NEW CENTURY, Kan. — KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers Johnson County. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of healthcare, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.
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A group of World War II veterans wanted to make sure their aviation history wasn't lost. In the 1950s, they set out to collect one of each kind of American airplane flown during the war, and from that mission, the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) was born.
Brian Von Bevern, a CAF member who currently serves as the public information officer for the local chapter, said the organization grew from that decades-old dream into a living, flying museum.
"They wanted people to be able to see and hear and experience flight in these old airplanes," Von Bevern said.
The Johnson County branch of the CAF, the Heart of America Wing, is based at New Century AirCenter.
Visitors can see — and even buy and book a flight in — two restored World War II primary training aircraft: the Stearman and the T-6 aircraft. Von Bevern said a third aircraft, a PT-19, has been restored and is likely on its way to the hangar soon.
Von Bevern said the Stearman was primarily used for takeoff and landing training, whereas many T-6s mounted machine guns, so he said those were used to teach operators how to shoot.
Von Bevern spent his career as an air traffic controller, but at the Heart of America Wing, he's one of the pilots.
"We hope to keep that history alive," Von Bevern said.
The Heart of America Wing was started in the early 1980s by a group of enthusiasts from Kansas City. In about 2000, they gathered enough members and donations to build the facility at New Century AirCenter, an airport with its own military roots.
"New Century AirCenter was actually built as Olathe Naval Air Station in 1942 as a training base, because the military needed a lot of pilots during the war," Von Bevern said.
The base closed in 1970 and was donated to Johnson County as the airport it is today.
Since its start, the CAF's mission has grown beyond World War II.
"The CAF originally started to honor World War II veterans. Our mission has expanded in the years since then: Korean War, Vietnam War, the Middle East," Von Bevern said.
On display at the hangar is a Huey helicopter on loan from a Vietnam veteran group.
"Vietnam War was the first helicopter war, they called it, and the Huey was the helicopter for that. This particular one served in the Army, was shot down four times, then recovered, repaired [and] put back into battle again," Von Bevern said.
Mark Schlicht, also a member of the CAF, first told KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig about the nonprofit at our Let's Talk event in Lenexa.
"Our wing here is kind of a hidden gem," Schlicht said.
Community outreach is central to the chapter's mission. The hangar is available to rent for weddings and events. A museum is open upstairs, with memorabilia from the 1940s to now. Free, family-friendly Open Hangar Days are also held during the summer on the first Saturday of the month.
"It's one thing to tell a kid about a war that happened a long time ago. It's another thing to sit them in the front seat of an airplane," Von Bevern said.
For Von Bevern, the work is about more than preserving old aircraft.
"We're inspiring, we hope, the future generation by flying our old airplanes around," Von Bevern said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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