This will sound a little down, but it's the truth as I see it:
Fly the warbirds until they are dust. In a few more years, almost no one will care about them except a very, select, few.
I live in Dutchess County, NY. Almost within spitting distance of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome.
It is a remarkable place, staffed, run, and maintained by some of the best people I know. Clay Hammond, his wife, and the rest of the team risk life and limb, and financial ruin to keep Cole Palen's dream alive.
And no one cares.
Every year attendance falls off.
No one learns about aviation in school anymore.
No one learns about WWI and the air battles over France.
No one knows who "Lucky Lindy" is and why he is so important.
No one cares that some of these plane are over 100 years old, and that even the replicas require a level of skill to fly that is almost unheard of in these modern times.
You can do everything humanly possible to save and preserve the warbirds, of any era, but eventually no one will care anymore. It was too long ago,and too far away and it doesn't affect people anymore.
I'm at Rhinebeck every year for the Jamboree, most years, multiple times. and I get to see what's going on, first hand.
It's just a crying shame that we are losing such an important part of what makes us America.
HERE! HERE! Well said...AND SADLY, EVERY WORD TRUE