September 12, 2025 • 21 mins
Welcome to A New American Town. In this episode, we are joined by Jason Muszala, CEO of The Roost, a group based at Thaden Field in Bentonville dedicated to the operation, maintenance, and restoration of vintage WWII warbirds. The Roost supports both Steuart Walton’s private collection and the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum in Washington state. Their work allows our community to experience living history through special events, flyovers, and one-of-a-kind restorations.
We talk about the work The Roost is doing locally, the national recognition they’ve just received, and how these efforts tie into Steuart Walton’s impact on aviation. We’ll also touch on how you can see The Roost’s work in Bentonville and what the future of these world-class aviation projects might look like for our community.
Come see them in person at the UP.Summit Community Day September 28, 2025! https://www.upsummit.day/
A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.
You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to A New American Town.
I'm your host, Natalie.
With Visit Bentonville Today,I'm joined by Jason Muzala, CEO
of the Roost, a group based atDayton Field in Bentonville
dedicated to the operation,maintenance and restoration of
vintage World War II warbirds.
The Roost supports both StuartWalton's private collection and
(00:31):
the Flying Heritage, Combat andArmor Museum in Washington State
.
Their work allows our communityto experience living history
through special events, flyoversand one-of-a-kind restorations.
We're going to talk about thework the Roost is doing locally,
the national recognitionthey've just received and how
these efforts tie into StuartWalton's impact on aviation.
(00:51):
We'll also touch on how you cansee the Roost work in
Bentonville and what the futureof these world-class aviation
projects might look like for ourcommunity.
Thanks so much for joining us,Jason.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, thanks for having me, Natalie.
I'm so excited to dive in alittle bit deeper, a lot of
people might not know what theRoost is, so do you want to just
start with a little bit ofbackground?
Absolutely yeah.
The Roost is a group ofaviation specialists that
restore and maintain StuartWalton's collection of World War
II airplanes to world-classstandards.
(01:22):
And we're here because it'simportant to Stuart to base his
collection in his hometown andby doing that it enables the
airplanes and their history tobe shared with our community
right here in Bentonville.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Wow, how did you get involved in restoring vintage
aircrafts?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Myself.
I got involved from a veryyoung age, so it's the trade of
my father and his family, so Iwas just really fortunate enough
to have the opportunities tokind of grow up in and stay
involved in the Warbirdcommunity.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I feel like that has to be really
niche.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
It is.
Yeah, it's a pretty tightcommunity.
There's not many people thatare in the Warbird community in
any facet, whether you're apilot or a mechanic or an owner.
That kind of doesn't know eachother or interacts on a fairly
regular basis.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Right, because they're so unique and so
different and I feel like youjust have to be taught for a
long, long time from a young agehow to preserve them, how to go
about handling them.
You want to talk about thatprocess a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, I mean, there's definitely no school to go
learn how to work on, you knowWorld War Two era aircraft.
So essentially you either haveto be trained in the military or
in a college or some sort oftech school to work on aircraft
and then, once they come to aplace like the Roost, that's
(02:52):
kind of when the educationstarts all over again and then
you learn how to work on vintagewarbirds from there.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Oh wow, how big is your staff.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
We currently have five on staff, so we're kind of
a small shop which is perfectfor what we need, just due to
the craftsmanship and kind ofquality control required around
these airplanes.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Wow, wow.
How do you go about gettingthem and figuring out which ones
you want to refurbish?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
As far as the aircraft go, it sort of depends.
There is a small market ofthese types of warbird aircraft
that have flyable airplanes, butwhen there's not the type of
airplane on the market thatyou're after, then you have to
look for a project and thenrestore it.
Found in just kind of a widerange of areas, from somebody's
(03:49):
barn, you know, in the middle ofnowhere, all the way out to
excavating out of a hole inPapua New Guinea, which is where
the most recent restorationthat is currently in Bentonville
came from was out of Papua NewGuinea.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Tell me more about that one.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So that's the airplane.
It's a P-38 Lightning, it'sowned by Flying Heritage and
Combat Armor Museum and recentlywe had that and a P-51 Mustang
at Oshkosh and the airplane'scalled Wandina and the
airplane's called Wandina andthe Wandina airplane has huge
(04:27):
historical significance.
