Interview Videos 2 and 3 join Veterans Air history.
One gorgeous summer day at Embry-Riddle Daytona Beach campus, three students and I delved into a conversation about Veterans Air Express. The outcome? This 3-part video.
Saunie Gravely
1945 Veterans Air Express families gather.
Another fun, improbable gathering of Veterans Air “kids.” Buffy Noll, Bob Chambers and their spouses Jack and Diana. In Texas. On the first official stop of Gaye Lyn’s June 2019 VAE research trip.
Veterans Air Express story at NJ Aviation Hall of Fame and more to come
Jammed ten pounds in a five-pound bag…and still had more to share. But I sure had fun telling the Veterans Air Express story at NJ Aviation Hall of Fame last November. I was delighted (and pleasantly stunned) by Executive Director Shea Oakley’s introduction. There’s a YouTube in this post that captures the evening…Dad’s concept, the WWII vets who joined him, a historic UNRRA flight, some conjectures why the airline folded…and more. Give it a look-see.
2017 friendship between daughter Ellen and Gaye Lyn engendered by 1945 Veterans Air pilot Jack Stettner
Our Dads would have loved the role they played in friendships that have developed between their “kids.” Just three weeks ago today, Ellen Stettner and I met for a second time and had dinner. Like sisters, we talked and talked. So lovely. Her dad, Veterans Air pilot Jack Stettner, helped my Dad found the airline.
Michael Frome Veterans Air Navigator and Pop
One thing to read about a man you never met. Another thing to hear first-hand stories about him from his son. I spent precious time this week in Texas with Will Frome, son of Michael Frome who navigated the Veterans Air DC-4’s to Prague and Warsaw in 1946. Very special. Come meet Will.
Fabulous meaningful delightful first stop on Veterans Air family trip
Join our dinner party in Texas hosted by John Noll’s daughter, Buffy, and her husband, Jack. Another guest is Will Frome, son of Michael Frome. My good fortune found this daughter and son of two Veteran Air essential crew members, a pilot/founder and a navigator/journalist, living within miles of each other.
Veterans Air Express Prague 1946
My Dad’s 1945 airline won a war-relief contract with the UNRRA. His crews flew five DC-4 trips, each loaded with 5 tons of hatching eggs to Prague and Warsaw. Seventy years later, to commemorate the Veterans Air Express Prague flight in May 1946, I am going to Prague.
Chief Pilot Robert Chambers
A new treasure…a photo of Robert C. Chambers standing with our first DC-3 in 1945 while she still looked like the government surplus Army C-47 she had been. And breaking news…Chambers was the DC-3 Chief Pilot with Veterans! Bet you didn’t know that! I didn’t before today. Come see.
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!
1946 Veterans Air Express crew
(POST UPDATE 9/19/2016: Constantine J. Keloss (Kaless) just identified in 1946 Veterans Air photo.) On 10 November 2015, I launched my second-ever “road trip” to meet crew members. The result? Face-to-face meetings and first-hand details from 1946 Veterans Air Express crew: flight engineer Thomas Cowart and navigator Ed Martz. Plus I received grand old photos taken by VAE pilot Richard Broughton. Come see.