List of Notable Warbird People

[Saville]

Junior Burchinal


And the never-to-be-forgotten (thanks to Randy Haskins):

ellice_island_kid

[JohnB]

Here's one from far left field....but it has validity:

Charles Schultz, creator of Peanuts.
I can't think of anyone who brought warbirds (WWI at least), into the non-enthusiast world's consciousness. The comic strip, tv specials, films, toys ,greeting cards, pop songs ("Snoopy vs the Red Baron"), even Sesame Street had a character for awhile named "Sopwith the Camel", all made Great War warbirds famous...perhaps making the Camel the most famous of any warbird.

[Woodsy Airfield]

Not too sure if any of these names are relevant to the subject, but I picked them off of an old log I kept in past....

Louis Anderson
Brothers Arfons
Jack Arnold
Carson Copters
Dennis Clarcq
Robert Dart
Bob Diemert
Bruce Dillon
Harry Doan
Duff
Al Fornier
George Fournier
Lee Gareau
Ralph Huffman
K & K Aircraft
John Klish
Ray Leggett
Cameron Logan
Joe Marrs
Munson of Muncie
Gary Norton
Ron Otto
Paul Pfoutz
Jack Rhodes
Smith & Smith
Sottiles
J.N. Spanich
D.L.Spivey
Wm Strube
Bob Tobacco
Wade - Atco, NJ
J.C. Wilson
Sam Winer
Dave Workman
One correction - Should be Jack Fetsko - not Fesko

I think most of these names are parts or scrap dealers, but you folks decide...

[bdk]

Joe Baugher

That's an interesting suggestion. Even though I'm well aware of him - and love his lists - I had never even considered someone who was notable entirely for their presence on the Internet.

Tony LeVier

Huh. All I ever knew him as was a Lockheed test pilot. Involvement with warbirds would make sense though.

Trans Florida Aviation

I'm going to stick with individual people and not organizations for this list. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Joe Baugher's database has been used by researchers for years. A great resource to the warbird research community, though not an owner of operator. Are Scott Rose or Jack Cook (listed twice even!) more or less deserving?

Tony LeVier: "After the end of World War II, LeVier bought a war surplus P-38 Lightning for $1,250 in Kingman, Arizona. He modified it for air racing and painted it bright red. He competed at the national air races in Cleveland in 1946 and won second place in the Thompson Trophy." He was also an advocate of flight safety and spin training to include recommended recovery techniques. probably saved the lives of many warbird operators over the years. He also used to speak at Oshkosh about flight safety every year.

The whole Cavalier/Trans Florida Aviation thing should have a book written about it! They modified lots of Mustangs for civilian use, I just don't recall the names of the principals.

[Triplane102]

Sorry if I missed these names already posted,
Ellisworth Getchell- Sea Fury
Lloyd Hamilton- Sea Fury
Mike VadeBonCoeur

[Ryan Keough]

Kinda surprised no one mentioned Bob Collings or Rob Collings in there somewhere... I think the Wings of Freedom Tour is into it's 28th season or something like that?

[Dave Homewood]

In terms of recording the stories of the US Warbird scene, we cannot forget Matt Jolley of Warbird Radio, and his current and past show hosts Zane Adams, Chris Henry, Rob Morelli, Andy Heins, Mike Hartman, etc

[Jerry O'Neill]

How about:
Harry Doan
Bob Collings
Tom Stafford
Dean Martin & Dan McQue brought in a lot of jet Warbirds to the U.S. market.

[Noha307]

A few more I just remembered:

• David Cundall
• Peter Vacher
• Victor Kislyi [1]

Also, the guy who thought of looking for the warbirds in Lake Michigan.

I apologize, I missed this one when I read through for my previous comment. I don't know if its who you're thinking of (or if you're even thinking of anyone in particular), but you did just remind me of Allan Olson and Taras Lyssenko of A&T Recovery.

I'm still puzzled by RG.
What exactly has he done to preserve the P-38?
Despite the name of his group, they have seemingly done nothing to preserve the P-38. It still lies covered in beach sand...not the ideal environment for a historic 70 year-old piece of aluminum.
I understand that the group itself has said it's no longer an active project.
If I'm mistaken, please inform me.

AFAIK, you're not mistaken. I figured I would get a few comments on his inclusion.

Despite the title of the post, I intentionally made the criteria for inclusion somewhat broad. In my initial post, I did say:

it can really include anyone who has made a major impact in [the recording or preservation of] aviation history

As you suggested, I realize this may open the list up to becoming too big, but there's so much overlap between warbirds and the non-military aspects of aviation history that it's impossible to separate. Besides, look how long it is already!

I'm not saying I like Mr. Gillespie. However, was considering his "work" as a whole. I should have made that more clear. When you include the Amelia Earhart stuff, however wrong it may be, his influence really shows.

So if unaming something and sending out a news release warrant inclusion to the list, than I belong there thanks to my writings, volunteer work, time as a warbird pilot and various donations.

I was going to put no self-nominations into my original post, but decided not to. Maybe I should have...

Liz Needham

Judy Pay

Jackie Cochran

Thanks for suggesting some women. The list is unfortunately very male (and white), and while it'll probably stay that way for some time into the future, it's good to see a little bit of diversity. You reminded me of Sue Parrish [1], who I learned of only recently.