It was flown by a general inthe USAF Back then it was called
the Army Air Corps and he was aquadruple ace and so, yeah,
it's just a really neat pieceand that will eventually go up
to Everett Washington and livein Flying Heritage and Combat
(04:49):
Armor Museum.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Cool.
I wish that this was a video,just so that we could show folks
what these aircrafts look like.
If you're listening, go andlook up all the planes that we
talk about, because it's so coolto see them.
And I looked up the P-3.
It looks like a spaceship to me, but I don't know a lot about
aircrafts.
It's just so fascinating.
(05:09):
How did it get its name?
How do they get named likeWanda?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So the pilots were allowed back in those days to
name the aircraft whateverthey'd like, and so this name
kind of derived from a lovestory, really.
So JT Robbins met his wife Inain a hospital in Australia while
he was over for a medical exam.
And I know he was walking downa hallway and Ina came out of a
(05:40):
room and asked for help becauseone of her patients had fallen
and she wasn't big or strongenough to get him up.
So Jay, being a gentleman, washappy to help and they, locked
eyes, fell in love.
Long story short, they ran away, they got married and the word
Wandina is spelled Jandina, so Jthe word and A and D and then
(06:07):
her name, ina.
So it's a moniker of theirnames together.
And JT Robbins is from CoolidgeTexas and JT Robbins is from
Coolidge Texas.
So because of the Tex-Mexconnection he and Ina decided
early that if they ever had adaughter they would name her
Wandina, and his airplanes werenamed Wandina.
Wow, he had four of them, by theway.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
All Wandina.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
All Wandina, and we currently have Wandina 3.
That's the airplane we restored.
Oh, thatina, and we currentlyhave.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Wandina 3.
That's the airplane we restored.
Oh, that's super cool.
So how can our community seethis plane right now, before it
goes out to Washington?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, like you know, we're just kind of a small shop
and not really a public facingbusiness.
But yeah, people you knowairport goers that are in the
area stop in and check it out.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Uh, we just have it here at Thane field.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Um and uh, but some of the other airplanes that we
have here in Bentonville are aredefinitely uh on display from
time to time.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Right, right and you, um, you guys come to fly over
some of the local events that wehave, like First Fridays, and
we have the Up Summit coming up.
Which planes do you choose tofly in those, and do you do the
same one every time?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
No, we don't do the same one every time.
We kind of mix it up and yeah,I'm glad you brought that up.
One thing that's reallyimportant is to share the
(07:54):
history and expose the airplanesto young people so that maybe
it'll create a spark in them andwant to get involved in
aviation on some level andpossibly advancement of aviation
.
Stuart is really proud tosupport the community, you know,
and local events, like we doflyovers first Friday events
right here in downtownBentonville.
The next one, by the way, isSeptember 5th, so there'll be a
flyover then.
We occasionally hold smallevents at the Fieldhouse out at
(08:16):
Thayden Field, sometimes inconjunction with the Fly Oz Club
, which also has a social club,by the way.
So that's worth checking out soyou can see the airplanes there
as well.
Great time to mention.
The next large event that he'ssupporting is the up summit
community day.
(08:36):
Uh, that's on sunday, september28th.
Um, we had up summit here atthane field last year and it's
back again this year.
It typically alternates, but um,yeah it was such a good event,
um and so successful um andbasically um.
To sum it up, because I know UpSummit sounds maybe a little
(09:00):
vague, it's the world's leadinggathering of entrepreneurs,
investors, corporate executives,policymakers, who are all
reimagining mobility as a whole,and with the Up Summit
Community Day, we get to openthe doors to thousands of
families.
Just see it all up closeEverything from historic flying
(09:25):
warbirds to flying cars,spaceships, drones, humanoid
robots, autonomous vehicles, andI mean there's just a ton and
really it's the future ofmobility on full display and a
great time and place to be ableto see the warbirds and what the
roost does, kind of in fullswing, because we operate the
(09:47):
airplanes and they're on displayand the whole staff will be out
there, you know, able to ask oranswer questions.
