A couple of years ago, I created this painting of Harry Stewart in his P-51D Mustang. The painting was of Harry after his big April 1, 1945 dogfight with 3 enemy aircraft. He survived the fight, but they didn't! Tomorrow, I'll show you something really neat that just happened with Harry.
On the night of the Palm Springs Air Museum's Gala, we had 10 Tuskegee Airmen present. In this photo, you see 7 of the Airmen. From left to right, Rusty Burns, Asa Herring, Alton Ballard, Bob Ashby, Ted Lumpkin, Me, Harry Stewart, Joan, Peter Bissonnette, and Bob Friend. It was a wonderful evening! Everyone had a blast!
At the conclusion of yesterday's Tuskegee Airmen talk with Airmen Bob Friend and Rusty Burns, we celebrated Bob's 92 birthday by having all 600 people sing "Happy Birthday" to him. Then, a P-15 Mustang took off and made several high speed passes, thrilling the crowd. Bob and Rusty happily spent the next 2 hours signing autographs. They are amazing guys! It was a great day!
Yesterday, we had an huge crowd of around 600 people at the Palm Springs Air Museum's Tuskegee Airmen Day! There were 2 Airmen, Rusty Burns and Bob Friend and they were in great form. Both Pilots told of how they came to be flight cadets at Tuskegee and continued their stories through their careers. They had the crowd's complete attention for the entire hour.
This coming Saturday, Feb. 18th, we are having our Tuskegee Airmen Day at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Tuskegee pilots Bob Friend and Rusty Burns will be there and possibly a few more. We will have a program that will start at 1:00 PM. Please come and meet Bob and Rusty. They are both great guys that you will enjoy listening to and talking with!
The photo is of Bob Friend, nose art model Nadiyah Simms and our P-51 Mustang "Bunny".
Nose Art Comes Alive! Last Friday evening at the Palm Springs Air Museum's Gala, we unveiled the finished P-51 Mustang "Bunny". Here I am with model Nadiyah Simms who is the real life "Bunny". You can now see the P-51 Mustang at the Museum. This Saturday, Feb. 18, we will have our "Tuskegee Airmen" day at the Museum. It will get under way at 1:00 PM
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of showing our P-51 Mustang off to Red Tails Harry Stewart, Alton Ballard, and Bob Friend. These are the real "Red Tails". Between the 3 of them, they flew more than 250 combat missions with the 332nd Fighter Group in WWII. All 3 of them were individually awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Our Mustang is now painted up as Bob Friend's aircraft. There will be allot more about this to come!
Today, I almost completed the nose art on the Palm Springs Air Museum's P-51 Mustang. This is Bob Pond's old P-51. I've been "friendly" with this aircraft for 30 years! Back in the 80's, I had so many rides in it that I lost count. It is a blast to be a part of it's rebirth!
Here is the P-51 nose art I'm painting about half way finished. The whole P-51 Mustang is going together quite well. It will be finished in about a week! I will show it to you.
