By: JOHNR

It was nice to talk to you the other day at the “store”. You asked me to put in writing the story I told you about my P-51B model so here goes:

The Tuskegee Airmen have been my heroes for as long as I can remember. My Uncle Fred, a B-17 pilot in England, always said that if the Tuskegee Airmen had been escorting his mission to Burnberg he would not have been shot down and had to be a quest of the Germans for 15 months in Stalag 1. I am enclosing a picture of me during a reunion of my class of 1963 at the Air Force Academy. I am standing by the statue dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen.

You can imagine I was excited when my Son, who lives in California, called me in January, 2005 and told me that some of the Tuskegee Airmen would be at the Palm Springs Air Museum in February. I immediately called Pacific Aircraft and had you send him the Tuskegee Airmen P-51B model. He took it to the event and got it autographed by Louis Thornhill and Rusty Burns. It has sitting on my TV ever since.

When I lived in Las Vegas for a number of years my neighbor was a wonderful guy named Rick. He was retired Air Force and shared my enthusiasm for the Tuskegee Airmen. I was talking to him last week and he was telling me that his Grandson, Rashad, who now lives with him is in need of some good role models. Rick is trying to get him away from rap singers, movie starts, and professional athletes. So, I sent Rick my Lee Archer P-51B Mustang. I also, wrote a letter to Rashad telling him that I hope he will emulate real heroes like the Airmen and not “fake” heroes.

I am writing this because I think some of your staff may fall into the trap of thinking they sell model airplanes and ships. In truth, you sell important historical artifacts. I want to thank you and your staff for the important work that you do. And you do it very well, by the way!