Veterans Day Honor: World War II Mustang Pilot Visits Creve Coeur Airport

By Carmelo Turdo

The Aero Experience salutes military service veterans with a look at our recent visit with World War II P-51 Mustang pilot, Thomas A. "Tony" Gibbons, during a family gathering at Creve Coeur Airport. Now 102 years young, Gibbons enjoyed the visit with family and friends at a hangar party held in his honor by Greg and Vickie Vallero that included an appearance by Paul and Jennifer Barnett and their P-51 Mustang, Rosalie. As twilight neared, everyone boarded an aircraft or car and then assembled for a photo shoot that included the P-51, a Stearman and two military vehicles. Here we show the taxi out to the west end of the airport and a photo sampler.

USAAF 1Lt. Tony Gibbons served with the 348th FG in the Pacific Theater of Operations, flying 125 combat missions in the P-47 and P-51 from September 1944 to August 1945. After hostilities ended, he continued to fly patrol missions over China and Korea, including several flights that lasted over eight hours. He flew in the Reserves until the end of 1949 when he pursued his engineering career at McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis. His son, Michael Gibbons shown above, retired as a senior executive at Boeing. Tony Gibbons flew with Paul Barnett in Rosalie last summer, and that story is featured in the Spring/March 2022 issue of NATA Skylines magazine.

Warbirds Provide Living History Experiences, Commemorate Veteran's World War II Service

By Carmelo Turdo

Warbirds gathered for both public and personal living history experiences at two St. Louis airports this weekend. Here we feature the warbirds seen during our visits to Spirit of St. Louis Airport and Creve Coeur Airport on Friday. Thanks to the significant investment of time and resources by private owners and foundations, these aircraft from the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War eras became key attractions for audiences spanning three generations. The Aero Experience thanks all who made these warbird appearances possible.

Spirit of St. Louis Airport hosted the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Doc, one of only two of the type still flying, and the North American B-25 Mitchell, Berlin Express. Both aircraft were available for ground tours and rides, and the aircraft flew between periods of rain all weekend. Both iconic warbird bombers are on tour through the Midwest on their way to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021 later this month.

Creve Coeur Airport is home to a variety of warbirds and vintage aircraft, and here we feature some of them along with a special visitor. The first set shows the preparation of the Bell Helicopter AH-1F Cobra and UH-1H Huey helicopters for departure to the Dayton Airshow on Friday morning. These Vietnam War-era helicopters are operated by the Gateway Chapter of the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation based at the airport.

  

Another warbird, the Korean War-era Douglas Skyraider, is seen here along with the North American AT-6D Texan of the Midwest Wild Relics Refuge also at Creve Coeur Airport. These aircraft can be seen at airshows and veterans events around the region.

Also on Friday morning, The Aero Experience was honored to cover the birthday celebration of World War II veteran Mustang pilot Thomas (Tony) Gibbons, who is celebrating his 101st birthday this week. He was treated to a flight in the P-51 Rosalie, flown by Paul Barnett. His flight was captured in photos and video by Mike Gibbons in the AT-6F Texan chase plane flown by Greg Vallero. We will have additional coverage of this story coming soon!