Warbird future

A more typical formation flight check in would be: “Eagle flight check in: one, two, three, four.” But the warbird reputation is that nobody follows; everybody wrestles for leadership, regardless of their position. Watching the relics fly today bringing history forward to us, we can absorb their majestic sounds while admiring their shapes and how they shaped history even beyond aviation. We can marvel at how these beasts were flown by young pilots emerging from teenage years in a world that couldn’t abide them a typical crescendo to maturity.

The modern warbird experience, though, is in peril after a few difficult years of horrific accidents replayed over and over again through national mainstream and social media that surfaced issues long brewing in this fragmented community. Investigations from many of these accidents revealed troubling operational weaknesses, not limited to the community flying airshows, but even more so in the broader warbird ecosystem. Regulators are concerned, and—perhaps even more problematic—insurance underwriters are concerned. Over the past few years, we’ve all learned of the constricting effects underwriters can have on general aviation.

Recognizing the imperative for change, a small group of respected warbird leaders are rallying the dispersed community to establish standards and best practices in an organization called the Association of Professional Warbird Operators (APWO). I’m rooting for their success; they’ll need all the support we can give them. Harnessing this group of independent operators has never been easy. Most of the warbird pilots I’ve met are talented, passionate, and committed to preserving not just the airplanes, but the history they extend. Their challenge for decades has been to coalesce the “splitters”—a term describing combat pilots who split from their formation—and get them to act as a unified group.

You may be exasperated, as I was: “Yet another alphabet alignment for the small warbird community?” After talks with several on the APWO board, and some independent operators, I have a better understanding of APWO’s needed niche. APWO aims to be a focal point for all warbirds establishing overarching standards and guidelines that elevate them all, improves safety, and helps them move in the industry with a unified voice. No one wants the FAA to step in and “help” (not even the FAA wants that). So much better if the experts in maintaining, flying, and operating these airplanes can themselves tighten their culture, reign in the “splitters,” and establish adherence to a broad set of professional standards.

If one of the existing entities, such as the Commemorative Air Force (CAF), Warbirds of America (WoA), or the National Warbird Operators Conference (NWOC) could have organized the group to this end, they would have done it by now. Each has limitations that prevent it from exercising a broader level of stewardship. Thus the need for APWO. Big mission, big lift, big consequences. If APWO fails, the next chapter of warbird history may chronicle an ignominious end: suffocation through ever-tightening limitations because the adults operating them today couldn’t muster the selflessness of the original crews, who were on average, decades younger.

APWO’s inaugural board includes members from WoA, CAF, and respected independent operators. John “Lites” Leenhouts, former Sun ’n Fun chairman, stepped forward as CEO. Good start: a board with the most prominent players coming together to set early direction, and a CEO respected by the community. Leenhouts’ first order of business is building consensus, gaining members, and showing early wins for the value APWO can bring to all stakeholders: operators, regulators, insurance underwriters, and us, the admiring public. He’s notching early wins. Giants in the community, long respected for their professional flying and disciplined warbird operations like Lee Lauderback and Fred Telling have thrown in their support. AOPA joined APWO as a founding member and some of us, like my colleague, Mike Ginter, AOPA vice president for state and local advocacy, and former president of the North American Trainer Association (NATA), have pledged our help.

Coalescing the warbird community won’t be easy. It’s long overdue. If APWO is not successful, we may witness a sad warbird retreat to static museums.

One more historical note about splitters: Their survival rate in combat was substantially lower than those who stayed with the formation. Hmm.

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