Yeah, sorry, yeah, to answerquestions and just encourage the
community to come out and askus anything you want about old
airplanes in history.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Right, oh, that's fabulous.
Yeah, up Summit last year was ahuge hit and that was the first
one I was able to experiencesince living here.
I couldn't believe the turnoutand at the time I lived
somewhere in the flight path andcould just see planes flying
over all day long and it was somuch fun.
And, yeah, if you guys don'thave that on your radar now, go
(10:24):
and check it out.
It's September 28th.
You don't want to miss it.
Once in a lifetime opportunityreally to see these airplanes
and something that is superinstrumental in our history.
And yeah, I love that youtouched on educating the youth
because, like, if you hadn'tbeen introduced to this whole
world, think about how differentyour impact would be.
(10:44):
And maybe the next kid thatgets to see these airplanes,
like you know, he's going to beso interested here.
She is going to be sointerested and just want to dive
in so much more.
And, um, yeah, that's awesome.
I love what you guys are doing.
Um, so obviously Bentonville isknown for bikes and trails.
Um, but having these aircraftshere might be like just not as
(11:06):
common.
People don't necessarily thinkof Bentonville as an aviation
town.
What kind of reactions do youfeel like you are getting from
these visitors that you'reinteracting with at these
community events.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, kind of a wide range of reactions, but all
positive, I would say.
And you know, kind of myfavorite avenue of discovery
that we have, you know, warbirds, flyable warbirds here is when
people just see them fly over.
Just like you mentioned, nottoo long ago, like just a couple
(11:39):
of weeks ago, we were contactedby a family, a local family,
who have, through this youngman's grandfather, a connection
to the P-51 Mustang, kind oflike a personal connection,
(12:06):
driving in town and they saw acouple of them coming into land
and, um, the, the young manpicked them out and knew exactly
what they were, and and cameand seeked them out and um, uh,
fortunately, one of the, thefocus of Dayton field is uh,
kind of to have lower fences,you know, to be community,
friendly and inviting to come in, and uh, and they were able to
do just that and and um, sothat's, I mean, special
(12:29):
connections like that are reallywhat it's all about, but um,
right.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, that is the beauty of thetan.
I love that it's really open tothe community, and even the
indoor part, how there's alreadykind of some history there
displayed, and just everythingat Baden Field, is awesome.
So I want to get back totalking about the specific
aircrafts.
You guys are working on all ofthe awards that you guys have
(12:54):
received.
You mentioned Oshkosh, so let'stalk about those awards and how
monumental they were for yourorganization.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Absolutely.
We did a little bit better thanwe thought we were going to do.
We were hoping to get an awardwith the P-38 that was recently
restored, and we wound up doinga little bit better than that.
So, the P-38 Lightning Wandinathat we talked about earlier,
(13:28):
owed by Flying Heritage andCombat Arbor Museum, it won the
top honors.
It won the Lindy Trophy, whichis named after Charles Lindbergh
, and so it's a statue ofCharles Lindbergh on a trophy,
and so it won Grand Champion inthe World War II category.
In the World War II category,In addition to that, it won
what's called the Phoenix Award,which is typically given to the
(13:48):
most extensive restoration.
You know Phoenix being kind ofsymbolic of rising from the
ashes and you know that wholething.
So yeah, the P-38 actually wontwo separate, really high-level
awards and the absolute tophonors, and that earned the
(14:10):
restoration shop which is inBreckenridge, Texas, Easeville
Aviation, two gold wrench awards.
So a trophy goes to theairplane and a golden wrench
goes to the people responsiblefor either restoring or
maintaining it.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Oh, awesome Wow.
Responsible for eitherrestoring or maintaining it.
Oh, awesome Wow.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
In addition to that, we flew one of Stuart's P-51
Mustangs named Was that Too Fastand that'll be familiar to some
of the local people here inBentonville.
It's the Shark Mouth Mustang.
It's painted in Korean Warcolors to honor Korean veterans
(14:51):
and it's at public events.
It was at Upsummit last yearand flies around quite a bit so
it's recognizable in the area.
That aircraft won a Lindy thisyear for reserve grand champion
in post-World War II, which wasactually really good considering
the airplane was restored 12years ago.
