Freedom Flyers And Mid American Flight Museum of Texas Make Flight Possible
By Tom Woodward
Two WWII vets will get the opportunity of a lifetime; a chance to fly into Oshkosh in a P-51 and F4U Corsair through the generosity of Freedom Flyers and Mid American Flight Museum of Texas.
Most of us just wander by the Warbird area in awe of those magnificent machines, feeling just a bit of envy for those who fly and own them, but in the past there was a whole generation of young men who never worried about ownership of anything other than their honor and love of their country. These men fought for their country and flew these wonderful machines for other than pleasurable pursuits and then many never flew again. On July 24th two of those veterans will fly again into Oshkosh in airplanes in which they fought for this county.
Freedoms Flyers is a 501(c)3 organization started by Cowden Ward and formed to offer complimentary flights to veterans to honor their service. In the first year of operation more than 100 flights were given not only to aviators but servicemen and women suffering from PTSD and Vietnam veterans.
Cowden Ward Jr, born in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1945, founded freedom Flyers. Cowden was the typical boy of that generation who worshiped family members who flew in WWII, and he couldn’t get enough of airplanes. Washing airplanes throughout High school he earned enough money to obtain his PPL in his first year of College. His plans were to fly in the service but a bad back sidelined that career. His first aviation job was selling aviation insurance but when that company went out of business he opened a flight school in Houston, Texas. Over time flying took a back seat to his custom home building business. As business got better he purchased an RV-4 and flew it all over the country. Soon he added a twin Comanche and a Baron to his stable of flying machines. He traded the Comanche for an SNJ to fulfill his dream of flying a warbird. Cowden eventually purchased his “dream” airplane, a P-51.
Cowden’s P-51, “Pecos Bill” first saw service with the RCAF before coming back to the US as an air racer named “Sugar Booger”, until it was crashed. A man named Bill, who was the Mayor of Pecos, Texas, thus the name, eventually rebuilt it. Pecos Bill made its way to Cowden when the then owner could no longer afford it. Cowden fell in love with Pecos Bill because he had been fan of the Walt Disney’s cartoon, “Pecos Bill”, when he was growing up and there it was, “Pecos Bill” and a P-51. Cowden said, “It had to be fate”. Cowden not only flies vets, he is active with Young Eagles, has taken the P-51 to Challenge Air events in Conroe and participates in many other similar events as well as supporting a lot of local charities by giving rides in P-51.
On July 24th Cowden, flying his P-51 and his friend Scott Glover of the Mid-America Flight Museum of Mount Pleasant, Texas, flying his F4U- Corsair, will deliver two Veterans to the greatest Airshow on earth. “There are really no words to describe the experience in flying a WWII veteran and seeing him or her relive some of their better times," said Cowden.
(Image provided by Freedom Flyers)
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