Air Force Ball

May 18, 2025

2024 Air Force Anniversary Ball

ASM Model Display at the 2024 Air Force Ball
By Mike Blohm

ASM conducted a model display at the 77th Air Force Ball that was held on Saturday, September 28th at the Sandia Resort and Casino in Albuquerque. This was ASM’s sixth display at the AF Ball event and this year’s display was terrific. The event celebrates the anniversary of the US Air Force becoming a separate service on September 18, 1947. Our display themes were “USAF 1947 to the Present” and “Why We Exist,” which was the theme of the event.

For our set-up we had six large tables in two groups of three (probably 36 total feet) and we displayed 115 total models, a new record for an AF Ball event. We brought 32 tubs and boxes of models that filled two vans, and we used just about everything we brought. We were located in the event ballroom against the back wall of the room facing the stage, and the attendees all passed by the display as they lined up to purchase beverages at each end of the back wall. So we had lots of lookers and discussions with the attendees. See pictures 1-9.

With all the table space available, we were able to better separate things into groupings than in previous displays. See pictures posted below which run left end to right end. On the three left tables (pics 16-25) we had: the Korean War, the “What’s in the Box?” display (P-51B kit’s sprues), Vietnam War/Southeast Asia, Air Defense Command including the Bomarc SAM, Strategic Air Command including cruise missiles, IRBMs, and ICBMs, and the Military Airlift Command/Air Mobility Command. Jerry Little and Matt Blohm manned these tables. On the three right tables (pics 26-33) we had: modern aircraft from Desert Storm through Afghanistan, experimental aircraft, NASA space programs (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle), and finally aircraft from Kirtland AFB and other New Mexico bases. Ken Piniak and Mike Blohm manned these three tables.

The event started with a presentation of the colors, followed by the cutting of the cake by the most senior and junior USAF members serving at Kirtland AFB. This was followed by the dinner and then a guest speaker talking about “Why we serve” and the two tips of the spear (see picture). One point is the aircrews who fly the planes, and the other point is the maintenance and support people that make it happen (pics 9-15). ASM was thanked for providing the model display during the final wrap-up of the event.

The display was set-up and manned by Ken Piniak, Jerry Little, and Matt and Mike Blohm. Models were provided by Frank Randall, Don Gatewood, Victor Maestas, Scott Jaworski, Brian Peck, Len Faulconer, and Matt and Mike Blohm; and also Josh Pals and Jack Garriss who permanently donated models for the club’s displays. Thanks to all who participated and loaned models. Thanks to Hobby Proz for letting us stage the model tubs at the shop. Please contact me if you are interested in building models to fill out the aircraft types that we still need for the display.

As I mentioned earlier, we had a lot of discussions with the attendees (pics 34-41). The 58 Special Operations Wing commander and I talked for around 10 minutes about the models in the Kirtland AFB section of the display. He had just checked-out in the MC-130J Commando II and wondered if we had one of those. I told him that I had one about 90 per cent completed and would bring it next year. (Hope to get that to a club meeting soon.) We talked about a lot of C-130 stuff as one of my younger brothers and my oldest son had both served flying them. I did get two new builds completed for the Kirtland AFB part of the display: a CV-22 Osprey and a F-51D in the NM Air National Guard “Tacos” markings, both in 1/72 scale. That MC-130J and a C-133 are in the in-progress pile. I also talked with a lot of folks about F-4 Phantoms, the SR-71, and the B-2. Jerry Little also had a couple of interesting discussions. In one discussion he talked with a B-52 crewmember and discovered that Jerry had flown with the guy’s father during his own career. Small world, and oldies but goodies keep soldiering-on.

In summary, we had a great time and successfully promoted the hobby of scale modeling and ASM, and provided service to the community. We passed out a bunch of ASM promo sheets so perhaps we might get some new members.

