Jeff is a former Air Force pilot whose love of aviation storytelling led to the creation of Avgeekery. A longtime #avgeek, Jeff loves technology, aviation, model airplanes, and his family.
Bill Walton is a life-long aviation historian, enthusiast, and aircraft recognition expert. As a teenager Bill helped his engineer father build an award-winning T-18 homebuilt airplane in their up-the-road from Oshkosh Wisconsin basement. Bill is a freelance writer, screenwriter, and humorist, an avid sailor, fledgling aviator, engineer, father, uncle, mentor, teacher, coach, and Navy veteran. Bill lives north of Houston TX under the approach path to KDWH runway 17R, which means he gets to look up at a lot of airplanes. A very good thing.
Dave Hartland has spent his life immersed in all things aviation. A self-proclaimed avgeek who grew up under the flight path of his local airport, he began flight lessons at the age of 14. He is a copywriter for the aviation industry and is the owner of The Aviation Copywriter. He lives in snowy Erie, Pennsylvania with his wife Danielle and their 4-year-old son Daxton. Besides aviation, Dave loves traveling, RVing, Disney cruises, camping, hiking, meteorology, and spending time with family and friends.
Killian is our Assistant Editor & a full time aerospace photojournalist. He covers both spaceflight and military / civilian aviation & produces stories, original content & reporting for various media & publishers. Over the years he’s been onboard NASA’s space shuttles, flown jet shoots into solar eclipses, launched off aircraft carriers, has worked with the Blue Angels & most of the air show industry, & has flown photo shoots with almost every vintage warbird that is still airworthy.
A veteran of 32 years in the airline industry, David H. Stringer is currently the History Editor for AIRWAYS Magazine and a member of the Editorial Board of THE AVIATION HISTORIAN (TAH), a British publication. He is author of the book “America’s Local Service Airlines”, published by the American Aviation Historical Society.
Jeff has been flying and writing for more than thirty-five years. He flew in the Air Force and later taught college-level aeronautics. He has worked as professional photographer and a business and technical writer for both Pratt and Whitney and Lockheed Martin. Now retired, Jeff is on a mission to visit, photograph and write about aerospace museums—especially the smaller, lesser known museums.
Jim Mumaw is a life long avgeek who lives in California. Jim owns and operates Mumaw Funeral Home which was started in Lancster, CA by his great grandfather 103 years ago. As father and grandfather, he enjoyed his daughter’s exploration of the wonders aviation from a young age. Now he enjoys spending time with his two grand children, Zachary and Zoe. In 2007 he became a corespondent for Pacific Flyer in his free time until 2012. You can see his photography posted frequently at Avgeekery.com’s Facebook page.
Byron “Hook” Hukee is a retired USAF LtCol who flew A-1 Skyraider combat SAR and CAS missions during the Vietnam War with the 1st SOS. He also flew the F-100, A-7D, F-5E and was among the first USAF pilots to fly the F-16 Viper. Hook amassed 3,100 flying hours in mostly single seat fighter aircraft. Following retirement, he first worked as a contractor supporting the USAF Fighter Weapons school, then spent seven years as an Air Force civilian working in the Strategy Division of HQ USAFE at Ramstein AFB.
Valerie Smith is a Certified Flight Instructor, Commercial Pilot, FAA licensed Aircraft Dispatcher, and freelance writer. She is an Aviation Specialist for a public utility in San Diego, CA.
Jeff Newman is a long-time aviator with time on the flight deck of a Jet Stream 32, and Embraer 145 Regional Jet whisking adventurous travelers around the country to exotic locations, such as, Chicago, Atlanta, and St. Louis. Mr. Newman, also, holds a MBA in Finance and has almost a decade in finance and banking.
With a life-long interest in military history and aviation, Allan began filming aircraft at airshows in the late ’90’s. Discovering a passion and talent for video editing, he subsequently formed the Historical Aviation Film Unit (http://www.aviationfilm.com) with photographer and collaborator Alex Mitchell. HAFU specializes in the production of video clips, books and video disks on aviation and military vehicles. Between writing and video filming/editing assignments, Allan is a professional software engineer who has been producing sophisticated database systems since the late 1980’s.
Chris is a 31 year military veteran. He served in the Air Force and Air National Guard flying the KC-135 Stratotanker. Chris graduated high school the year Top Gun premiered and set his sights on flying. After enlisting in the Air Force for four years then another five in the Air National Guard, Chris received his commission and wings. A self-proclaimed data nut, Chris enjoys data-mining to reconstitute numbers into visuals. Chris flew Cessna 152’s and 172’s, the T-3A Firefly, T-37B Tweet, T-1A Jayhawk, KC-135E/R/T, SA-227 Metroliner and now flies the MD-11 for FedEx Express as a First Officer
Lauren Spohn is a Rhodes Scholar and private pilot starting her PhD in History at Oxford this fall. Raised in an Air Force family, she’s worked in tech and finance and writes about aviation, travel, and the new space frontier (among other things). You can read more of her work at www.laurenspohn.com.
Brian is a passionate aviation enthusiast, having started the model company “Jet-X”, producing two aviation documentary films, and is now about to release a complete history on the British Aerospace 146 for LaJetee Press, a new aviation book publisher. He maintains an aviation website www.avgeektv.com
