Team Will Fly A 'Missing Man' In Honor Of Lost Team Mate

It's been a tough time for the Trojan Horseman since the loss of a team mate in a WV Airshow crash last month, just hours after another, separate, tragedy occurred at the Reno Air Races... On November 11th, 2011 the team will fly together publicly for first time since then.

Trojan Horsemen team members will fly a formation flight over the start of the Veterans Airlift Command annual golf tournament and Fund-raising dinner, then fly the missing man in honor of Jack "Flash" Mangan. Flash was originally scheduled to lead this mission and his team mates will complete it for him. Flash and his company, RMG, have always supported veterans causes.

The Team has flown as the honor guard for the Veterans Airlift Command since 2006. The VAC's purpose is to provide free air transportation to wounded veterans and their families for medical and other compassionate purposes, through a national network of volunteer aircraft owners and pilots. To date they have flown 5000 passengers and almost 2 million miles in support of our wounded veterans. On Veterans day weekend the VAC will hold its annual fundraiser at Pinehurst Golf Club outside Ft. Bragg in NC.

The Ranger Group Parachute team will participate in the opening ceremony. The Ranger groups members include Mark Jones and Mike Elliot former Golden Knights who jumped with President George Bush on his 85th birthday.

Not content to let it end there, the VAC has decided to raise the bar and some of their members have committed themselves in a unique way to their cause. Narrator and Event Coordinator, Lisa Heidinger, has been challenged to tandem jump with the Ranger Group to raise funds for VAC and is raising much needed funds via sponsorship of her jump.

Better yet, there is a competitive aspect to this in that Lisa has been challenged by another VAC volunteer who will jump along with her, to see who can raise the most money.

FMI: http://vacfundraiser.org, www.veteransairlift.org/m/donate.aspx?campaign=2011LISAJUMP