36 In FlightUSA Celebrating 31 Years De ce mber 2017The Comm em orat ive Air Force
(CAF )willhost itsann ual “12 Planes of
Chri stma s” onl ine giv ing cam paig nthi s
mont h. Th is event hi ghli ghts the effo rts
of the org anization and its vol un teer
memb ers, who resto re andpres erv eits
flee tof mor ethan 170 Worl dWar II air -
cra ft. Ind ivi dual s can learn abo ut the
CAF fleet at http://www.Supp ortCAF .org to
iden tify aircr aftto that spark their interes t
- andmakeadonati on to aidone ormo re
spec ifi caircraf t. Ma ny often ho nor others
by don ating inthe ir name as atrib ute.
One hun dred per cent of the don atio n
goes to the sel ect ed aircraft.
Eachyear12aircraftof thefleet are
selected to be fea tured durin g the “12
Planes ofCh ris tmas” campaign ,eac hwith
differen thi sto ric al signific ance and in var-
ious sta ge sofresto ration; some need sup-
por tto be come airworthy aga in. The air -
craf tfeat uredthisyear are :P-4 0Warh awk,
C-53Sk yt rooper,FG -1D Co rsair, PT-17
Stearma n, Sti ns on 10A, AT -11 Kans an, L-
17Nav ion ,A-26 Invader, PT-19 Co rnell,
N3N,PBY Ca tal ina ,and BT-1 3Valiant.
Manyot her CAF aircraft are also includ ed
inthecamp aign.
Donation s ca n be made at
http://www.S upp ortCAF. orgto theseindivid ual
aircraft pr oj ect s or other aircr aft in the
fleet. Don ations canalso bedirected to the
Restor ationGr ant Fun d,afun dthat has
helpe dmo rethan 20aircr aft in needof
restorationretur ntoflig ht.As do natio nsto
the Rest orat ion Fund are matched , the
value ofeach donationdoubles in valu e.
“Flying aircraft are essential to the
missio nof theCAF ;we arefirs tandfore-
most aflyi ngmuseu m. Becau se ou rair-
craft fly, peop le are more excite d and
enga ged to learnabou tthe histo ryofthese
airc raft. 12 Plan es of Ch ris tmas ha s
beco me aver yimpo rtan tprogr am forthe
CAF. It sign ifican tly help s to preserv e
these aircr aft,whi ch ser ve as reminders of
thesacr ifices of the Greates tGen eratio n.
Our organi zat ion depen ds on donatio ns
and supp or t from ind ivid uals wh o can
appr eciate the val ueofthesehistoric ico ns
and wa nt to hel pkeep ‘em fly ing,”said
CAF Pr esident /CE OBo bSten evik.
The cam pai gn and websi te
http://www.S upport CA F.org launc he d on
#G iving Tu esday,Nov. 28,and will run
thr oug hDe c.31,20 17.Aboutthis ye ar’s12Plane s:
Pl an e 1: P-40 Warhawk
(Musko gee ,Okla .) The P-40Wa rha wk
was grou nded in Septe mbe rwhe nmet al
was fou nd in the engine .Sothat audi -
ence sofallages canseethefamou sshar k
teeth onthe airc raf t, ane wengine mu st
be instal led to par tici pate in the 2018
Airsh owSeason.
Plane 2: C- 53 Skytro op er(Ri ver -
side, Calif. )This aircraft, als oaD-Da y
ve ter an, will ne ed to be out fit ted with
additi onal avioni csand navi gat ion gea r
in order to par tici pat e in the 75th
An nive rsa ry of D- Da y in Normandy,
France in2019.
Plan e3:FG -1DCo rsa ir(Peach tree
City, Ga .) In themidstofamajor rest ora-
tion, theCorsa ir’snexthurdle istorem ove
andrepl ace thefuel tank.Fo raCo rsai r, it’s
bent-wi ngstructure makes thisapart icu-
larlydi fficult,but an imp ortan ttask,as this
aircraf tismeant tobeseen flying.
Pl an e 4: PT -17 Stearman
(Lanc aster,Tex.)Fo r30ye ars, this stur dy
Stearm an ha sgiv en yo ung and old avi a-
tion ent hus iasts arideofalif etime .Wit hthe disc ove ryoftheaircraft’s lina ge,new
fabric and paint are needed to tell the
stor y of the Wo men Airforce Servi ce
Pi lots (WA SP ).
Plan e 5: Stinson 10A(Madison ,COMM EM ORA TIVEAIR FORCE ANNOUN CES“12 PLA NES OF
CHRI ST MAS”H OLIDAY GIVIN GCAMP AIGN
Su pp ort ing the Re stor atio n Effo rts of Wo rldWar II Aircraft
Co nt inued on Page 39Plan e 9:The He art of AmericaWingis
proud to host this gr eat WWII Traine r.
For 30 years N5 0481hasbeen flownto
honor veterans, educ ate our commun ity,
and allo wpe opl etoexperiencethethrill
of open-coc kpi tflying .No wshe 'sin need
of exten siv erest or ation tohe ral l-wood
win gs, whic har eoriginaltotheaircraft
sinc e World Wa r II, and tail section.
Ple ase he lpus return thisclas sicwarbird
to the skies! (Pho to cour tesyCAF )