Our Story

It all started with a single plane...

In the late 1990’s Alaskan aviation pioneer Col. Howard “Mike” Hunt began the then, CAF Alaska Wing with the donation of our yellow Harvard MK IV. A WWII veteran, Colonel Hunt had the desire to share his love of flying warbirds with other pilots, younger pilots and immediately began recruiting others who showed an interest in learning how to fly them. Many of those same pilots are still with us today tirelessly dedicated to the preservation of history through aviation. The generosity and vision of Mike’s donation is what gave birth to the wing and thus began our history.

Colonel Hunt was actively involved in the unit until his passing in 2019. We miss him everyday and will forever be grateful for sharing his passion of warbirds with us.  We endeavor to continue the legacy he left behind.

To hear more of Colonel Hunts story, visit the Learn More tab on the right.

Who is the Commemorative Air Force?

Lloyd Nolen and a small group of ex-service pilots from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas pooled their money to purchase a P-51 Mustang in 1957. They formed a loosely defined organization to share the pleasure and expense of maintaining the Mustang.

A short while later, the group added a pair of F8F Bearcats to the P-51 Mustang. At this point, the mission of the CAF became clear: save an example of every aircraft that flew during World War II ~ a mission no one else was undertaking.

What started as a hobby became an urgent mission to preserve history. On September 6, 1961, the CAF was chartered as a nonprofit Texas corporation in order to restore and preserve World War II-era combat aircraft. By the end of the year, there were nine aircraft in the CAF fleet.

Without any action from private citizens proactively seeking to save and preserve these amazing aircraft, they could have been lost forever. Thus the forerunners of the Commemorative Air Force began their tireless drive to rescue as many historically significant aircraft from scrap heaps as possible to prevent them from being turned into razor blades.

That drive now continues to this day across the country in 84 different wings, with 13,000 members and more than 170 aircraft! 

The Col Howard "Mike" Hunt Alaska Wing of the Commemorative Air Force takes that original mission of preserving historically significant military aircraft to the Far North of Alaska - the only state to be invaded during World War Two.  By preserving these aircraft in flying condition, we are able to preserve the important connection for Alaskans to that deadly conflict in such an intimate way lest we forget the what happened so many years ago.