Two individuals were inducted into the EAA Warbirds Hall of Fame in 2001. Lincoln Dexter and Edward T. Maloney.
Lincoln Dexter
Lincoln Dexter graduated from Boston’s Wentworth Institute of Technology Aviation School in 1956 and joined the U.S. Navy. He earned his wings of gold at Naval Air Station Pensacola in 1958 and flew the Bell 47 and the Piasecki HUP-1.
In the fleet, Linc rubbed wings with some of the world’s military leaders. Aboard the USS Pocono, Linc was a department head and supported the ship with advance security work for a visit from President Eisenhower. In 1959, he gave Winston Churchill his first helicopter flight, from Nice, France to the USS Randolph. After the flight, Churchill invited Linc and his crew home for dinner.
Linc returned to Pensacola, where he served as a flight instructor, maintenance officer and test pilot. Later, he had the opportunity to fly virtually everything in the Navy’s inventory, and he logged more than 1,500 carrier landings in the process.
Leaving the Navy in 1968, Linc joined Seaboard World Airlines as a first officer flying DC-8s, and he eventually became a C-46 Captain. Seaboard merged with Flying Tigers in 1980, and Linc captained a DC-8, 727, and 747 before he retired from Flying Tigers in 1987. Never losing his love for warbirds, Linc decided to have some fun with them after his retirement. He’s a former T-28 owner and is currently a partner in another T-28. Since 1987, Linc has also been performing T-28 annual inspections and maintenance in his hangar in Pine Shadows Airpark.
EAA and AirVenture have also played a big role in Linc’s life. He’s the former Warbird Flight Line Chairman, and during the 1980’s he brought a Flying Tigers DC-8 to Oshkosh. For many years it was the largest aircraft to attend the event.
Linc has logged more than 32,000 flying hours, and his journeys have taken him around the world. He currently flies the EAA Aviation Foundation B-17 and is working on a GlaStar with a neighbor. Lynn, his wife of more than 23 years, is also a volunteer in Warbird Volunteer Food Service.
Edward T. Maloney
Edward Maloney is a modest man who, since 1948, has amassed an impressive aircraft collection that includes more than 145 aircraft that can be seen at the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino, California. Born out of Ed’s desire to preserve at least one example of as many different aircraft as possible, Planes of Fame is the oldest privately operated air museum in the world.
To this day, Ed directs the facility he founded, and he instituted an unheard of concept when he created the museum – flying the aircraft in the collection so visitors could see the aircraft in their natural environment. Since then, many other museums around the world have embraced the same concept.
Among the many magnificent aircraft Ed has collected is the world’s sole surviving Mitsubishi A6M-5 Model 52, the renowned Japanese Zero. Other one-of-a-kind aircraft Ed has helped preserve and maintain in flying condition include a Boeing P12E, Seversky 2PA/AT-12A Guardsman, and a Boeing P-26A.
Ed’s accomplishments with warbird aircraft and the Planes of Fame Museum are remarkable, but he is also an esteemed member of several organizations including the Civil Air Patrol, American Aviation Historical Society, Navy League, the Museum Director’s Association, and, of course, EAA. In his “spare time,” Ed has written 26 aviation books and co-founded the “Aero Series” collection of aviation books.
Ed Maloney is truly an aviation historian who has not only chronicled the lives of some amazing aircraft, but he has also maintained these aircrafts in airworthy condition so his passion for aviation can be shared with future generations.