“They used to say if Man were meant to fly, he would have wings. But he did fly. He discovered, he had to!”
-Captain James Kirk
I became obsessed with airplanes as a small child. Growing up by two major airbases, having an aerospace engineer for a Father, and watching the first Gulf War on the nightly news. All of it captivated me!
At first it was the sheer beauty and grace of it all. Watching the Blue Angels dance through the sky, and aerobatic flyers perform maneuvers like they were a fish in water. The sheer power and intimidation of watching B52s fly over, trailing smoke; a massive C5 Galaxy lifting off, so slowly it hardly looked like it was moving at all! The pure majesty of a (then) 50 year old B17 doing a slow pass.
Then it was the history of it all. Airplanes have revolutionized travel, changed the face of warfare as we know it, and allowed us to explore places we never could before, even reaching to the moon and stars beyond.
Finally it was the people. I think it’s safe to say that anyone involved in Aviation has some of the highest job satisfaction anywhere! Pilots, Aircrew, Passengers, Maintenance crew, Air controllers, they all have their parts and their stories to tell.
Which brings me to the tags. I had a few random pieces aquired as a kid, but tags from real aircraft weren’t a thing back then. Once I found them, I was hooked! The first time I held a tag from a real, combat veteran Japanese Zero, there was no going back! Seeing a plane in a museum is one thing, but holding a piece in my hand, feeling the paint layers, the scars, being able to put it on my wall and see it everyday. There is absolutely nothing like it!
That small start has now grown to a personal collection of pieces, parts, and tags from over 300 different aircraft, from the Wright Flyer to Stealth Fighters and everything in between! These tags have flown on every continent, by dozens of different nations, in every major war (and several minor wars,) set world records, fought wildfires, saved lives, increased our knowledge, and carried people and cargo to every destination imaginable. They represent the very best, and worst, that humanity has to offer.
And most importantly, they represent the people. Those who flew and maintained them, those who were killed by them (or in them,) and those who had those often intangible connections to them. These tags are their stories. And as long as these tags exist, their memory is carried on by everyone who sees and holds these simple pieces.
