I think my interest in aviation first started in gradeschool when I discovered a cache of World War 2 books in a storage room at my grandfather's house. I remember paging through the musty volumes and seeing black and white pictures of places like Ploieşti and Dresden. B-17 and B-24 bombers were awesome aircraft!
My dad held a private pilots license and every few years we would go to the EAA in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Highlights included the Concorde, an Antonov AN-124, the Christian Eagles and the Northern Lights Aerobatic Team - it was always a special trip and I remember never having enough time to see all the different aircraft. Needless to say, those excursions fueled my fire. In 1979 the Navy's Blue Angels performed a show in Escanaba, Michigan and I was hooked. I remember watching the Dayton Air Show on TV all afternoon long - military jets, the Concorde, and other aircraft captured my attention. I never would have thought that 23 years later I would be living in Dayton and the airshow would become a cornerstone of family vacations.
| Museums | Location |
|---|---|
| Air Force Armament Museum | Eglin AFB, FL |
| Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture Museum | Oshkosh, WI |
| Fantasy of Flight | Polk City, FL |
| Museum of Flight | Seattle, WA |
| National Museum of Naval Aviation | Pensacola, FL |
| National Museum of the United States Air Force | Dayton, OH |
| Richard I. Bong World War II Heritage Center | Superior, WI |
| Tillamook Air Museum | Tillamook, OR |
| Virginia Aviation Museum | Richmond, VA |
| Events | Location |
|---|---|
| EAA AirVenture | Oshkosh, WI |
| Dayton Air Show | Dayton, OH |
| Indianapolis Air Show | Indianapolis, IN |