November 25, 2023

2023 AIR FORCE ANNIVERSARY BALL

Mike Blohm Air Force Ball, Community

ASM’s Model Display at the 76th Anniversary Air Force Ball
By Mike Blohm

Our ASM model display at the Air Force 76th Anniversary Ball was a huge success and enjoyed by all the attendees. The event was held on Saturday, November 4th at Kirtland Air Force Base. It celebrated the 76th birthday of the USAF, which became a separate service on September 18, 1947 with the passage of the National Security Act of 1947. The theme of this year’s event was “The Evolution of Flight.” Therefore, we presented two displays with a total of 108 models, which was a record for an AF Ball event. One display covered that main theme, and the second covered our “USAF 1947 to the Present” theme. We also threw in some models on New Mexico and Albuquerque Air Base history. I was initially worried that we would not be able to pull together a good “evolution” display, but it turned out great. We brought 40 total tubs and boxes in three cars to the event. This was our fifth display at an AF Ball. Pictures of the event and the displays are provided below.

Pictures of the 76th AF Ball Event

“USAF 1947 to the Present” Display

This year we had two large sets of tables both in “L-shaped” configurations in separate corners of the room that we were located in. This worked well for our two separate displays. We had models ranging from 1/200 through 1/32 scale. The “USAF 1947 to the Present” display had 75 models. The tables here included – from left to right – the Korean War with12 models; Southeast Asia/Viet Nam (SEA) with 13; Air Defense Command (ADC) with 7; cargo, transport and air refueling aircraft with 7; modern fighter, support, and training aircraft with 25; Strategic Air Command (SAC) with 6; helicopters with 3; and was capped-off with a 1/32 scale F-16C Thunderbird on the end built by Frank Randall. I completed three models just in time for the event to fill some gaps in the SEA, ADC, and SAC areas. These were, respectively, an O-1 Bird Dog finishing up the SEA forward air control (FAC) aircraft and a F-86D Sabre Dog both in 1/72, and a B-47B Stratojet in 1/144. We still need some cargo and bomber aircraft built in 1/144 scale.

Pictures of the “USAF 1947 to Present” Model Display

“Evolution of Flight” Display

The “Evolution of Flight” corner had 33 models that started with the Wright Flyer on one end and worked chronologically through major aeronautical developments up to the Space Shuttle and a few “future Air Force” models as well. These included some U.S. WWI and WWII aircraft of note: Raoul Lufberry’s Nieuport 17c (Lafyette Escadrille) and Frank Luke’s SPAD XIII, and Dick Bong’s P-38J and George Preddy’s P-51D. These were followed by some “firsts” aircraft consisting of the Me-262, P-80A, XFY-1 Pogo VTOL aircraft, XF-85 Goblin, X-1 “Glamorous Glennis,” X-3, XF-92, X 15, a huge 1/48 scale SR 71 Blackbird (loved by all attendees), F-15 and F-16XL test birds, and the YF-22 and YF-23 test aircraft. In the NASA space program section, the models included the Mercury-Redstone “Friendship 7” flown by Alan Sheperd; Mercury-Atlas “Freedom 7” flown by John Glenn; Gemini Titan-3 “Unsinkable Molly Brown” flown by Gus Grissom and John Young; the Apollo-11 Command and Service Module “Columbia” and Lunar Module (LM) “Eagle” enroute to the Moon; and the LM “Eagle” landed on the Moon. Next were models of the Space Shuttles “Challenger” on the crawler launch pad and “Discovery” in the landed configuration. The “future US Air Force” models included an X-Wing Starfighter in Southeast Asia colors and an F-4X “X-Wing Starfighter,” which were also loved by the attendees. The left end of the table had a B 17F and B-24J and info on the Albuquerque Air Base Bombardier School during WWII; and a P 38H Lightning model and info on Capt Danny Roberts – New Mexico’s fighter ace. On display behind the NASA models was the USAF Missile Models collection, located here because we ran out of space on the “1947 to Present” tables. This collection included 14 models of USAF cruise missiles, IRBM and ICBMs, and the Bomarc SAM. I built those models for the 2022 AF Ball. One item that I brought with me but forgot to put next to the Wright Flyer was a white-colored wooden egg, as the initial “evolution of flight.”

