August, 31st, 2022
No: 2212
August Monthly Dinner
Featuring
Gordon Lichtenberg
Lead Pilot,
Mercy Air 34-PASCA
Wednesday Aug 3rd, 2022
No Host Bar: 5:30 p.m., Dinner starts at 6:30 p.m.

Gordon Lichtenberg was 13 when he started flying and had logged 250 hours by his 16th birthday when he soloed 5 airplanes (C182RG, Piper Dakota, Piper Seneca, Maule M7-235 taildragger, Kachina Varga 2180) and two helicopters, a Robinson R22 and a Hughes 269C). After his solo’s that afternoon he went to the DMV and received his car and motorcycle licenses.

Gordon was a flight instructor by his 18th birthday and when he turned 19, he had 1500 hours and passed his rotary wing and multi-engine fixed wing ATP written's and was given a waiver by the FAA to take both check rides (due to his age) and was given two "promissory" letters signed by the FAA and DPE stating they could be converted to certification on or after his 23rd birthday.

There's more but you can read more about our guest speaker here.

Dinner is catered and open to the public ($25/person), reservations are required prior to 6 p.m., Monday prior to dinner, either On-line HERE or call 805 296-1935.
30th Anniversary Gala Dinner & Live Auction Registrations are Open
John Couch announces upcoming events concerning the 30th Anniversary celebrations. Click on the play button to watch and listen.

You can register for the Cowboy-Formal Black Tie Optional Dinner and Live Auction with Live Music from the Robert Albert Quintet at this link..

We are looking forward to seeing you there!
Honor Flight - Central Coast

Most of us are familiar with the Honor Flight Network, a national network of independent Hubs working together to honor our nation’s veterans with an all-expenses paid trip to the memorials in Washington, D.C., a trip many of our veterans may not otherwise be able to take.  

After coordinating a memorial event in our hangar for 'Lee's Legacy" which honored a local veteran, Ken Neuman, our museum coordinator, was convinced that we should do something more to honor our veterans since Honor Flights were suspended due to Covid.

Working with Central Coast Honor Flight, Ken Neuman, along with the blessings of Scott Stelzle and the Gooney Bird Group, were able to put together a 40 minute flight on board Betsy's Biscuit Bomber which honored 17 veterans including, Paul King, WWII, U.S. Army, Ken Kelly, WWII, U.S. Navy, Herman Sanchez, Vietnam, U.S. Navy, Bill Middleton, Vietnam, U.S. Air Force, Gary Shaw, Vietnam, U.S. Navy, John Avila, U.S. Army, Martin Shaffer, Vietnam, U.S. Army, Ray Morrison, Vietnam, U.S. Navy, Ed Stewart, Vietnam, U.S. Army, Jim Nance, Vietnam, U.S. Army, Gunny Hoffman, Vietnam, U.S. Marines, Greg Glass, Vietnam, U.S. Army, Jim Harlow, Vietnam, U.S. Army, Mike Grabowski, Vietnam, U.S. Army, Red Forsman, Vietnam, U.S. Army, Esteban Valenzuela, Vietnam, U.S. Marines, Bob Chaney, Vietnam, U.S. Navy, Laura Dickson and Chloe Lovejoy.

Click on image above for more pictures and information. A very special thank you goes out to everyone who played a part in making this event come to fruition!
Home to the world class Woodland Auto Display:
Come Grow With Us!
The Estrella Warbirds Museum has always been "the place to go" for local meeting, group dinners and even company events. We greet visitors from around the world!

If you enjoy new people and groups, love history and want to be involved in a community project, we'd love to hear from you! We always need volunteers in our gift-shop, or docents in the museum or Auto Display. Maybe you want to get involved in restoration?

Contact us today! We'd love to hear from you.
Best Links
805 674-3939
805 674-3939

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Stuck on what to buy for a special person?

There is always the perfect gift of a flight on a real WWII veteran, our C-47B, Betsy's Biscuit Bomber.

More Models Available
A quick update from our Gift Shop - we've listened to your requests and have continued to improve our model selections on types of aircraft and naval vessels, now available for your modeling pleasure. They have been a popular item!
Freedom Hall Houses a Rare Collection of WWII Cockpit Instrument Panels
Estrella Warbirds Museum is quite fortunate to have a friend in Todd Peterson. Todd has been collecting aircraft cockpit instrument panels from aircraft WWII, something most of us rarely ever get the opportunity to see in person.

We've all seen pictures, or if we were lucky, the actual aircraft, but only a limited number of us have seen the actual cockpit displays of common and rare aircraft.

Todd Peterson has made sure that we can all have the opportunity. It has many times been instrument display alone, that have attracted visitors from around the globe to travel to Paso Robles and Estrella Warbirds Museum. We say, "Thank you!" to Todd!
Shown above is only one of numerous display cabinets filled to the brim with instrument displays, radio equipment, and specialized instrumentation utilized by our military pilots.
Highlights of the Woodland Auto Display
August has been a hot month (not just the weather), for the Woodland Auto Display as we've made great progress on the latest expansion of our facilities. Everyone whom has visited the Auto Display in the past will have noticed a tremendous amount of memorabilia that has adorned the walls and the limited space for library and reference materials has been filled to the top! We have good news - there is more to come!

The exterior coverings for the reference library and tribute room has been finished and the interior electrical, sheetrock and fireproofing has commenced.
The new display center will allow for more personal tributes to race cars/drivers/ and an expansion of hard to find resource materials. Completion is not expected until shortly after the first of 2023. See more pics by clicking on the images above!
Are
You
a
Member?
Membership has its benefits! Why become a member? The museum is supported solely from private sources. Minimal membership dues go a long way in helping to preserve history for tomorrows generation. Membership gives you free access to the museum and our wonderful research library. Individual memberships are pro-rated at $75/year or $125/year for families. We have six different categories. You can find more information on membership and how to sign up the the link listed below.