A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas
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A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas
Bentonville's Vintage Warbird Restoration Legacy
Welcome to A New American Town. In this episode, we are joined by Jason Muszala, CEO of The Roost, a group based at Thaden Field in Bentonville dedicated to the operation, maintenance, and restoration of vintage WWII warbirds. The Roost supports both Steuart Walton’s private collection and the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum in Washington state. Their work allows our community to experience living history through special events, flyovers, and one-of-a-kind restorations.
We talk about the work The Roost is doing locally, the national recognition they’ve just received, and how these efforts tie into Steuart Walton’s impact on aviation. We’ll also touch on how you can see The Roost’s work in Bentonville and what the future of these world-class aviation projects might look like for our community.
Come see them in person at the UP.Summit Community Day September 28, 2025! https://www.upsummit.day/
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Welcome to A New American Town. I'm your host, Natalie. With Visit Bentonville Today, I'm joined by Jason Muzala, CEO of the Roost, a group based at Dayton Field in Bentonville dedicated to the operation, maintenance and restoration of vintage World War II warbirds. The Roost supports both Stuart Walton's private collection and the Flying Heritage, Combat and Armor Museum in Washington State. Their work allows our community to experience living history through special events, flyovers and one-of-a-kind restorations. We're going to talk about the work the Roost is doing locally, the national recognition they've just received and how these efforts tie into Stuart Walton's impact on aviation. We'll also touch on how you can see the Roost work in Bentonville and what the future of these world-class aviation projects might look like for our community. Thanks so much for joining us, Jason.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for having me, Natalie.
Speaker 2:I'm so excited to dive in a little bit deeper, a lot of people might not know what the Roost is, so do you want to just start with a little bit of background? Absolutely yeah. The Roost is a group of aviation specialists that restore and maintain Stuart Walton's collection of World War II airplanes to world-class standards. And we're here because it's important to Stuart to base his collection in his hometown and by doing that it enables the airplanes and their history to be shared with our community right here in Bentonville.
Speaker 1:Wow, how did you get involved in restoring vintage aircrafts?
Speaker 2:Myself. I got involved from a very young age, so it's the trade of my father and his family, so I was just really fortunate enough to have the opportunities to kind of grow up in and stay involved in the Warbird community.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, I feel like that has to be really niche.
Speaker 2:It is. Yeah, it's a pretty tight community. There's not many people that are in the Warbird community in any facet, whether you're a pilot or a mechanic or an owner. That kind of doesn't know each other or interacts on a fairly regular basis.
Speaker 1:Right, because they're so unique and so different and I feel like you just have to be taught for a long, long time from a young age how to preserve them, how to go about handling them. You want to talk about that process a little bit more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, there's definitely no school to go learn how to work on, you know World War Two era aircraft. So essentially you either have to be trained in the military or in a college or some sort of tech school to work on aircraft and then, once they come to a place like the Roost, that's kind of when the education starts all over again and then you learn how to work on vintage warbirds from there.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, how big is your staff.
Speaker 2:We currently have five on staff, so we're kind of a small shop which is perfect for what we need, just due to the craftsmanship and kind of quality control required around these airplanes.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. How do you go about getting them and figuring out which ones you want to refurbish?
Speaker 2:As far as the aircraft go, it sort of depends. There is a small market of these types of warbird aircraft that have flyable airplanes, but when there's not the type of airplane on the market that you're after, then you have to look for a project and then restore it. Found in just kind of a wide range of areas, from somebody's barn, you know, in the middle of nowhere, all the way out to excavating out of a hole in Papua New Guinea, which is where the most recent restoration that is currently in Bentonville came from was out of Papua New Guinea.
Speaker 1:Tell me more about that one.
Speaker 2:So that's the airplane. It's a P-38 Lightning, it's owned by Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum and recently we had that and a P-51 Mustang at Oshkosh and the airplane's called Wandina and the airplane's called Wandina and the Wandina airplane has huge historical significance. It was flown by a general in the USAF Back then it was called the Army Air Corps and he was a quadruple ace and so, yeah, it's just a really neat piece and that will eventually go up to Everett Washington and live in Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum.
