And now for something totally different... Question

[RyanShort1]

I picked up the following item at an estate sale last night out of curiosity.
Does anyone know anything about this? It's a "Confederate Air Corps" "Colonel" appointment from 1954 apparently. Is this the precursor of the CAF? Early CAF?



Ryan

[DaveG]

I'm guessing this guy could help fill in the blanks:

http://pilots.aircraftdata.net/Texas/pi ... ALUSO.aspx

[RyanShort1]

Not anymore...

I picked up the following item at an estate sale

Ryan

[DaveG]

Not anymore...

I picked up the following item at an estate sale

Ryan

d'oh!

[RyanShort1]

I'm really curious about it... The date of acceptance is 20 December 1954 - which would place it approximately 3 years after the "start" of the CAF according to my quick research. However, the thing "says" it was "Done at the City of Montgomery, Alabama..." I'm guessing that that could be as fake as the name of the "Secretary" - Thadeus P. Throckmorton.
There was also a more modern (1980s or 90s?) CAF cap there, and it looked like the guy was at least accepted to the Air Force Academy at one point.
If he really did join the CAF in 1954, then I figure he must've been fairly young at the time.

Ryan

[Sully]

I have a similar document with my father's name on it.
It was given to him by a small group of people. It seems four or five guys got together and formed this "club".
He gave one of them an airplane ride and was "accepted" into the club.

Sully

[RyanShort1]

A lot of the wording is similar to CAF stuff... Do you have any other information Sully?

Ryan

[Sully]

I would have to go dig it out but it was out of St Augustine, Fla. if I remember correctly. Definetly Florida though.

Sully

[Sully]

Ryan,

Do a Google search of "Confederate Air Corps". A few other certificates there and one author (Olmond) who was a charter member.

My certificate has nothing "Confederate" on it.

Sully

[JDK]

... I'm guessing that that could be as fake as the name of the "Secretary" - Thadeus P. Throckmorton....

Aren't you familiar with the famous Throckmortons of Thadasville, Thad County, Thadberg? I'm thurprised!

Cool item, it does sound like a bit of a challenge to track down the story. Good luck.

[RyanShort1]

Well, it may be worth more as a curiosity to someone on Ebay... I was hoping that maybe there was more information out there, but alas, very little. Oh, and yes, I've already Googled it.

Ryan

[Mark_Pilkington]

JDK Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 6:17 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RyanShort1 wrote:
... I'm guessing that that could be as fake as the name of the "Secretary" - Thadeus P. Throckmorton....

Aren't you familiar with the famous Throckmortons of Thadasville, Thad County, Thadberg? I'm thurprised!

I am dis-appointed anyone could suggest the family name of Throckmorton was made up, or could mock a family of such importance.

http://www.throckmortonfamily.com/

They have their own website, and family association with by-laws, and Kenelm Throckmorton is acknowledged as the first member of the UK family to immigrate to the USA.
(how many of you have your own family website, family association and family by-laws?? smiles)

The family reunion was very pleased to view Kenelm's reconstructed skull.

http://www.apva.org/finding/skull.html



Only family's of great importance have ancestor skulls to remember them by!
(when was the last time your family get-together got to inspect great-great great great grand-dads cranium? smiles)

Throckmortons were famously involved in the the Gunpowder plot of 1605 in the UK, James Throckmorton was Governor of Texas and later elected to Congress, and Oliver Throck Morton was Governor of Indiana and later a US Senate.

Obviously the genealogy expert of the family failed to identify the significant role Thadeus P Throckmorton played in the formation and operation of the Confederate Air Corps.

It seems clear its only a matter of time before the name Throckmorton becomes a Presidential dynasty to rival the Kennedy's and Bushes, and I do hope WIX members cease using this great Throckmorton name in vain, and give it the respect it obviously deserves!

smiles

Mark Pilkington

[RyanShort1]

Well, if anyone wants to start the museum, they can search for the item on Ebay.

Ryan

[Dan K]

Ryan,

Amazingly, I also own an identical certificate to yours, discovered at an estate sale in Milwaukee. The only difference is that it was issued to one Gomer F. Davis on February 26th, 1963.

As Sylvester the Cat used to say, "This just gets curioser and curioser."

[flybuy12345]

I may have some of the answers you are looking for regarding the Confederate Air Corps Certificate. My father was a traveling salesman and I believe he got his certificate from a restaurant somewhere in the south, possibly Georgia. (I may have forgotten) The owner of the restaurant gave these out for fun and was not associated with the Confederate Air Force. I have seen 4 other identical certificates dating from 1953 to 1963. My dads is dated Twenty-First day of July in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty Four. This is 4 months before I was born. As you may know, salesmen enjoy good restaurants and you should note the mention of different southern fare on the certificate. I enjoy this well made give-a-way and wonder about the many different explanations out there about it's origin.

Yours, Neil Racette, Michigan

Check out Sully's answer above, He's sure it's from FLA. Tks.

Last edited by flybuy12345 on Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.