A Salute to Our Veterans
The Alabama Gun Collector’s Association is sponsoring an “Honor the Veteran” Gun Show on March 26-27 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The show will feature a reunion of the last three remaining B29 airmen of the 509th Composite Group which participated in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 5, 1945. Also featured is Earnest Craigwell, Jr, of the famous Tuskegee Airmen.
You will have the opportunity to meet and talk with Dutch Van Kirk — navigator of the Enola Gay (lead B29 Bomber); Ira Weatherly — pilot of the B29 Straight Flush (Weather Plane); Russell Gackenback—navigator of Necessary Evil (Photography Plane).
Gackenback snapped the only two photos of the actual atomic blast.
Craigwell, who joined the famous Tuskegee Airmen in 1945, flew over 400 missions over Korea and Viet Nam and served as an instructor to the South Korean National Air Force.
This show will have over 650 tables devoted to displays and collections of military arms, accouterments and edged weapons from all wars fought by American Forces. Many weapons will be for sale.
And a special part of this show will be the participation of over a dozen veteran organizations and groups, including The Veterans Administration, The Disabled Veterans Association, The Wounded Warriors, The American Legion, and VFW, as well as recruiters for the Armed Forces.
For additional information, email: agcabham@aol.com, or call 334-279-9895
Resources for Military Gun Collectors
The Standard Catalog of Military Firearms
The Greatest Guns of Gun Digest
Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms and Their Values
