I have had small donations of stakes for signs, and other expendables from Lowes and Home Depot.

There are now no big expenditures that the Area Coordinator has responsibility for the cost of gas and miscellaneous supplies is minimal and now not a factor. I found the job to be very rewarding and much easier to do now that Collings has assumed almost all of the costs of the visit. To ease the transfer of responsibility I have written an outline of the procedures (not at all complicated) and will work along side the new coordinator for AS LONG AS IT TAKES to get him or her comfortable in the job. The job used to be a little time consuming but is now relatively easy to do considering the excellent support of the VASI and EAA in past years. Although transfer of the duties of coordinator has been discussed before, no one has voiced interest. Now at the age of 84 I would like to pass the responsibility on to someone else. “As you know, for the last 13 years I have had the privilege of serving as the Area Coordinator for the Wings of Freedom Tour of the Collings Foundation aircraft. Please consider the importance of sustaining our warbird heritage right here in Venice. Without a volunteer stepping up soon, the annual Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour could easily drop the Venice venue and a long legacy will come to an end. And following 13 years of what he considers to be some of the most rewarding volunteer effort in his life, Charlie believes it’s time to pass the torch and continue the tradition. His latest and greatest accomplishment was making the Venice event the best stop in the State of Florida for 2012. Charlie, as many of you know, has poured countless hours of his time ensuring year after year of war bird visits to Venice. ■ For more information visit following appeal for volunteers was sent to VASI from Area Coordinator Charlie Strumpf. Half-hour flights in the B-25 are $400 per person. Flights in the P-51 flight trainer cost $2,200 for a half-hour or $3,200 for an hour. ■ Half-hour flights aboard the B-17 or B-24 are $450 per person. Cost: $15 for adults and $5 for children under 12. ■ The Collings Foundation’s Wings of Freedom Tour of the WWII vintage Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, North American B-25 Mitchell, and P-51 Mustang will continue through noon Sunday at Venice Municipal Airport at Sun Coast Air Center, 400 Airport Ave. “He carried shrapnel in his leg that was never removed from the war.” “He really didn’t tell me too many until later on in life,” Businger said. Businger already had visited a B-17 and walked the same narrow corridor as his uncle, who didn’t share many war stories. Paul Businger, a snowbird from Ohio, had been to Venice to see the planes in prior years but came back Thursday to see Tondelayo. His uncle had been a tail gunner in a B-17 that flew missions over Germany. “I don’t think I’d want to be out there,” Gay said. She also spent time in the plane’s ball turret gun, which she quickly said was scary. “I have a picture of myself holding a machine gun,” said Gay, who now lives on Lido Key. Ted Dodds of Venice Cadet Squadron 335.ĭodds is one of five senior officers for the squadron, which has 13 cadets.Įlizabeth Gay, whose father flew F-86 jets, was no stranger to the tour and had even been aboard Witchcraft when it was in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Many attendees were returning visitors with a keen interest in history or aviation, such as Maj. The P-51 “Toulouse Nuts” earned the Oshkosh Grand Champion Award for restoration in 2016. The B-25 is best known for being used in the Doolittle raid that launched from the USS Hornet aircraft carrier to bomb Tokyo. The B-24-J Liberator is the only plane of its type in flying condition in the world. The B-17 is one of only eight still in flying condition in the country. This year, it will visit 110 cities in 35 states.Įntrance fees and fees charged for rides in the aircrafts help offset the maintenance costs of what are now essentially flying museums. The Collings Foundation, which was founded in 1979, operates several living history events, chief of which is the Wings of Freedom Tour. The tour has been in operation since 1989.

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