Since somebody brought up Bob Hoover, it made me wonder if it would be worth mentioning Patty Wagstaff. Has she done anything warbird related? I only know of her as an air racer, but as evidenced by my comment on Tony LeVier above, it's clear that I can be wrong.

Bob Collings or Rob Collings

The similar names kinda made me question whether this was one or two people for a second there.

Charles Schultz

Eh, I think that one's too much of a reach. Creative suggestion though.

Joe Baugher's database

I remember back before he had his own website. How long has his list actually been around?

Not too sure if any of these names are relevant to the subject, but I picked them off of an old log I kept in past....

I'm going to leave these off for now since there's not any context - unless, that is, someone can vouch for them.

It seems like Ray and Mark Hanna are missing from the list.

Still missing from your updated list!

Whoops! My bad! And it looks like I missed another comment as well. I guess I need to pay more attention!

I've added them below!

Here's the suggestions made since my last comment (and a few more I forgot):

Further Mentions

• Sanders family
• Bill Klaers
• Alan Wojciak
• Jack Hardwick
• Mel Christler
• Morris Avery
• Dan Hawkins
• Gene Powers
• Dee Howard
• Lloyd Nolen
• Lefty Gardner
• John Muszala
• John Lane
• Tony Ritzman
• Joe Davis
• Warren Basler
• Stephen Grey
• Doug Champlin
• Howard Pardue
• Lyle Shelton
• Bill Destefani
• Nelson Ezell
• Doug Arnold
• Jeff Ethell
• Ray Hanna
• Mark Hanna
• Jackie Cochran
• Michael Potter
• Junior Burchinal
• Trevor Bland
• Sir Tim Wallis
• Ray Hanna
• Sir Peter Jackson
• Neville 'Shorty' Mines [2]
• Mont-y Armstrong
• Brendon Deere
• Warren Denholm
• Paul McSweeny
• Steve Cox
• Jay McIntyre
• Colin Smith
• Gene deMarco
• Tony Wytenburg [3]
• Graham Orphan
• John Smith
• Bill Reid
• Robyn Reid
• Martin Reid
• John Barry
• Sandy Currie
• Andrew Gormley
• Al Marshall
• Marty Nicholl
• Frank Parker
• Liz Needham
• Keith Skilling
• Dave Phillips
• Ian Whitney [4]
• Judy Pay
• David Lowy
• Ellisworth Getchell
• Lloyd Hamilton
• Mike VadeBonCoeur
• Bob Collings
• Rob Collings
• Matt Jolley
• Zane Adams
• Chris Henry
• Rob Morelli
• Andy Heins
• Mike Hartman
• Warren Denholm
• Colin Denholm
• Glyn Powell
• Rod Lewis
• Pat Rodgers
• Mike Kellnor
• Ray Moore
• Tom Stafford
• Harry Doan
• Dean Martin
• Dan McQue

So I'm about to drive myself crazy trying to keep track of all this. This forum setup doesn't lend itself well to scrolling through other comments. Anyway, that's a total of 82+ additional names right there! If we add that to the 57 in my initial post, the 54+ in my previous summary, and the other 5 I have thought of since then; that's a total of 198+ entries!

I know that I haven't been including the short bios you guys have written (if you haven't realized by now, I'm pretty strict about the formatting), but don't let that stop you from adding them - they're very helpful since I haven't heard of most of these people.

I don't know what, if anything, I'll end up doing with all this information, but I have certainly learned a lot, and it will certainly be of use to someone in the future.

Anyway, once again, thanks to all for the suggestions and keep 'em coming!

[Mike Banks]

The world would be lacking far too many round motors if it wasn't for Ray Anderson and co of Anderson Aeromotive.

Also add to the list Craig McBurney from Connecticut Corsair.

[Bentwings]

Bob Hood
Connie Edwards
Jim Harker
Patrick Harker
Chris Harker
John Roxbury
Jay Wisler
Mark Thomson

Was Kermit Weeks on the list?

[Dave Homewood]

Would the Brits agree that Ellie Sallingboe, Nick Grace, Caroline Grace, Charles Church, Peter Arnold, Tony Ditheridge, Sir William Roberts and Dick Melton should also be on the list?

And of course perhaps the world's earliest aircraft collector who's collection is still thriving, Richard Shuttleworth.

[Sopwith]

What about Doug Bianchi and Tony Bianchi of Personal Plane Services and also Ralph Hull?

[CWH Museum]

We don't think the list would be complete without the inclusion of Dennis Bradley. He is the co-founder of the Canadian Warplane Heritage, was the President and General Manager for many years and still sits on the Board of Directors. The collection has grown to almost 50 including the world's second flying Lancaster.

[Dave Hadfield]

The list would be more useful if it was divided into 2 categories: Active, and Historic, with the latter being those who are deceased, or completely-retired from the field.

An Active list would actually have considerable use. Parts-trading comes to mind, as well as special projects and combined activities. Parts manufacturing. Places and people to involve as part of long-distance Tours -- synergies. Flight training on odd types. Maintenance on odd engines.

The whole idea in general is a good one.