(15:13):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
And 12 years ago it won Grand Champion.
It came back, you know with wehad zero intention of judging it
to try and get an award.
We just showed up the way thatthe airplane operates every day
and they gave it like secondplace overall with.
Reserve Grand Champion and thatearned the Roost Golden Wrench
(15:36):
Award.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
So that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Pretty good start to a young organization.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Definitely yeah.
That airplane is so iconic theshark teeth, it's so fun.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
It's pretty silly looking, but also kind of mean.
It just depends on how you lookat it.
Yeah, pretty great.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Do you have a sneak preview of what to expect at
Upsummit?
What kind of aircrafts aregoing to be on display there?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Well, yeah, preview of what to expect at up summit
what kind of aircrafts are goingto be on display there?
Well, yeah, we should have, um,quite a few of the warbirds on
display.
I don't think we've narroweddown exactly what we want to fly
, but, um, last year we flew, uh, four of the fighters and and a
jet kind of a modern fightertrainer jet um, I don't, I don't
have any reason to thinkthere'll be any less
entertainment than that.
Absolutely, it'll be a prettygood year.
It'll always be a good showCool.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And then I know you have another upcoming project
with the German Stuka divebomber.
Do you want to talk a littlebit more about that one?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, that's right.
So one of the things that we doat the Roost out here at
Thayden Field is restorations,typically only one project at a
time.
Like I mentioned earlier, we'renot a huge shop, but yeah, we
have an opportunity to restorethe Ju-87 Stuka.
It's a German dive bomber andit's very rare.
(16:53):
There's no flying examples ofthe Stuka.
There's only two other completeexamples worldwide.
Those are both in museums andthey'll never fly.
So this will be the world'sonly example of the most famous,
probably most iconic world warii aircraft of all time wow,
(17:15):
that's huge and I'm like thefact that you're even trying to
tackle that big of a task has to.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
It probably took a while to get there.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I would bet to make the only flying one now it is,
yeah, and it it's huge for notjust because of um kind of what
we're doing and theresponsibility of what we're
doing, but also, um, becausethere's so few of them, we don't
really have a support system.
Like if you're restoring a P-38or a Mustang or any of the other
(17:45):
warbirds.
There's others that arecurrently flying and there's
parts, but with the Stuka wedon't have any people to give us
insight on how they've done itor to help with parts or tribal
knowledge operating.
It's just us here inBentonville doing something that
nobody's done in 80 years.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, wow, well, good luck.
You guys are doing a great job,I know.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
We'll take it all.
We'll probably need it.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, Well, you know what is one thing that you wish
whenever someone sees one ofthese airplanes in person that
they take away.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yeah, good question.
It's kind of evolved over theyears but working with museums
in the last you know, 15 yearsor so I'd have to say.
To narrow it down to one thingit would be my hope that it
sparks a feeling of some sortwith whoever sees the aircraft.
(18:47):
Could be a feeling or emotionof pride, either in our hometown
, you know, like knowing theseairplanes are here and kind of
part of our community, or afeeling of pride in what the
airplanes and the people didwith them back then.
Or just a feeling offascination.
(19:09):
I mean, they're very moving towatch fly when you hear them and
see them and if you're aroundthem you can kind of smell them.
They have a kind of a life aboutthem and ultimately, you know,
the drive is that it'll spark ayoung person's interest in
aviation and get involved onsome level and be encouraged to
(19:32):
maybe change the path ofaviation eventually, because
it's there's still a lot outthere to do and we just got to
get the right kids excited aboutit and hopefully these old
airplanes will help do that.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, that segues into my next question, which was
long-term.
How do you feel likeBentonville and the community
and the roost, just like what'sthe future.
What do you feel like you'rehoping to look towards?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
you feel like you're hoping to look towards.
Well, I think long-term theroost will be a little bit more
public facing and moreinteractive as things kind of
develop and the local collectiongrows.
For now I say Up SummitCommunity Day is a fantastic way
to stay involved in the otherkind of smaller events that
we're going to have.
But eventually we'd love to tryand be more interactive with
(20:26):
the public and takeopportunities to educate, you
know, young people and well,everybody really.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, everyone, Everyone needs it.
