Nick Infantino

If we Yanks thought the CAF wasn’t for us, Infantino, the executive officer/unit leader of its New England Wing, has proven us mistaken. Just a few days before graduating high school, Infantino got to see his hard work pay off when the unit’s first airplane, a Fairchild PT–23, landed at Hampton Airfield (7B3) in North Hampton, New Hampshire, after a long journey from Texas, the airplane’s previous home. The road to a New England CAF unit, however, began long before that. Infantino first encountered warbirds at age 4, when the Collings Foundation brought its touring fleet of historic airplanes to Nashua Airport. In 2018, he got another taste of World War II aviation when he took a ride in the CAF Beechcraft C–45 Expeditor, Bucket of Bolts. He says he spent his COVID-19 lockdown learning as much as he could about warbirds, and when the CAF launched a campaign to start new units, he jumped at the chance to get involved; he was just 16 years old at the time. Infantino also notes the great influence of the late GEICO Skytyper, Andy Travnicek, as his mentor and first direct introduction to warbird flying.

To become a member of the CAF, called a colonel, costs $200 a year—although that may be one of the best bargains in aviation, giving one a direct connection to these special airplanes as a part of a team that works together to maintain, commemorate, and fly CAF warbirds. Qualified pilots can even get behind the controls of these rare birds. Aircraft sponsorship for a PT–23, among the lower-performance aircraft that the Commemorative Air Force operates, is set at a $1,500 one-time fee. CAF headquarters sets a minimum standard of 30 members, five aircraft sponsors, and a meeting location to start a new unit, and Infantino says this was a challenge. It’s a big ask, Infantino admits, when “people commit, but if you don’t meet the threshold, you might be left without a unit.” The allure of warbirds, and of bringing the CAF to New England for the first time, helped Infantino pull it all together.

“We have a great group,” he said. He cited the generosity of a local group in making available a T-hangar as a meeting location, as well as the low average age of their members, which he estimates to be in the 40- to 50-year-old age bracket, thanks to the inroads Infantino made with local young pilots. After all, he’s the youngest unit leader in CAF history. Infantino is also quick to credit CAF headquarters in Dallas for its relatively smooth startup process, thanks to new initiatives aimed at making warbird flying more inclusive; the touring operation allowed the fledgling unit to recruit new members at the tour stop in Nashua, New Hampshire, and CAF Chief Operating Officer David Oliver and Chief Aviation Officer Jim Lasche provided support from headquarters toward the acquisition of the unit’s first aircraft, including a $65,000 grant to get things moving and buy an airplane. NECAF is working on qualifying pilots and completing paperwork to fly paid rides out of its New Hampshire base.

Infantino is at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, pursuing A&P mechanic certification. He says his biggest dream and career goal is to run a restoration shop for warbirds; the greatest privilege, to him, is to care for and maintain these historic aircraft. With the passionate support of the Commemorative Air Force, Infantino is proving warbirds are for everyone.

Luc Zipkin is president and founder of Young Pilots USA.