A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

Thursday marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied amphibious and aerial landings in France that marked a turning point in World WWII and the defeat of Nazi Germany. Among the vintage warbirds flying to commemorate the event last week in Europe was an A-26C known as “Million Airess,” which left the U.S. on June 1, flown by Million Air president and CEO Roger Woolsey; his son Chase, a charter captain with aircraft charter and management sister company American Jet International; and Al Maxwell, an A-26 type-rated pilot.
The Million Air FBO chain invested in the restoration of the twin radial engine Douglas bomber, which rolled off the assembly line in 1944. Million Air’s Houston Hobby Airport-based Part 145 maintenance operation looks after that aircraft owned by the Houston-based Vietnam War Flight Museum, and Woolsey—a former corporate pilot—has spent many hours in its right seat.
This particular aircraft (39359) actually saw action in the European theater during the war and later served in the Far East during the Korean Conflict prior to its retirement and disposal. It then found life as a fire bomber before eventually being acquired by a museum and prepared for the airshow circuit.
Carrying a crew of seven, including the pilots, maintenance crew, and a videographer, the octogenarian aircraft made its way east, stopping at several U.S. cities before hopscotching across the Atlantic by way of Iceland. It made its way to Cherbourg, France, where it was based for the week, and flew in several commemorative demonstrations in the Normandy area. With more events scheduled through the end of the month, the aircraft will remain in Europe, flying with other vintage warplanes.
"We think aviation is a passion, not a commodity,” said Woolsey. “It is about heart, risk, and the freedoms of flight. With the 80th&nbsp;anniversary of D-Day coming up, we wanted Million Air’s tribute flight, crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Normandy, to celebrate the courage, dedication, and the indelible legacy those aviators left in the skies and in our hearts.”

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