By Nick Viggiano

Scott glover flying the P-51, Andrew Kiest flying the Beech 18 and Kelly Mohan flying the T-28. Matt Bongers was flying the photo plane SNJ-3. (Mid America Flight Museum)I started a new aviation journey about a year ago. Two friends who did not know each other (at the time) were pulling me to Mount Pleasant, Texas, and the Mid America Flight Museum. One longtime friend, Jason Bell, who lives in Mt. Pleasant, was finally bitten by the aviation bug and was pursuing his private ticket. The other, longtime friend, Erik Johnston, an aviation videographer, was volunteering and producing YouTube videos for the Mid America Flight Museum, based at the Mt. Pleasant airport.

Well, after a minimum of arm-twisting, one Saturday in February, I headed east from Dallas to visit my friend, Jason, and the Mid America Flight Museum.

After meeting up with and having lunch with Jason, we headed to the museum. As we drove onto the airport, in a hanger off in the distance, I spotted two gleaming three-blade props! Just the props were visible in the sunlight, and the rest of the aircraft was in the shadows. 

I blurted out P-38! JB answered NO. As we got closer, I was dumbfounded! Now, I know my warbirds and military aircraft, but I am so-so with classic civilian aircraft. The aircraft turned out to be a rare bird. The Howard 250 is a post-war executive conversion of a Lockheed Loadstar and one of the only four built with tricycle-landing gear.