Dedicated to Major Lewis Huston

My dad was truly a great man and a great father. Although he passed away shortly after I bought this business it is something he always thought I should have been involved in because I had such an intense interest in models and aviation. I know he would have been proud that I actually ended up owning a hobby shop. His military service was always of great importance to me and he and I would talk at length about it. I believe it was these conversations and his desire to show me the aircraft that he flew that inspired me to begin modeling and to take such a deep interest in military aviation. I guess one could say that owning this business is one of his legacies.

Interestingly enough he was one of those people that rose from being a drafted enlisted man to retire as a Major in the United States Air Force. His career covered the Army Air Corps, the Army Air Forces and the United States Air Force. Drafted in June 1941, he had the opportunity to test for the aviation cadet program, qualified and in January 1943 began flight training progressing from the PT-22, BT-13, and AT-17 into the AT-20. Beginning in August 1943, he began heavy bomber training in B-17Fs. By the end of 1943 he moved into the B-24D and finally the B-24H and the newly formed 487th Bomb Group (H).

After having flown the Southern route from Brazil to Africa and then up to England, his first combat mission was flown on May 29th, 1944. The 3rd Air Division, of which the 487th was a part, was a combined B-24/B-17 division. Due to 8th Bomber Command wanting to keep the same  aircraft type in each of the three Air Divisions, it was decided that the 3rd AD would transfer its B-24s to the 2nd AD and those units loosing B-24s would get B-17Gs. So after flying 10 combat missions in B-24Hs, Lt. Huston would now be flying B-17Gs, which he much preferred. He finished out his tour with a total of 35 combat missions. Several of his aircraft were shot up and he was shot down once over Germany, but landed in friendly territory in Belgium.

Returning to the states he was allowed to request any assignment he wanted. He ended up in the Ferry Command flying all types of aircraft around the country from Long Beach, California. Many of the types he flew were the P-38, P-61, A-26, B-25, and C-47. When the war ended he decided to get out and went back to civilian life as a sheet metal worker. After he met and married my mom, he was more interested in getting back into the service and flying than doing the sheet metal trade so he applied for reinstatement. I guess you could say that lucky for him the Berlin Crisis developed because he got orders to report for C-54 training with a subsequent assignment to Rhein-Main, Germany. By the end of 1949 he had made over 125 trips to Berlin on the airlift. Then he was assigned to the electronics school at Keesler AFB. While there he continued to keep current flying B-25s and T-6s.

Over the course of the next few years he received various assignments, a choice one being the 188th FIS at Long Beach to fly the F-51D Mustang.  After a short tour at Long Beach, Yuma County Airport in Arizona was next. Yuma was an Air Defense Command base in the early 1950s and had a variety of aircraft there. Now flying with the 4750th Training Squadron (weapons), Capt. Huston would start flying jets. Beginning in mid-1954 he took his first T-33 check ride and from there went on to fly the TB-45, B-45A and eventually the F-89D. January 1956 he was transferred to Earnest Harmon AFB, Newfoundland, Canada to fly F-89Ds with the 61st FIS of Northeast Air Command. His last assignment was Amarillo AFB, Texas where he continued to fly the T-33 before retirement in May 1963. Upon retirement he was promoted to Major.

Some of the awards he earned over his career include the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Distinguished Flying Cross plus a number of campaign ribbons.