It has been quite a while since our last newsletter and much has occurred to update you on. Last year we had a very successful airshow season. Various WHF warbirds flew in 15 airshows around the Midwest.

The most significant event of last year was the inclusion of our T-2 Buckeye in the US Navy Legacy Flight program. Both Steve Kirik and Paul Wood were selected to be among only 14 civilian warbird pilots in the entire United States to fly with this prestigious program. The US Navy Legacy Flight Program was established in 1999. It's mission is to proudly display the evolution of Naval airpower by flying vintage Naval aircraft in formation with modern F/A-18 Hornets at airshows around the country. It's a great honor for Steve and Paul to have been selected for this program. They both agree that it is exciting and REALLY FUN to fly in close formation off the wing of the Navy's frontline fighter - the F/A-18 Hornet!   Click here to go to the "Featured Photographs" section of our web site and view some beautiful high-resolution photographs of the 2008 airshow season Legacy formations.

Our 2009 airshow schedule has been posted on our website. Between the Navy Legacy Flight schedule, The Hoppers (L-39 Jet Demo Team), and our other warbird appearances, we will be in for a very busy season!   We hope to see you at one of our shows this summer.

We have completed the annual inspections on all of our aircraft and I am pleased to report that they are all in tip-top flying condition. It is a long and arduous process to keep these vintage warbirds flying and a special thanks goes out to David Staffeldt and Sean Roarty for their hard work and dedication to keep these warbirds in the air!

We have also been working very hard on getting our A-4 Skyhawk back to airworthy condition. This has been a real struggle and quite frustrating due to the difficulty in procuring certain engine and airframe parts. I'm very pleased to report that the logjam on parts has finally been broken and we have restarted our restoration effort in earnest. We hope to have the aircraft back together for engine test runs within the next few weeks, with taxi tests and flight tests to follow.

We are continually updating our progress on the A-4 with photo's and commentary on the Warbird Information Exchange website. If you would like to follow the project to completion, click here to go to the Warbird Information Exchange website. Under "General Discussion", in the "Maintenance Hangar" forum, follow the "A-4B inspection to Airworthy" thread. David Staffeldt will also be posting pictures and updates on our own website under "Aircraft Showcase".

We are planning to introduce the Skyhawk to the public at this years EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, and have been asked by the EAA to present the plane at the Warbirds in Review Forum. This will be a great event and it is quite an honor to be invited by the EAA to present.

As you can see from the picture on the left, we have another new addition to the WHF collection:
A Douglas AD-1 Skyraider!

This is a rare and very historic aircraft which was used by the Navy and the Air Force during the Korean conflict and in Vietnam.

There were seven versions and a total of about forty Skyraider variants manufactured during its operational history. We believe ours to be the oldest Skyraider still flying.

We are excited about this addition and look forward to bringing it to airshows this summer. Click here to go directly to the Skyraider section of the Aircraft Showcase on our website to learn more about this fantastic aircraft!

Please take some time to re-discover our website and tell all of your friends who may be interested in warbirds about us. Click here to go directly to our home page. Remember to check back with our site on a regular basis. We are constantly adding pictures, and some outstanding new ones will be appearing shortly. There will be a major update later this summer. Also, if you haven't already done so, be sure to sign our Guestbook.

We want to remind you about our outstanding and FREE Screensaver. It contains great high resolution photos of all of the Foundation's aircraft. Click here to go directly to the download page and get your copy today!   Watch for an updated version with some new pictures coming soon.

We have all been very busy here at WHF and look forward to another fantastic summer airshow season. As always we will keep you informed of any developments here at the Hangar.

So for now, regards from the staff of The Warbird Heritage Foundation.