The kickoff of OAOA's twenty-fifth birthday year is the subject of an article in the November, 2008 issue of The Oklahoma Aviator.  Besides mentioning the founders of OAOA, the article also gives a few of the details of the 2009 conference.   An ad for OAOA also appears on the back page of the issue.

Joe Cunningham started The Oklahoma Aviator in 1981. Joe was a legend in the world of Oklahoma aviation and created The Aviator to serve grass-roots general aviation. He created a vehicle for communicating the story of aviation in Oklahoma, past present, and future. A loyal cadre of advertisers joined with Joe, and they found The Aviator provided a convenient way to reach the general aviation market. Joe passed away in 1999 and The Aviator ceased publication for six months until it was reborn in 2000 under the guiding hand of Mike Huffman. Mike retained The Aviator style and flavor that Joe had started but updated the production and expanded the circulation to include all areas of the state of Oklahoma and surrounding states.

Many OAOA members from the early days will remember Joe Cunningham and his wife Mary Kelly who were very active in OAOA and in Oklahoma aviation.  Ms. Kelly served OAOA as it's fourth president from 1988-1989.

The current owner and publisher, Earl Downs, came onto the Oklahoma aviation scene in 1991 when he opened Golden Age Aviation Inc., a fixed-base operator (FBO) on the airport in Cushing, Oklahoma. That's when he first met Joe and his wife, Mary Kelly. Earl  advertised in The Aviator to increase his business and by 1994 he was writing a monthly column for The Aviator entitled "Up With Downs." It was in 2003, when  Mike Huffman and his wife moved out of the state that Downs became the owner of The Oklahoma Aviator.

Though not from a family of an aviation background, Downs professes a life-long love of  flying - even soloing on his 16th birthday.  Read more of Earl Down's thousands of hours of flying experience at:  http://www.oklahomaaviator.com/bio.shtml 

You may subscribe or find The Oklahoma Aviator in numerous aviation businesses and FBOs in the state.