I think yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
The airplanes are a great reminder of kind of where
we come from and what we canachieve as a community and a
world.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, awesome.
Well, thank you so much.
If anyone is listening andwants to learn more about their
visit to Bentonville, or maybegoing to UpSummit, go to
visitbentonvillecom and you canfind everything out there.
Jason, thank you so much forjoining us today on A New
American Town.
We will see you guys next.
Welcome to A New American Town.
I'm your host, Natalie.
With Visit Bentonville Today,I'm joined by Jason Muzala, CEO
of the Roost, a group based atDayton Field in Bentonville
dedicated to the operation,maintenance and restoration of
vintage World War II warbirds.
The Roost supports both StuartWalton's private collection and
(00:31):
the Flying Heritage, Combat andArmor Museum in Washington State
.
Their work allows our communityto experience living history
through special events, flyoversand one-of-a-kind restorations.
We're going to talk about thework the Roost is doing locally,
the national recognitionthey've just received and how
these efforts tie into StuartWalton's impact on aviation.
(00:51):
We'll also touch on how you cansee the Roost work in
Bentonville and what the futureof these world-class aviation
projects might look like for ourcommunity.
Thanks so much for joining us,Jason.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, thanks for having me, Natalie.
I'm so excited to dive in alittle bit deeper, a lot of
people might not know what theRoost is, so do you want to just
start with a little bit ofbackground?
Absolutely yeah.
The Roost is a group ofaviation specialists that
restore and maintain StuartWalton's collection of World War
II airplanes to world-classstandards.
(01:22):
And we're here because it'simportant to Stuart to base his
collection in his hometown andby doing that it enables the
airplanes and their history tobe shared with our community
right here in Bentonville.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Wow, how did you get involved in restoring vintage
aircrafts?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Myself.
I got involved from a veryyoung age, so it's the trade of
my father and his family, so Iwas just really fortunate enough
to have the opportunities tokind of grow up in and stay
involved in the Warbirdcommunity.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I feel like that has to be really
niche.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
It is.
Yeah, it's a pretty tightcommunity.
There's not many people thatare in the Warbird community in
any facet, whether you're apilot or a mechanic or an owner.
That kind of doesn't know eachother or interacts on a fairly
regular basis.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Right, because they're so unique and so
different and I feel like youjust have to be taught for a
long, long time from a young agehow to preserve them, how to go
about handling them.
You want to talk about thatprocess a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, I mean, there's definitely no school to go
learn how to work on, you knowWorld War Two era aircraft.
So essentially you either haveto be trained in the military or
in a college or some sort oftech school to work on aircraft
and then, once they come to aplace like the Roost, that's
(02:52):
kind of when the educationstarts all over again and then
you learn how to work on vintagewarbirds from there.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Oh wow, how big is your staff.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
We currently have five on staff, so we're kind of
a small shop which is perfectfor what we need, just due to
the craftsmanship and kind ofquality control required around
these airplanes.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Wow, wow.
How do you go about gettingthem and figuring out which ones
you want to refurbish?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
As far as the aircraft go, it sort of depends.
There is a small market ofthese types of warbird aircraft
that have flyable airplanes, butwhen there's not the type of
airplane on the market thatyou're after, then you have to
look for a project and thenrestore it.
Found in just kind of a widerange of areas, from somebody's
(03:49):
barn, you know, in the middle ofnowhere, all the way out to
excavating out of a hole inPapua New Guinea, which is where
the most recent restorationthat is currently in Bentonville
came from was out of Papua NewGuinea.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Tell me more about that one.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So that's the airplane.
It's a P-38 Lightning, it'sowned by Flying Heritage and
Combat Armor Museum and recentlywe had that and a P-51 Mustang
at Oshkosh and the airplane'scalled Wandina and the
airplane's called Wandina andthe Wandina airplane has huge
(04:27):
historical significance.
It was flown by a general inthe USAF Back then it was called
the Army Air Corps and he was aquadruple ace and so, yeah,
it's just a really neat pieceand that will eventually go up
to Everett Washington and livein Flying Heritage and Combat
(04:49):
Armor Museum.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Cool.
I wish that this was a video,just so that we could show folks
what these aircrafts look like.