Several of the unit commanders and leadership came by to thank us for putting on the display and told us that everybody had enjoyed seeing all the models. They mentioned that the display certainly covered the USAF’s evolution of flight. They do want us back next year. Of note, they added our ASM logo from the ASM Website home page to the back page of the event’s program where they had “Special Thank You to Our Team Kirtland AF Ball Sponsors” and all the sponsors listed. Pictures of the program are included below.

Mike and Matt Blohm and Frank Randall set up the display and manned the tables during the event. Thanks to the following ASM members who loaned models for the display: Frank Randall (27 models), Victor Maestas (4), Don Gatewood (4), Steve Brodeur (4), Bob Henderson (3), Mark Vaughn/Cavalcade of Wings (2), Len Faulconer (2), Josh Pals (2), Patrick Dick (2), Brian Peck (1), Scott Jaworski (1), and Mike and Matt Blohm (56 – a lot of these have been built for ASM’s displays over the years). Pictures by Mike and Matt Blohm and Frank Randall.

Please let me know if you are interested in building any models that could be “borrowed” for use in our reoccurring ASM displays each year. They do not need to be IPMS Nationals entry quality – just a nice build – and the undersides will likely never be seen. You can peruse the pictures to see what gaps we have at this time. We do have some new builds already in progress.

October 15, 2022

2022 Air Force Anniversary Ball

Mike Blohm Air Force Ball

The ASM model display at the 2022 Air Force Ball was a great success. The event, held on Friday, October 14th at Kirtland Air Force Base, celebrated the 75th birthday of the USAF. The USAF became a separate service on September 18, 1947 with the passage of the National Security Act of 1947. The theme of the event was “Roaring Twenties.” The theme of our display was “USAF 1947 to the Present.” We also threw in some New Mexico and Albuquerque Air Base history – more on that below. Pictures of the display are provided below.

This year we had two large sets of tables on each side of the hallway near the entrance into the Mountain View Club that the attendees would pass by as they entered into the event. See the composite picture. ASM arrived with 26 tubs and boxes of models and set up a total of 83 models on the tables. This was a record number of models at an AF Ball event (this was our fourth display). The model scales ranged from 1/144 to 1/32. One set of tables had 41 models covering the Korean War (13 models), Southeast Asia/Viet Nam (13 models); Air Defense Command (F-102, F-106 and two BOMARCs); the USAF Thunderbirds, Air Training Command (T-37 and T-38), cargo transport aircraft (C-54, C-118, and C-119); and the “New Mexico” models. This last group of models included the P-38H Lightning flown by Captain Danny Roberts, New Mexico’s fighter ace; B-17F Flying Fortress and B-24J Liberator models and a short story on the Bombardier School at Albuquerque Army Air Force Base during World War II; and finally, my “You Are Leaving New Mexico” model featuring a cow being beamed-up by a UFO.

The second set of tables had 42 models covering the X-planes and test aircraft from 1947 to the present (8 models); fighter, attack and combat support aircraft post Viet Nam to the present (16 models); aircraft used by the 58th Special Operations Wing (CV-22, MH-60G, and UH-1N) and the New Mexico Air National Guard (two F-16s in 1/48 and 1/72, and an A-7D) at Kirtland AFB; and aircraft of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) (7 models). We had newly-built B-52H and B-1B models in 1/144 scale in that last section, as well as two sets of missile models that I finished the night prior to the event. We had been short on SAC bombers and totally without any missile models at our previous three AF Balls, so my son Matt and I built the two bombers, I put the two “missile collections” together, and Frank Randall built an SR-71.

