First Stock Offering Absent Afterthought New Name
First stock certificate printed even before “Veterans” became part of the official company name.
Stettner_Jack_Z.
Stettner logbook verifies 1946 non-sked history.
Research project of 1945 history gets huge boost with face-to-face visit in August 2015 with 92-year old Jack Stettner. His logbook contains the “missing” third DC-3.
“Experimental” DC-4 expedited for UNRRA war relief flights
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.
1st Warsaw UNRRA war relief flight makes history
Dirty weather, dangerous runway conditions and Russian overflight permission define Jakeman and Stettner’s UNRRA flight to Warsaw behind the “iron curtain.”
Core founder Jack Z. Stettner. Stockholder. Pilot. Ops Mgr.
Veterans Air Express Jack Z. Stettner helped found, finance, pilot & manage Dad’s non-sked air line in 1945. I will meet Jack and his family soon.
Stettner 2015 Reunion a Special Celebration
Veterans Air Express Reunion gave new meaning to “together again.” This first-ever gathering felt like old home week with Jack Stettner and his family in Florida recently. Come share our new photos & some 70-yr old history.
Broughton, Martz, Cowart: 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!
Thomas E Cowart. International Flight Engineer. 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.
Robert C. Chambers early DC-3 Chief Pilot.
A new treasure…photo of Robert C. Chambers standing with our first DC-3 in 1945 while the aircraft was still government surplus Army C-47 drab grey.
1945 Crew list grows from 22 to 62
Researching the airline in April 2015, the list of men who flew, crewed and managed this non-sked airline was 22. Within months, it grew to 62.