If you're listening, go andlook up all the planes that we
talk about, because it's so coolto see them.
And I looked up the P-3.
It looks like a spaceship to me, but I don't know a lot about
aircrafts.
It's just so fascinating.
(05:09):
How did it get its name?
How do they get named likeWanda?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So the pilots were allowed back in those days to
name the aircraft whateverthey'd like, and so this name
kind of derived from a lovestory, really.
So JT Robbins met his wife Inain a hospital in Australia while
he was over for a medical exam.
And I know he was walking downa hallway and Ina came out of a
(05:40):
room and asked for help becauseone of her patients had fallen
and she wasn't big or strongenough to get him up.
So Jay, being a gentleman, washappy to help and they, locked
eyes, fell in love.
Long story short, they ran away, they got married and the word
Wandina is spelled Jandina, so Jthe word and A and D and then
(06:07):
her name, ina.
So it's a moniker of theirnames together.
And JT Robbins is from CoolidgeTexas and JT Robbins is from
Coolidge Texas.
So because of the Tex-Mexconnection he and Ina decided
early that if they ever had adaughter they would name her
Wandina, and his airplanes werenamed Wandina.
Wow, he had four of them, by theway.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
All Wandina.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
All Wandina, and we currently have Wandina 3.
That's the airplane we restored.
Oh, thatina, and we currentlyhave.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Wandina 3.
That's the airplane we restored.
Oh, that's super cool.
So how can our community seethis plane right now, before it
goes out to Washington?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, like you know, we're just kind of a small shop
and not really a public facingbusiness.
But yeah, people you knowairport goers that are in the
area stop in and check it out.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Uh, we just have it here at Thane field.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Um and uh, but some of the other airplanes that we
have here in Bentonville are aredefinitely uh on display from
time to time.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Right, right and you, um, you guys come to fly over
some of the local events that wehave, like First Fridays, and
we have the Up Summit coming up.
Which planes do you choose tofly in those, and do you do the
same one every time?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
No, we don't do the same one every time.
We kind of mix it up and yeah,I'm glad you brought that up.
One thing that's reallyimportant is to share the
(07:54):
history and expose the airplanesto young people so that maybe
it'll create a spark in them andwant to get involved in
aviation on some level andpossibly advancement of aviation
.
Stuart is really proud tosupport the community, you know,
and local events, like we doflyovers first Friday events
right here in downtownBentonville.
The next one, by the way, isSeptember 5th, so there'll be a
flyover then.
We occasionally hold smallevents at the Fieldhouse out at
(08:16):
Thayden Field, sometimes inconjunction with the Fly Oz Club
, which also has a social club,by the way.
So that's worth checking out soyou can see the airplanes there
as well.
Great time to mention.
The next large event that he'ssupporting is the up summit
community day.
(08:36):
Uh, that's on sunday, september28th.
Um, we had up summit here atthane field last year and it's
back again this year.
It typically alternates, but um,yeah it was such a good event,
um and so successful um andbasically um.
To sum it up, because I know UpSummit sounds maybe a little
(09:00):
vague, it's the world's leadinggathering of entrepreneurs,
investors, corporate executives,policymakers, who are all
reimagining mobility as a whole,and with the Up Summit
Community Day, we get to openthe doors to thousands of
families.
Just see it all up closeEverything from historic flying
(09:25):
warbirds to flying cars,spaceships, drones, humanoid
robots, autonomous vehicles, andI mean there's just a ton and
really it's the future ofmobility on full display and a
great time and place to be ableto see the warbirds and what the
roost does, kind of in fullswing, because we operate the
(09:47):
airplanes and they're on displayand the whole staff will be out
there, you know, able to ask oranswer questions.
Yeah, sorry, yeah, to answerquestions and just encourage the
community to come out and askus anything you want about old
airplanes in history.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Right, oh, that's fabulous.
Yeah, up Summit last year was ahuge hit and that was the first
one I was able to experiencesince living here.
I couldn't believe the turnoutand at the time I lived
somewhere in the flight path andcould just see planes flying
over all day long and it was somuch fun.
And, yeah, if you guys don'thave that on your radar now, go
(10:24):
and check it out.
