I’m humbled and still in shock to join my fellow classmates in the 2024 Warbirds 20 Under 40. My inner kid still looks over my shoulder and whispers, “There’s no way this is real!” every time I head upstairs in one of these amazing machines. The privilege of joining this community has been a watermark of my career and I am grateful for the investment of so many truly talented aviators, mechanics, restorers, and historians.

My story is really no different from anyone else’s: as a kid, I was mesmerized by the machines; as a young man, I was captivated by the history; as an adult, I’ve been imbued with the responsibility to tell their stories. Captivated by B-17’s, I could rattle off 8th Air Force Bomb Groups the way most other kids could rattle off their favorite MLB players’ stats. I knew I was going to be a military pilot like the Bomber Boys I idolized. In many respects I have, being a former U.S. Army Aviator and current U.S. Air Force Reserve KC-135 pilot; a vintage warbird in her own right.

Before leaving for Afghanistan in 2012, I purchased a 1948 Navion. Although my bird never saw service, I love that she came from the lineage of the Mustang and the Mitchell and that her cousins had fought valiantly for their Nation under the skilled hands of young American flyers in Korea. Her sturdy wings immersed me in the community.

In 2016, after moving to Southern California to teach military history, I was introduced to Aviator Flight Training and began to volunteer every spare moment I had. Sweeping the hangar, cleaning the latrine, and wiping oil from the bellies of the Stearman, Texan, and DC-3, seemed a small price of admission to be so close to my heroes.

Flying in the back of that same DC-3, I found myself called forward to a vacant co-pilot seat.

Sliding in behind the controls, I was instantly and undeniably connected to the flyers who had ridden her wings into combat. Thanks to the unyielding mentorship of some of the community’s finest, I have been challenged while growing my skills in Stearmans, BT-13’s, DC-3’s, and eventually the B-25, all while completing a six-year restoration on my Navion. All have yielded once in a life time opportunities: formation flights with best friends in the BT, flying off Catalina Island and coast to coast with Aerometal International in DC-3s, and even the Warbirds in Review here at Osh in the beautiful B-25, Miss Mitchell.

I am grateful to be a member of this class. In future I plan to continue growing in skills and knowledge, earn my PIC type in C-47’s and B-25’s, and perhaps one day find myself swinging gear in the right seat of a B-17 or B-29. Most importantly, I intend to always help others as others have helped me and to keep the stories of the men and women who flew these aircraft alive for generations to come. Keep em Flyin’!