Each June, warbirds take to the sky over the Valle Airport in Arizona’s High Country near the Grand Canyon when Planes of Fame Air Museum hosts its annual High Country Warbirds Fly-in. A number of the aircraft on display at Planes of Fame Air Museum in Valle, AZ are flyable, providing plenty of up-close and personal warbird action throughout the day of a Fly-in, ... Read More

A few weeks ago my brother Steve Kates (drsky) got a call from his good friend Brigadier General Richard Stephen "Steve" Ritchie Ret. The General was in town for a speaking engagement  and invited us to join him for lunch. I was real excited to join them and speak to a legend of modern air combat. Form the moment I first met Gen Ritchie I found out what a great ... Read More

Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., is one of the largest fighter bases in the world. Aircraft from Nellis operate on the Nevada Test and Training Range, which offers more than 15,000 square miles of airspace and 4,700 square miles of restricted land. More than 75 percent of all live munitions used by the Air Force for training are dropped on the Nevada Test and Training Range. Many communities in ... Read More

Sun n’ Fun is always a great place to go in the spring to get the air show season started off right.   It’s in central Florida and the weather this time of year is generally very nice.  Sun n’ Fun is a bit more than a simple air show.  It’s a weeklong event that supports the local air museum and in a lot of ways gives you an idea ... Read More

Punta Gorda is on the western coast of Florida, south of Tampa.  It is one of the nicer small shows in the country.  I’ve never been to that part of Florida and never to Punta Gorda in particular; so this was a good opportunity to see it all.  The weather on Saturday was great and it was a nice venue.  Hotels were within a couple of miles and traffic ... Read More

When men were men---but, of course, they smoked and drank heavily back then. Talk about having a bad day.... B-36 Ride to Hell.... Ah back when engines were really engines.... Aircraft Commander 1st Lt. Oliver Hildebrandt, Pilot 1st Lt. Walter Ross, and Co-pilot Captain Wilbur Evans, and a crew of thirteen took off from Carswell AFB in B-36B, 44-92035 of the 26th Bomb Squadron of the 7th Bomb Wing ... Read More