It's September 28th.
You don't want to miss it.
Once in a lifetime opportunityreally to see these airplanes
and something that is superinstrumental in our history.
And yeah, I love that youtouched on educating the youth
because, like, if you hadn'tbeen introduced to this whole
world, think about how differentyour impact would be.
(10:44):
And maybe the next kid thatgets to see these airplanes,
like you know, he's going to beso interested here.
She is going to be sointerested and just want to dive
in so much more.
And, um, yeah, that's awesome.
I love what you guys are doing.
Um, so obviously Bentonville isknown for bikes and trails.
Um, but having these aircraftshere might be like just not as
(11:06):
common.
People don't necessarily thinkof Bentonville as an aviation
town.
What kind of reactions do youfeel like you are getting from
these visitors that you'reinteracting with at these
community events.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, kind of a wide range of reactions, but all
positive, I would say.
And you know, kind of myfavorite avenue of discovery
that we have, you know, warbirds, flyable warbirds here is when
people just see them fly over.
Just like you mentioned, nottoo long ago, like just a couple
(11:39):
of weeks ago, we were contactedby a family, a local family,
who have, through this youngman's grandfather, a connection
to the P-51 Mustang, kind oflike a personal connection,
(12:06):
driving in town and they saw acouple of them coming into land
and, um, the, the young manpicked them out and knew exactly
what they were, and and cameand seeked them out and um, uh,
fortunately, one of the, thefocus of Dayton field is uh,
kind of to have lower fences,you know, to be community,
friendly and inviting to come in, and uh, and they were able to
do just that and and um, sothat's, I mean, special
(12:29):
connections like that are reallywhat it's all about, but um,
right.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, that is the beauty of thetan.
I love that it's really open tothe community, and even the
indoor part, how there's alreadykind of some history there
displayed, and just everythingat Baden Field, is awesome.
So I want to get back totalking about the specific
aircrafts.
You guys are working on all ofthe awards that you guys have
(12:54):
received.
You mentioned Oshkosh, so let'stalk about those awards and how
monumental they were for yourorganization.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Absolutely.
We did a little bit better thanwe thought we were going to do.
We were hoping to get an awardwith the P-38 that was recently
restored, and we wound up doinga little bit better than that.
So, the P-38 Lightning Wandinathat we talked about earlier,
(13:28):
owed by Flying Heritage andCombat Arbor Museum, it won the
top honors.
It won the Lindy Trophy, whichis named after Charles Lindbergh
, and so it's a statue ofCharles Lindbergh on a trophy,
and so it won Grand Champion inthe World War II category.
In the World War II category,In addition to that, it won
what's called the Phoenix Award,which is typically given to the
(13:48):
most extensive restoration.
You know Phoenix being kind ofsymbolic of rising from the
ashes and you know that wholething.
So yeah, the P-38 actually wontwo separate, really high-level
awards and the absolute tophonors, and that earned the
(14:10):
restoration shop which is inBreckenridge, Texas, Easeville
Aviation, two gold wrench awards.
So a trophy goes to theairplane and a golden wrench
goes to the people responsiblefor either restoring or
maintaining it.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Oh, awesome Wow.
Responsible for eitherrestoring or maintaining it.
Oh, awesome Wow.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
In addition to that, we flew one of Stuart's P-51
Mustangs named Was that Too Fastand that'll be familiar to some
of the local people here inBentonville.
It's the Shark Mouth Mustang.
It's painted in Korean Warcolors to honor Korean veterans
(14:51):
and it's at public events.
It was at Upsummit last yearand flies around quite a bit so
it's recognizable in the area.
That aircraft won a Lindy thisyear for reserve grand champion
in post-World War II, which wasactually really good considering
the airplane was restored 12years ago.
(15:13):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
And 12 years ago it won Grand Champion.
It came back, you know with wehad zero intention of judging it
to try and get an award.
We just showed up the way thatthe airplane operates every day
and they gave it like secondplace overall with.
Reserve Grand Champion and thatearned the Roost Golden Wrench
(15:36):
Award.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
So that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Pretty good start to a young organization.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Definitely yeah.
