Jeffrey Van Ness

In the middle 70's my grandfather stood in line with me for hours to see the premier of the movie Midway. From that time on, I have been enamored with the carrier war in the Pacific.

I began collecting WWII PTO memoribilia as a child with a jump start from my grandfather's "war booty".

I majored in History in college, wrote a thesis on "Discovery and Recovery of WWII Pacific Theatre Aircraft for Preservation and Museum Display", and went on to eventually teach American History at the college level.

I may be a little different than the traditional person interested in reenacting or living history as I focus on US Naval aviation. My acquistion of reenacting uniforms and articles are for a Naval aviator. Admittedly, there are not a lot of WWII Navy pilot reenactors.

I've had the luxury to also belong to the Commerative Air Force and actually serve as a "subject matter expert" for their SBD Dauntless and F4U Corsair at a couple of airshows and WWII Days.