Mansfield Aviation Club

Ally Gatchall, one of MAC’s scholarship recipients, just graduated from the Air Force Academy in May. She’s leaving for Europe for 60 day leave before reporting to pilot school at Vance AFB in Oklahoma in late July. She’s hoping to fly C-17s. We wish you the best, Ally!

It’s official: the amazing Grimes Flying Lab will be at Mansfield Airport Day!

What’s a flying lab? It’s a Beech 18 that served in the Air Force as the C-45. Built in 1952, this C-45H was a valuable tool for Grimes engineers to test and evaluate aircraft exterior lighting systems under various conditions while actually in flight.

Grimes would fly over to Boeing and show them the different combinations of lights available! It currently has over 75 lights on it!!

This incredible aircraft is part of the National Aviation Heritage Area! Come visit the Grimes crew on Airport Day and learn about this Ohio aviation treasure!

We’re just two months from Mansfield Airport Day, so I figured I’d share some of the things we’re working on:

The beautiful “Champaign Gal” B-25J Mitchell is coming!
The Champaign Aviation Museum is bringing their B-25J Mitchell bomber to Mansfield Airport Day! This beautifully restored plane is an American twin-engine medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. Allied air forces flew it in every theater of World War II, and it was used by many other air forces after the war, seeing service across four decades.

It will be part of our static display area.

Built in 1944, the Champaign Aviation Museum’s B-25J served with the USAAF for 13 years. It was used as a trainer, transport and personnel transport. In 1957 it was transferred to the famous “airplane boneyard” at Davis-Monthan AFB where it was stored until ~1959 when it was bought by a private company and fought fires in Canada and the USA. It continued to be used as an airtanker until the late 1980’s when it was restored to its wartime specifications.

In 2008 the Champaign Aviation Museum acquired the aircraft and has been flying it and meticulously maintaining it ever since.

Mansfield Aviation Club Celebrates The Season

Christmas dinner, guest speaker, and organizational meeting to elect a new president

Randy Broderick

Dec 06, 2025

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Mansfield- On Thursday, December 5, more than 50 Mansfield Aviation Club members and their guests gathered at the Ontario Event Center for the club’s annual Christmas dinner. Following dinner, the club held a brief organizational meeting during which officers were elected.

• President-Kylie Gottman
• Vice President-Chris Johnson
• Treasurer-Kim Stover
• Secretary-Randy Broderick

Gottman is a 2022 Lexington grad. She is currently a senior at Liberty University, where she will earn her BS in Aviation. Gottman obtained her Private Pilot Certificate at Avit Flight Academy before attending ATP Flight School in Austin, Texas. While in Austin, she earned her instrument rating and commercial pilot certificate. She then transferred to ATP in Dallas, where she got her Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI), Commercial Multi-Engine certification, and Certificated Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII), as well as Multi-engine Instructor (MEI).

Gottman is very excited to get started in her new role at Mansfield Aviation Club.

Following the organizational meeting, guest speaker Ryan Craft entertained the crowd with a 45-minute presentation on his aviation Career. In a slideshow packed with videos and photos taken over his 20-year career as a Navy Pilot.

Craft, a 1999 Shelby grad, graduated from the US Naval Academy in 2004 with a BS in Aerospace Engineering. His first assignment was at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, graduating with a Master’s Degree in Aeronautical Engineering.

After five years of engineering classes, Ryan was excited to finally begin his naval aviation career in the summer of 2005.  After two years of flight schools in Pensacola, FL, Corpus Christi, and Kingsville, TX, Ryan earned his coveted Wings of Gold in June 2007.  After winging, Ryan was assigned to fly the E-2C Hawkeye with the VAW-121 Bluetails in Norfolk, VA, where he deployed twice and flew 114 combat operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.  In 2011, Ryan was assigned as a flight school instructor with the VT-10 Wildcats flying the T-6A Texan II at NAS Pensacola, FL, where he flew until 2016 and was honorably discharged from active duty, and started flying with Southwest Airlines.  The Navy quickly reactivated him for two more flight instructor tours at NAS Meridian, MS, flying the T-45C Goshawk with Training Air Wing One, where he retired from active duty in 2024.  Ryan returned to flying with Southwest Airlines and resides in Nashville, TN, with his wife and two children.

Mansfield Aviation Club was founded on June 16, 1949. Mansfield Aviation Club’s mission is to share its passion for aviation among its members and to further their knowledge, skill, and the joy of flying to all who are interested in aviation. Our membership consists of aviation enthusiasts of all ages and experience, pilots and non-pilots, sharing their knowledge and friendship.

Helping to ensure a bright future for our airport is a primary focus of the Aviation Club, and providing scholarships with the help of tax-deductible donations that enable future pilots to obtain training supports that goal. As the cost of flying has become more expensive, many who had the dream to become a pilot may have found it beyond their financial means. We hope that our scholarships will enable some of those individuals in the Richland area the opportunity to fulfill their dream and keep general aviation in our community vibrant into the future.

The Mansfield Aviation Club is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to our cause, you can do so by mailing a check to

Mansfield Aviation Club
P. O. Box 1471
Mansfield OH
44901

Or you can donate directly to the Richland County Foundation