That airplane is so iconic theshark teeth, it's so fun.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
It's pretty silly looking, but also kind of mean.
It just depends on how you lookat it.
Yeah, pretty great.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Do you have a sneak preview of what to expect at
Upsummit?
What kind of aircrafts aregoing to be on display there?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Well, yeah, preview of what to expect at up summit
what kind of aircrafts are goingto be on display there?
Well, yeah, we should have, um,quite a few of the warbirds on
display.
I don't think we've narroweddown exactly what we want to fly
, but, um, last year we flew, uh, four of the fighters and and a
jet kind of a modern fightertrainer jet um, I don't, I don't
have any reason to thinkthere'll be any less
entertainment than that.
Absolutely, it'll be a prettygood year.
It'll always be a good showCool.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And then I know you have another upcoming project
with the German Stuka divebomber.
Do you want to talk a littlebit more about that one?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, that's right.
So one of the things that we doat the Roost out here at
Thayden Field is restorations,typically only one project at a
time.
Like I mentioned earlier, we'renot a huge shop, but yeah, we
have an opportunity to restorethe Ju-87 Stuka.
It's a German dive bomber andit's very rare.
(16:53):
There's no flying examples ofthe Stuka.
There's only two other completeexamples worldwide.
Those are both in museums andthey'll never fly.
So this will be the world'sonly example of the most famous,
probably most iconic world warii aircraft of all time wow,
(17:15):
that's huge and I'm like thefact that you're even trying to
tackle that big of a task has to.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
It probably took a while to get there.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I would bet to make the only flying one now it is,
yeah, and it it's huge for notjust because of um kind of what
we're doing and theresponsibility of what we're
doing, but also, um, becausethere's so few of them, we don't
really have a support system.
Like if you're restoring a P-38or a Mustang or any of the other
(17:45):
warbirds.
There's others that arecurrently flying and there's
parts, but with the Stuka wedon't have any people to give us
insight on how they've done itor to help with parts or tribal
knowledge operating.
It's just us here inBentonville doing something that
nobody's done in 80 years.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, wow, well, good luck.
You guys are doing a great job,I know.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
We'll take it all.
We'll probably need it.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, Well, you know what is one thing that you wish
whenever someone sees one ofthese airplanes in person that
they take away.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yeah, good question.
It's kind of evolved over theyears but working with museums
in the last you know, 15 yearsor so I'd have to say.
To narrow it down to one thingit would be my hope that it
sparks a feeling of some sortwith whoever sees the aircraft.
(18:47):
Could be a feeling or emotionof pride, either in our hometown
, you know, like knowing theseairplanes are here and kind of
part of our community, or afeeling of pride in what the
airplanes and the people didwith them back then.
Or just a feeling offascination.
(19:09):
I mean, they're very moving towatch fly when you hear them and
see them and if you're aroundthem you can kind of smell them.
They have a kind of a life aboutthem and ultimately, you know,
the drive is that it'll spark ayoung person's interest in
aviation and get involved onsome level and be encouraged to
(19:32):
maybe change the path ofaviation eventually, because
it's there's still a lot outthere to do and we just got to
get the right kids excited aboutit and hopefully these old
airplanes will help do that.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, that segues into my next question, which was
long-term.
How do you feel likeBentonville and the community
and the roost, just like what'sthe future.
What do you feel like you'rehoping to look towards?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
you feel like you're hoping to look towards.
Well, I think long-term theroost will be a little bit more
public facing and moreinteractive as things kind of
develop and the local collectiongrows.
For now I say Up SummitCommunity Day is a fantastic way
to stay involved in the otherkind of smaller events that
we're going to have.
But eventually we'd love to tryand be more interactive with
(20:26):
the public and takeopportunities to educate, you
know, young people and well,everybody really.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, everyone, Everyone needs it.
I think yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
The airplanes are a great reminder of kind of where
we come from and what we canachieve as a community and a
world.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, awesome.
Well, thank you so much.
If anyone is listening andwants to learn more about their
visit to Bentonville, or maybegoing to UpSummit, go to
visitbentonvillecom and you canfind everything out there.
Jason, thank you so much forjoining us today on A New
American Town.
We will see you guys next.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.