The missiles were a big hit with some of the attendees including the 377th Air Base Wing Commander, who chatted with us for about 15 minutes about our model display. He thought the display was great and he was very appreciative of ASM putting it on for the event, and he presented all of us with “Commander’s challenge coins.” They do want us back next year. I will be writing an article on the build of the missile model collections for the ASM Newsletter and ASM Website. Finally, at the end of this table, we included my F 4E Phantom II (from circa 1978) and my F-4X-Wing Starfighter models side-by-side depicting the USAF of the future. The attendees really enjoyed seeing the Starfighter and UFO models and we had some good conversations about those. So overall, we had a pretty good model representation of the different periods of USAF history, the different commands, and the aircraft types. We plan to build more transport and cargo aircraft for next year.

Mike and Matt Blohm and Ken Piniak set up the display and manned the tables. Since it was a formal event, Ken decided to wear his US Army dress uniform, which included his Cavalry hat and spurs. Therefore, I decided to wear my USAF dress uniform as well. So ASM looked pretty good at the event (see pictures). Thanks to the following ASM members who loaned models for the display: Frank Randall (19 models), Victor Maestas (5), Don Gatewood (4), Dave Epstein (3), Bob Henderson (2), Mark Vaughn (1), Brian Peck (2), Josh Pals (2), Steve Brodeur (1), and Mike and Matt Blohm (43).

November 4, 2021

2021 Air Force Anniversary Ball

Mike Blohm Air Force Ball, Community

1947 – 2021

The ASM model display at the 2021 Air Force Anniversary Ball was a big success. The event, held on Friday, October 15 at Kirtland Air Force Base (KAFB), celebrated the 74th birthday of the USAF. The USAF became a separate service on September 18, 1947 with the passage of the National Security Act of 1947. The theme of the event was “Casino Night.” There was no secondary historical anniversary theme this year. Therefore, we decided to include the “71st Anniversary of the Korean War 1950-1953” display that we had done at the 2021 New Mexico State Fair alongside the “USAF 1947 to Present” model display as we had set up at the 2018 and 2019 events.

This year we had two large tables set up in the main ballroom that the attendees would pass by as they entered into the event. ASM arrived with 26 tubs and boxes of models and set up a total of 76 models on the tables in a multitude of scales. They were arranged in chronological order from the right end starting with 1947 to the left end at 2021, to go with how the people would walk by the tables. See the pictures posted below.

For some variety and humor the far right end started with my “You Are Leaving New Mexico” diorama with a flashing UFO levitating a cow on a beam of light – that was a big it – and the P-38H Lightning of New Mexico’s fighter ace Capt. Danny Roberts who scored 14 victories in the South West Pacific theater. Next in the lineup were some early test aircraft including the X-1, XF-82, and X-15. The Korean War section was next with 34 total models covering all aspects of the conflict. We had a mix of models from all the U.S. services, including some armor and US Navy beach assault models from the Inchon Landing, a Sea Fury from the United Kingdom, and six aircraft flown by North Korea. The Mercury-Atlas “Friendship 7” model included in the Korea section had a tie-in with the awesome “F-86 Sabre versus MiG-15” diorama done by Glenn Bingham that depicts Major John Glenn downing his third and last MiG-15. So we did have a space exploration model in the display and we did get some questions from the attendees about the availability of space models.

The next section covered aircraft from the Viet Nam war (11 models) including John Tate’s A-1E Skyraider flown by Medal of Honor winner Major Bernard Fisher, and aircraft in the Strategic Air Command and Air Defense Command. These were followed by modern aircraft from the Gulf War through the present time. This area included 1/144 and 1/200 scale models of large aircraft such as bomber, attack, reconnaissance, and cargo/airlifters. Finally, capping off the far left end were models of an F-51D and an Fâ€‘16C from the New Mexico Air National Guard’s 150th Fighter Wing “Tacos” in 1/48th scale by Glenn Bingham and Dave Epstein for some more local flavor in the display.

Lots of people stopped by and asked questions about the models and the subjects, and we were thanked for putting on the display by the Kirtland AFB Commander and the AF Ball POC. The POC remarked that the display was great and a visual reminder to all the attendees of the mission of the Air Force. He also mentioned that we should be a part of every AF Anniversary Ball event and that he would pass the word for next year. We did hand out some ASM flyers so maybe we will get some new members in the club.

