The Objectives of History Flight, Inc.
Five patriotic ways you can help to preserve American aviation history

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History Flight is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and honoring American WWII, Vietnam and Gulf-War aviation history and aircrew combat veterans. History Flight has four important objectives that we seek to accomplish with the support of corporations, foundations, and the general public - in addition to donations raised during our annual, self-funded Barnstormer Tours.

First: To research and help locate the remains of over 78,000 American service members still missing in action (MIA) from World War II.

History Flight's most important objective is to research loss histories and underwrite annual expeditions to search for MIAs. In 2008 History Flight funded and conducted two six-week long searches in the Marshall, Caroline and Gilbert Islands. One search resulted in the finding of U.S. Navy Pilot Lt. Harry Brown in the wreckage of his airplane that was shot down over the Pacific Island of Yap. A second MIA Hellcat was found by a History Flight-funded search in 2009.

History Flight also hired a geophysical inspection firm and brought a geophysicist to the island of Tarawa to search for "lost" Marine graves with a ground penetrating radar. In the six weeks that our team spent on Tarawa – interviewing local residents who had accidentally unearthed 20 American skeletons during construction activity on the island – we were able to locate, identify and survey five large American burial sites and three individual sites that contained over 200 U.S. Marines left behind after WWII. It is the largest single MIA find in the history of the American Armed Forces.

In May 2009 we completed a comprehensive, 400-page report on our Tarawa findings and submitted it to the U.S. Government in the hope that they will mount a recovery operation.

Clockwise from upper left: History Flight Director Mark Noah (left) with Pat and Cherie Ranfranz (MIssing Air Crew Project) and two Yapese guides during 2008 mission to Yap; American Sherman tank discovered in 1997 on Peleliu, whose crew, MIA since 1944, was finally returned home; Wreck of an F6F-5 from the USS Enterprise piloted by Lt Harry Brown, whose remains were found in the wreck by he Missing Aircrew Project and History Flight in 2008; and Ground-penetrating radar being put to good use on Tarawa by geophysicist James Harrison, who worked with History Flight when we located the lost graves of over 200 Marines missing in action since WWII.

In August 2009 Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-IL) introduced a non-binding resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives supporting the recovery of the Tarawa Marine graves. In September the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command spent two weeks on Tarawa in a preliminary mission prior to their major recovery effort planned for 2010.

In October 2009, the 2010 Defense Spending Authorization Bill Section 523 specifically directed the Dept. of Defense to recover the Marine graves from Tarawa and to recognize the civilian search and research efforts that made the discovery possible. In November History Flight was invited to brief the 2nd Marine Division Tarawa Veteran's Reunion on the subject and we received thanks from senior USMC leadership members for our role in this effort.

Your support of our programs has helped make this and future searches possible and is greatly appreciated.

Second: To educate the public about historic American military aviation with History Flight's "flying museum" that we take on old-fashioned, seven-month Barnstormer Tours of regional airports in the central and eastern U.S.

In winter many of History Flight's airplanes fly out of Marathon Airport in the middle Florida Keys, conducting educational flights during Florida's tourist season. Over the past four years, History Flight has self-funded the acquisition of four beautiful WWII aircraft and restored them to flyable condition. This year we proudly introduce "Barbie III" to the History Flight fleet – the only B-25H Mitchell Bomber still flying in the world, and a symbol of the mighty power of the American Army Air Corps during World War II. In addition to providing over 3,000 rides a year during our Barnstormer Tour, we actively teach "old school, seat of the pants" flying skills where "guest crews" (in the T-6 and Stearman Biplane) get the chance to actually handle the operating controls for a portion of their flight. Each aircraft is also equipped with a three-camera video system to create a memorable, educational experience.

Third: To continue and broaden our aviation scholarship program.

Under the personal supervision of our Airframe and Powerplant-certified FAA-rated flight instructors, History Flight provides flight instruction scholarships as well as an introduction to hands-on aircraft maintenance, repair, and restoration to young people who demonstrate a keen interest and financial need. We are seeking to expand our program from two students per year to ten, and your support will enable us to have a very positive impact on the lives of promising, aviation-oriented young people with a respect for historic American aviation, regardless of family economics.

Fourth: To continue and expand our executive leadership program.

In exchange for significant donations, History Flight offers educational flights to managers or employees of sponsoring corporations and foundations. These programs can be customized to suit the donor, and can range from hands-on introductory flights in beautifully restored WWII aircraft to a series of lessons in how to fly them. This can be both a very exciting adventure and a valuable motivational tool for quality employees and officials.

To date, History Flight has already self-funded more than $1,300,000 to underwrite these programs.

We invite you to share our dedication to these objectives by providing donations of cash, appreciated securities, or any type of mission-related equipment for which we will provide a tax deduction based on fair market value.