Speaker 1:Cool. I wish that this was a video, just so that we could show folks what these aircrafts look like. If you're listening, go and look up all the planes that we talk about, because it's so cool to see them. And I looked up the P-3. It looks like a spaceship to me, but I don't know a lot about aircrafts. It's just so fascinating. How did it get its name? How do they get named like Wanda?
Speaker 2:So the pilots were allowed back in those days to name the aircraft whatever they'd like, and so this name kind of derived from a love story, really. So JT Robbins met his wife Ina in a hospital in Australia while he was over for a medical exam. And I know he was walking down a hallway and Ina came out of a room and asked for help because one of her patients had fallen and she wasn't big or strong enough to get him up. So Jay, being a gentleman, was happy to help and they, locked eyes, fell in love. Long story short, they ran away, they got married and the word Wandina is spelled Jandina, so J the word and A and D and then her name, ina. So it's a moniker of their names together. And JT Robbins is from Coolidge Texas and JT Robbins is from Coolidge Texas. So because of the Tex-Mex connection he and Ina decided early that if they ever had a daughter they would name her Wandina, and his airplanes were named Wandina.
Speaker 2:Wow, he had four of them, by the way.
Speaker 1:All Wandina.
Speaker 2:All Wandina, and we currently have Wandina 3. That's the airplane we restored. Oh, thatina, and we currently have.
Speaker 1:Wandina 3. That's the airplane we restored. Oh, that's super cool. So how can our community see this plane right now, before it goes out to Washington?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like you know, we're just kind of a small shop and not really a public facing business. But yeah, people you know airport goers that are in the area stop in and check it out.
Speaker 1:Uh, we just have it here at Thane field.
Speaker 2:Um and uh, but some of the other airplanes that we have here in Bentonville are are definitely uh on display from time to time.
Speaker 1:Right, right and you, um, you guys come to fly over some of the local events that we have, like First Fridays, and we have the Up Summit coming up. Which planes do you choose to fly in those, and do you do the same one every time?
Speaker 2:No, we don't do the same one every time. We kind of mix it up and yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. One thing that's really important is to share the history and expose the airplanes to young people so that maybe it'll create a spark in them and want to get involved in aviation on some level and possibly advancement of aviation. Stuart is really proud to support the community, you know, and local events, like we do flyovers first Friday events right here in downtown Bentonville. The next one, by the way, is September 5th, so there'll be a flyover then. We occasionally hold small events at the Fieldhouse out at Thayden Field, sometimes in conjunction with the Fly Oz Club, which also has a social club, by the way. So that's worth checking out so you can see the airplanes there as well. Great time to mention. The next large event that he's supporting is the up summit community day. Uh, that's on sunday, september 28th. Um, we had up summit here at thane field last year and it's back again this year.
Speaker 2:It typically alternates, but um, yeah it was such a good event, um and so successful um and basically um. To sum it up, because I know Up Summit sounds maybe a little vague, it's the world's leading gathering of entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives, policymakers, who are all reimagining mobility as a whole, and with the Up Summit Community Day, we get to open the doors to thousands of families. Just see it all up close Everything from historic flying warbirds to flying cars, spaceships, drones, humanoid robots, autonomous vehicles, and I mean there's just a ton and really it's the future of mobility on full display and a great time and place to be able to see the warbirds and what the roost does, kind of in full swing, because we operate the airplanes and they're on display and the whole staff will be out there, you know, able to ask or answer questions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sorry, yeah, to answer questions and just encourage the community to come out and ask us anything you want about old airplanes in history.
Speaker 1:Right, oh, that's fabulous. Yeah, up Summit last year was a huge hit and that was the first one I was able to experience since living here. I couldn't believe the turnout and at the time I lived somewhere in the flight path and could just see planes flying over all day long and it was so much fun. And, yeah, if you guys don't have that on your radar now, go and check it out. It's September 28th. You don't want to miss it.
