the hours of hard work that went into staging the event.

There were a number of competing events in the area on Saturday, and while the show wasn’t as well attended as in past years, we did manage to turn a profit thanks to sponsorship by HSW member Blake Cowart and his Village Car Wash business.  Thanks, Blake.

Jay Juarez accepts the Best in Show trophy from Channel 9 personality Jolina Okazaki.

HSW members Paul Latham and Paul “Buffy” Cooper admire the winner of “Best in Show” at the 2017 Warbirds & Wheels Car, Truck and Motorcycle Show. The 1938 Ford wrecker is owned by Jay Juarez.

Riders4Fighters, one of our fellow non-profits, holds a “wave-off” event about once per calendar quarter to honor those wounded warriors who are being treated to a weekend fishing trip by Reel Thanx.  R4F forms a cheering section, complete with flags and horses, along their route through Midland.

Among those who supported the March 10 wave-off were HSW members, Doug and Barbara Bevins, and Ralph and Carol Gillette.  Many thanks to them for their continuing support of patriotic causes in the Permian Basin.

For more information on Hops & Props see tab above or CLICK HERE.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE!

If you missed the February Wing Meeting, you lost out on a couple of opportunities.  To mix things up a little bit, Wing Leader Brent Collins asked that members bring any WWII or military artifacts with them for display, and a number of members filled up the tables provided with personal or family articles that they shared with those in attendance.  The idea was well received and the feeling was that this was something we would like to do again.

Wayne Ritchie (l to r), Brent Collins and Kyle Meroney look over one of the artifact displays provided by members at the February Wing Meeting.

The other thing that was a little different this month was the staff reports.  Instead of having staff officers present their reports individually,  Brent asked Greg Gutting to present them in the form of a media broadcast and to insert a little humor.  Well, he did simulate a media broadcast and he did insert a little humor (very little), to an otherwise slow-moving aspect of the meeting.

Show up next month…who knows what will happen?

Next Wing Meeting March 23

A few other quick items:

The monthly Rides Day is scheduled for Saturday, March 11.   While we do have some aircraft undergoing maintenance, the T-28 and the SNJ are up and running.

The Warbirds & Wheels annual car show will be held on Saturday, March 18 in the main hangar.  We are still looking for entrants, so if you know anyone who is interested, have them contact Bill Coombes, snj24@att.net

The MAAF Museum is staying busy. We have a number of items available (for an appropriate donation); including post cards featuring our CAF aircraft, some die cast model planes, t-shirts and books. On Friday, Feb 24, the Museum hosted a small group of students from Bynum School and not only were they very inquisitive, they also left us a donation. While the MAAFM is only open on Saturday’s from 10-3, we will accommodate special groups any day of the week, by appointment.

The Museum Committee will be making multiple presentations on April 15: the FCC Eggstravaganza(to be presented by H.A. Tuck and Lyle Thornton) and The Permian Historical Society (to be presented by Greg Gutting and Brent Collins). Hopefully these presentations will go far to helping to establish the HSW and the MAAFM in the minds of the Permian Basin community, and will result in more attendance and more donations.