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Timeline
Key Moments in the History of the Commemorative Air Force and the New York Wing
1957
The CAF is founded in Harlingen, TX by Lloyd P. Nolen and four friends, who purchased the P-51 Red Nose for $1,500. It would be the organization's first aircraft and remains in active flying condition today with CAF Airbase Georgia.
1958
The CAF acquires its second and third aircraft, two Grumman F8F Bearcats.
1960
The CAF begins to broaden its mission from being a group of cropdusters, farmers, and World War II veterans who liked airplanes to seriously collecting examples of each of the frontline aircraft from the Second World War. With the U.S. military scrapping these aircraft in large numbers, the CAF was to play a leading role in their preservation and the inception of the nascent warbird movement.
1961
The CAF is chartered as a Texas non-profit corporation, and has expanded its fleet to 9 aircraft in total.
1963
The CAF achieves its goal of acquiring one of each fighter aircraft operated by U.S. forces during World War II. While some of these aircraft have left the fleet since then, the commitment to preserving the story of the Second World War and the Greatest Generation persists to this day. The CAF also held its first airshow this year.
1965
The first CAF Headquarters is built at Old Rebel Field in Mercedes, TX.
1968
The CAF, having rapidly outgrown its first buildings, moves into a new Headquarters at a new Rebel Field, now in Harlingen, TX.
1971
The CAF, with the assistance of Victor N. Agather, acquires and begins to restore the world's (then-)only remaining airworthy Boeing B-29 Superfortress, FIFI. To this day, she remains the queen of the fleet.
1983
The CAF incorporates the American Airpower Heritage Foundation (AAHF) to begin building a long-term endowment for the continued preservation and operation of World War II aircraft.
1990
The CAF's Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Sentimental Journey is featured in a Texas anti-littering campaign titled "Don't Mess with Texas."
1991
The CAF moves its Headquarters to Midland, TX and builds a sprawling museum facility there.
2002
The CAF is officially renamed the Commemorative Air Force, dispensing with its former name to better reflect the mission of the organization.
2014
The CAF moves its Headquarters to Dallas, TX, operating as the Henry B. Tippie National Aviation Education Center. Within the campus, the Fred and Barbara Clark Telling Restoration Hangar and its adjacent offices house the organization's full-time staff, who support operations, finance, safety, education, and development efforts for more than 80 CAF units and 185 CAF aircraft nationwide. Just next door, the Victor N. Agather Hangar is home to FIFI and the world's only airworthy Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Diamond Lil.
2015
The CAF acquires the Douglas C-47 Skytrain That's All, Brother, the lead aircraft of the parachute drops on Normandy on D-Day.
2019
The CAF, in collaboration with the D-Day Squadron, brings two Douglas C-47s out of a total squadron of 15 aircraft to Europe for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. It's also here that the New York Wing crew first becomes acquainted with the CAF.
2023
The CAF Hudson Valley Wing is founded by a team led by Luc Zipkin in a small corner of the Tunison Foundation's hangar in Wappingers Falls, NY, a hamlet of Poughkeepsie, just 50 miles north of Manhattan.
2024
The Wing receives assignment of its first aircraft, 1943 Fairchild PT-26B Cornell N9474H. We also renamed ourselves to the New York Wing to better reflect our geographic service area.
2025
The Wing partners with the Tunison Foundation to host a Wings & Wheels event at the Poughkeepsie facility, bringing in over 200 show cars and 1,000 spectators and sharing our historic aircraft. The Wing counts more than 50 members and 15 pilots, and is the most active Fairchild PT flight operation in the world.
2026
The New York Wing moves into an adjacent hangar on the Hudson Valley Regional Airport, a historic 1953 structure that expands opportunities for museum and fleet development as well as unique aviation events.
