IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTOR JASON BARNETT

Jason Barnett, an artist living in Alvin, Texas, is a very important contributor to the museum.  Thanks to my girlfriend Donna Gaffney's eagle eye, she spotted an aircraft fuselage trailer with a WWII aircraft gun turret for sale near some of the big exhibit buildings at the Oshkosh, Wisconsin airshow in 2017.  I quickly made my way there and struck a deal for what I thought was a B-24 tail turret and components of an ERCO 250TH-2 teardrop turret from a PB4Y-2 Privateer.  The tail turret actually is an MPC 250CH-6B, also from a Privateer.   Thanks go to turret expert Fred Bieser for that identification.  Donna and I became good friends with Jason in short order.  

Jason is a really talented artist, from painting nose art on WWII aircraft, to creating furniture from antique car parts, to making sharks from drop tanks, etc.   All of his art pieces are unique and show his passion for all things historical.  

I visited Jason at his home in Alvin, TX and ended up with more parts for the two turrets (free) plus three P-47 Thunderbolt propeller blades and three P-38 Lightning propeller blades.   Jason recently visited us in Oklahoma City,  bringing even more parts for the turrets and a couple other pieces he donated for display.   

Most importantly, Jason has loaned to me to study and copy a treasure trove of material on Lt. Thomas E. Bullington, a Cimarron Field Class 43-D cadet who was later killed on 4/11/44 flying his P-47 Thunderbolt "Cowtown Cyclone" on a combat mission in New Guinea.   Jason and I had discussed on a couple other occasions the incredible story of how he came to possessing these artifacts, then he  called me later so excited when he looked through the box again and found out Lt. Bullington had been a Cimarron Field Cadet!!   The story gets even more amazing when we looked through his flight log book and found he had flown Fairchild PT-19A #83 at Cimarron on 11/19/42.   I have that exact aircraft in my museum!!  On Jason's last visit, we got him in the back seat of Cimarron 83 for some photos.  It was an incredible moment.  To read about how Jason ended up with Lt. Bullington's historical records, please go to http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=45564&p=457510&hilit=guinea#p457510.  To see Jason's artist webpage, go to:  http://www.jasonbarnettartist.com/

Thanks for all of your important contributions to the museum.