Mike and Matt Blohm set up the display and manned the tables during the event. Thanks to the following ASM members who loaned models for the display: Frank Randall, Glenn Bingham, Steve Brodeur, Ken Piniak, John Tate, Scott Jaworski, Bob Henderson, Dave Epstein, Victor Maestas, and Mike and Matt Blohm. Note that there were additional models provided by the members listed above that could not be displayed due to space limitations.

October 16, 2019

2019 Air Force Anniversary Ball

Mike Blohm Air Force Ball, Community

The ASM model display at the 2019 Air Force Ball went very well. The event, held on Saturday, September 21, at Kirtland AFB, celebrated the 72nd birthday of the USAF as well as the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. ASM had planned to have three tables in three different rooms on which to display models, but we ended up with just two. One was in the main room where the festivities took place. It was decorated in a USO theme with lots of camouflage netting and we set up 31 D-Day-related models there. The other table was located in the entryway into the club where the attendees checked in. We ended up closely-packing 45 models on that table, covering the Korean War, Viet Nam, Air Defense Command, and Operations Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom, and Inherent Resolve. We brought 23 tubs of models but due to the space limitations not all were put out on the tables. We did have a total of 76 models on the two tables.

Lots of people stopped by and asked questions about the models and we were thanked for putting on the display. Ken Piniak wore a World War II tanker uniform complete with pistol and submachine gun, so he got lots of questions. Thanks to the following ASM members for setting up and manning the tables during the event: Josh Pals, Frank Randall, Ken Piniak, and Matt and Mike Blohm. Thanks also to John Tate for dropping by with his models and helping with the set up. Thanks to the following people who loaned models for the display: Glenn Bingham, Tony Humphries, Keith Liotta, Larry Glenn, Steve Brodeur, Jim Medina, Len Faulconer, Dave Tingley, John Tate, Josh Pals, Frank Randall, Ken Piniak, and Mike Blohm.

October 10, 2018

2018 Air Force Anniversary Ball

Mike Blohm Air Force Ball, Community

The ASM model display at the 2018 Air Force Ball was a big success. The event was the celebration of the 71st birthday of the USAF (September 18, 1947), and was held on September 15th at Kirtland AFB. We had 74 models on four tables showing the history of the USAF from 1947 through the present, and all the attendees really enjoyed the display. We answered lots of questions on the models and the club, and passed out a lot of ASM flyers. There was a lot of interest and we may see some new folks attending our upcoming meetings to check us out.

The models were grouped left to right (see pictures) starting with test aircraft (1947-present), then the Korean War, Viet Nam, Strategic Air Command, Air Defense Command, Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and then Operations Enduring Freedom and Inherent Resolve. The far right end had several models from the New Mexico Air National Guard “Tacos.” We had brought models to put up the “What is Scale Modeling” display but did not have enough room to do so. Lots of 377 Wing and other command leadership came by to see the display and thanked ASM for putting it on. I think that we will have no problem doing a repeat performance in 2019 if we would like to do so, or doing another display at the Kirtland AFB Air Show in May 2019. I did get the chance to talk to one of the people in the Wing Public Affairs Office about ASM doing that.

Thanks again to Josh Pals, Larry Glenn and Frank Randall for helping me man the tables. Thanks to the following members for loaning models: Frank Randall, Victor Maestas, Chris Kurtze, Keith Liotta, Patrick Dick, Glenn Bingham, Jack Garriss, Larry Glenn, Matt Blohm, Mike Blohm, and the Defense Nuclear Weapons School Museum (ASM-built models). We carried-in 27 tubs/boxes of models. Of note, I went back and checked on the number of models that we have had at all our recent displays (info available on the website), and besides the three displays at the Albuquerque Comic Expo events in 2012 (155 models), 2013 (100+), and 2014 (140), the exhibit at the 2018 AF Ball is the next ranking display.