Fair Play

A group from the Cold War Air Museum recently had the pleasure of meeting Jim Olson at a non-museum event where he was invited to speak.


Professor Olson is a Senior Lecturer and Faculty Member at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, where he teaches courses on intelligence, national security, and international crisis management.

Serving for over 25 years in the Directorate of Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency, mostly overseas in clandestine operations, Mr. Olson and his wife appear to be the inspiration for the characters of Ed and Mary Foley in Red Rabbit, a fictional novel of the Cold War era.

His non-fiction text, Fair Play: The Moral Dilemmas of Spying, has received 4-star ratings and reviews on Amazon as well as a review by his former employer. For the student of intelligence issues, morally challenging scenarios are presented with thought provoking commentary in a highly readable manner.

Jon shares a moment with the author, who received a standing ovation honoring both he and his wife for their service and sacrifice for our country for so many years. Comments and questions from the group of about 500 present expressed strong support for the continued ability of our intelligence, military and law enforcement communities to be able to continue to act effectively to safeguard our country.

In a rare opportunity for a group picture, shown standing left to right are Museum Directors Bud Forester, Phil Davis and Jon Boede with Associates Brent Harvey and Peter Taylor. Seated are Museuem President Bruce Stringfellow and Director R. L. Skinner. Bruce, a graduate of Texas A&M is wearing an appropriate school color for the evening.

Sample Nutplates Received

Our friend Bernd found some nutplates for the Cold War Air Museum. MiG-21. They came from a warehouse in former East Germany and we just received samples to evaluate for our project.



He says the guys know they may never repair another MiG (never, ever) but in communist tradition, they must hold on to what they have. Fortunately Bernd can bridge both worlds and was able to charm them into letting us have samples of the parts we may need. With luck, we'll be able to help some budding entrepreneurs find a market for some of their hoarded parts AND get the parts we need. If not, we'll have to implement Plan B (always have a Plan-B).

Capitalism/Communism was portrayed as an either/or -- I win/(you lose) game. The best portrayal of free trade and free enterprise is, that it is a win/win game. If you have what I want and sell it to me, I get what I want and you get what you want. Neither was happy before, both are happy after.

Thanks Bernd! Thanks guys.

A MiG-21's Tail

Recently we have posted a lot of pictures and videos of progress on the MiG-23 (and more will be coming). But our recent work push at the Cold War Air Museum also included the MiG-21 and Helicopters.

After static display at the Warbirds on Parade event, the MiG was put back up on jacks and stands for more work.

The tail (which had only been attached temporarily for the show) came back off so the tailpipe, nozzle and connections could be properly attached.

This time when the tail went back on, all of the hydraulics and electrics were attached and the tailpipe was mated to the roller guides in the aft fuselage with high temperature grease. It should not need to come off again unless a problem turns up in testing.

The working end of the engine appears ready to consume petrochemicals ($$$s) at a prodigious rate.

Feature Associate, Jon Boede

Jon, a director of the museum, kindly consented to be our next video victim, introducing himself and talking about the museum.



Jon served a tour in the U.S. Air Force before becoming a successful businessman and getting involved with CJ's, L39's and the Cold War Air Museum. He is currently working with another museum associate at a day job that involves complex facility planning, graphics and programming.