20 Under 40 Class of 2024: Joe Greene
Joseph is the first in his family to start flying and has been around aircraft and warbirds since he was 14. He began in aviation by joining an Aviation Explorer Post in Evansville, IN. By attending airshows and fly-ins and working at various hangers, Joseph has been around countless aircraft and the people who fly and maintain these aircraft and lend a hand when needed. Joseph has volunteered hundreds of hours by maintaining various aircraft at multiple hangers, flying Young Eagle flights, and working events such as EAA’s AirVenture Oshkosh since 2010. Joseph joined the Air Force in 2016 as a C-5M Super Galaxy Crew Chief and later became qualified on the C17A Globemaster when serving an overseas tour in Germany for over three years. As a Repair and Reclamation Specialist, Joseph removes flight control components, rigs switches, and performs jack operations for both aircraft for landing gear swings and troubleshooting. In 2017, he met the Delaware Aviation Museum Foundation and the Commemorative Air Forces’ Capital Squadron at the Dover, DE airshow. Since 2017, Joseph has been a dedicated volunteer at the DAMF museum, maintaining a fleet of aircraft, selling merchandise at airshows, and being a safety observer during rides. Joseph has been involved in major winter maintenance, changing cylinders, installing propellers, and repairing sheet metal. He has logged over 400 hours of volunteer time in maintenance on aircraft such as the Tiger Moth, Chipmunk, L-19, Ercoupe, Navion, T-6, Piper Comanche, and the B-25 “Panchito” Michell bomber. Not only does he maintain these aircraft, but Joseph also keeps flying by learning to fly these aircraft and has logged multiple hours of tailwheel and warbird flight training added to his already 300-plus flight experience, which includes instrument and commercial flight training to pursue a military and cargo aviation career. Joseph’s dedication, ambition, initiative, and motivation inspire everyone in the Warbird community.