Weekly Update - 31July to 09August

Good Morning Everyone!
I'm sorry I've had no time to get to the Blog in the last few days. With the major events going on, I figured I would update you all when they had been finished. We left off last week with the arrival of the P-51C at Oshkosh... We had a number of members visit to help with the Red Tail booth throughout the week. On Saturday, the Wing was awarded "The Phoenix Award" for it's amazing rise from the wreckage. It was an honor to be a part of it! While Red Tail took Oshkosh by storm, the B-25 was visiting Sioux City. The show was small but successful. Upon its return, the B-25 had a crew of mechanics go to work on her. Wednesday was one of the more exciting days at the wing... a large amount of Wing Members witnessed the return of the P-51 to Fleming Field. She was met with cheers, excitement and the press! Later in the evening, the P-51 took off with two T-6 trainers to perform a photo shoot that will land her on the cover of some foreign magazines (what ones will be announced later). Thursday a call was received, and the Missouri wing needed their propeller returned (the B-25 was borrowing their prop until we could get ours back). Missouri's "Show Me" is expected to fly very soon, and their prop was key to that happening. A maintenance team removed the prop on Thursday, and prepped the CAF Fun Bus for the trip. Earl Teporten and Dick Leighninger drove overnight to reach the Missouri Wing early Friday morning. I'd like to again express thanks to the Missouri Wing for allowing us to borrow the propeller, and make some very important show appearances! Saturday brough the Wings of Hope Charity Event. Early in the morning we prepped the hangar, set up aircraft and vehicles, and started to cook food. It was a huge success, attracting many more people than we every thought it would! The request for food shelf items was incredibly successful... 5 barrels were brought in, and they were completely filled. In fact, there is a HUGE pile of food beyond the barrels. Donations were high, as were food and PX sales. People were very excited about the event, and it drew a ton of people! Thank you to everyone who made it such a great event!