Name dropping. My Research Network.

Last year David and I first meet – though momentarily – in Washington D.C. We are both speakers at the Airliners 2018 International Convention. Afterwards, we email. His interest in the Veterans Air unfolding history encourages me.

At breakfast this June 20th, David suggests, again, I write a book. My toes curl, again, at the idea. (Gaye Lyn grimaces.) At my reluctance, he suggests an easier starting point. He suggests to get into the swing of writing pieces longer than website posts. And he invites me to submit an article to Airways Magazine where he is History Editor.

(Draft submitted 8/10. Now gathering images and footnoting my sources. 8/28/19)

Like Topsy, the day in Atlanta grows.

No coincidence, David is an exhibitor at the Airliners International 2019 Convention in the Delta Flight Museum promoting his book, America’s Local Service Airlines. So I pop in there after breakfast.

I know of no other small non-sked that has been as thoroughly researched as Veterans Air.

David Stringer

Stan Baumwald, collector of Insignia…

Walking down an aisle, I intuit correctly the identity of Stanley Baumwald. We first communicate in 2015 but never meet. Today fun exchanges and laughter unfold. What a treat! As collector of Flight Crew, Junior Crew and Northwest crew insignia, Stan’s formidable acquisitions also hold a Veterans Air Line Captain wings. (These wings are the first time I’ll see this VAL design. I still often wonder…who was in charge of promotion and creation of such items for Veterans Air? To my mind, it’s extremely well done!)

Daniel Kusrow gifts me in Atlanta with a pristine Veterans Air Line baggage label that he chased down in the U.K. !!

Early on, Daniel’s world was collecting vintage airline posters. The story how and why he transitioned to airline luggage labels is nicely captured in a 2007 “ephemera” blog interview with Daniel Kusrow.

Unrelated and totally intriguing to me are 1920-1923 photos on The Aeromarine Website which Daniel inspired and “populated” as an outgrowth of another project. No, that’s not a typo…1920 thru 1923! Don’t miss this! Here’s a tease – taken of a Aeromarine Model 75 flying boat arriving in Atlantic City, N.J., in the summer of 1920 from TimeTableImages.

Charles Quarles also gifted me with a baggage label back in 2016 within weeks of our first contact when he learns I’d never seen one in person. Nor had I seen additional Veterans Air Line insignia (companions to Stan Baumwald’s Captain Wings). Three of four in the photo from his collection sport a design only seen on the insignia – stylized VAL initials. HANDSOME!!!

The result of Charles’ aviation passion since childhood is likely the largest private collections of airline artifacts anywhere in the world! Click and be guided to the quickest “partial” overview of Charles Quarles treasures.

Craig Morris and I go back to June 2015 – just two months after I start Veterans Air research. Last year after the Airliners International 2018 Convention, Craig digitally shares four treasures, the most dramatic of which raises all kinds of questions. Is it our Veterans’ Airlilne? Is the VAL style akin to the VAL on the insignia? If it is our blotter, it demonstrates the company’s spelling inconsistency of Airline or Air Line which carried over to the aircraft livery. (Topic for another time.)

This year I invite myself to sit with Craig at his space to learn about the “art” of his treasure hunts. His persnickety criteria surface as he talks about acquiring specific rare items…none of which I photograph!!! So (without permission!!) I’ve selected this 1937 American Airlines in Boston post card from thousands of items in his collection …’cause it’s cool…and it’s a DC-3.