Carvair ATL-98 sister ships
Unexpected connections and poignant moments mark two very different experiences on June’s Veterans Air research trip. Visit Texas and Georgia with me.
DC-4
Veterans Air Express research continues in 2019
Amazing how 4,872 miles can roll by without boredom. Meeting special people and continuing Veterans Air research recently spread out over 33 days.
Thomas Cowart dies December 20, 2016. Veterans Air Express Flight Engineer
Thomas Cowart, our Veterans Air DC-4 Flight Engineer, died on December 20, 2016. He crewed during the 1946 United Nations post-war relief flights to Prague, Warsaw and Athens. Thomas and I shared many hours, many stories and much laughter in person and over the phone. Today I share the immediacy of my emotions at his passing.
Prague Veterans Air crew arrives 1946
A pride hard to verbalize shudders through me every time I see this film footage of my Dad’s crew members disembarking from the Veterans Air Line DC-4 in Prague. Saunie Gravely was 22 when he got the idea of an all-Veterans air service. And this amazing footage is proof of his dream-become-reality. Come watch. Sorry, no popcorn today.
Veterans Air Express Navigator Edward Martz
Veterans Air Express Navigator Edward Martz regaled me with stories I have not heard before. In our face-to-face meeting last month in New Jersey, Ed Martz shared vivid memories from his 1946 flights behind the Iron Curtain. You don’t want to miss the full story!
Thomas E Cowart. International Flight Engineer. Cooper Walker recruit.
In 1942 & ’43 the Army Air Corps turned Thomas E. Cowart from a farm boy into an aircraft mechanic and later a flight engineer. He flew the world as part of an Air Transport group led by Captain Cooper Walker. And after the war, Walker encouraged Cowart to join him at Veterans Air Express and fly the world again. Thomas tells me his vivid-memory story. Come meet him.
Broughton, Martz, Cowart: Veterans Air Express Breaking News
Look who I found!! Two sons, Craig & Robert, of 1945 1st Officer Richard Broughton. And two original crew members, Edward Martz, navigator, living in NJ and Thomas Cowart, flight engineer, living in SC. They ALL flew multiple trips for the Veterans Air Express United Nations war relief contract to Prague, Warsaw and Athens. It’s intriguing! And I am psyched!
Veterans Air UNRRA contract flown by Stettner, Jakeman, Noll, et al.
An “experimental” DC-4. A high-energy group of hardworking ex-servicemen. A Veterans Air Express UNRRA contract for cargo flights behind the iron curtain. And Newark/Miami winter passenger flights. By mid-1946, the all-veterans organization was becoming recognized and starting to thrive.
Carole Landis christened Veterans DC-4 in 1946
Hollywood star Carole Landis christened Veterans Air Line DC-4 on July 24, 1946. The aircraft and attending celebrity Mrs. Gloria Vanderbilt both got champagne-splashed. Still searching for press photo coverage of event.
1946 Greek War Relief flight makes history
Veterans Air Express in September 1946 made aviation & animal husbandry history. The Borden Company had donated a pure-bred American Jersey bull calf and two heifers to help restore Greece’s war-obliterated herds. The cattle were “loaded” into a DC-4 and flown to Athens. The press photo is worth more than a thousand words. Come take a look!