Speaker 1:Once in a lifetime opportunity really to see these airplanes and something that is super instrumental in our history. And yeah, I love that you touched on educating the youth because, like, if you hadn't been introduced to this whole world, think about how different your impact would be. And maybe the next kid that gets to see these airplanes, like you know, he's going to be so interested here. She is going to be so interested and just want to dive in so much more. And, um, yeah, that's awesome. I love what you guys are doing. Um, so obviously Bentonville is known for bikes and trails. Um, but having these aircrafts here might be like just not as common. People don't necessarily think of Bentonville as an aviation town. What kind of reactions do you feel like you are getting from these visitors that you're interacting with at these community events.
Speaker 2:Yeah, kind of a wide range of reactions, but all positive, I would say. And you know, kind of my favorite avenue of discovery that we have, you know, warbirds, flyable warbirds here is when people just see them fly over. Just like you mentioned, not too long ago, like just a couple of weeks ago, we were contacted by a family, a local family, who have, through this young man's grandfather, a connection to the P-51 Mustang, kind of like a personal connection, driving in town and they saw a couple of them coming into land and, um, the, the young man picked them out and knew exactly what they were, and and came and seeked them out and um, uh, fortunately, one of the, the focus of Dayton field is uh, kind of to have lower fences, you know, to be community, friendly and inviting to come in, and uh, and they were able to do just that and and um, so that's, I mean, special connections like that are really what it's all about, but um, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is the beauty of thetan. I love that it's really open to the community, and even the indoor part, how there's already kind of some history there displayed, and just everything at Baden Field, is awesome. So I want to get back to talking about the specific aircrafts. You guys are working on all of the awards that you guys have received. You mentioned Oshkosh, so let's talk about those awards and how monumental they were for your organization.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. We did a little bit better than we thought we were going to do. We were hoping to get an award with the P-38 that was recently restored, and we wound up doing a little bit better than that. So, the P-38 Lightning Wandina that we talked about earlier, owed by Flying Heritage and Combat Arbor Museum, it won the top honors. It won the Lindy Trophy, which is named after Charles Lindbergh, and so it's a statue of Charles Lindbergh on a trophy, and so it won Grand Champion in the World War II category. In the World War II category, In addition to that, it won what's called the Phoenix Award, which is typically given to the most extensive restoration. You know Phoenix being kind of symbolic of rising from the ashes and you know that whole thing. So yeah, the P-38 actually won two separate, really high-level awards and the absolute top honors, and that earned the restoration shop which is in Breckenridge, Texas, Easeville Aviation, two gold wrench awards. So a trophy goes to the airplane and a golden wrench goes to the people responsible for either restoring or maintaining it.
Speaker 1:Oh, awesome Wow. Responsible for either restoring or maintaining it. Oh, awesome Wow.
Speaker 2:In addition to that, we flew one of Stuart's P-51 Mustangs named Was that Too Fast and that'll be familiar to some of the local people here in Bentonville. It's the Shark Mouth Mustang. It's painted in Korean War colors to honor Korean veterans and it's at public events. It was at Upsummit last year and flies around quite a bit so it's recognizable in the area. That aircraft won a Lindy this year for reserve grand champion in post-World War II, which was actually really good considering the airplane was restored 12 years ago. Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And 12 years ago it won Grand Champion. It came back, you know with we had zero intention of judging it to try and get an award. We just showed up the way that the airplane operates every day and they gave it like second place overall with. Reserve Grand Champion and that earned the Roost Golden Wrench Award.
Speaker 1:So that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Pretty good start to a young organization.
Speaker 1:Definitely yeah. That airplane is so iconic the shark teeth, it's so fun.
Speaker 2:It's pretty silly looking, but also kind of mean. It just depends on how you look at it. Yeah, pretty great.
Speaker 1:Do you have a sneak preview of what to expect at Upsummit? What kind of aircrafts are going to be on display there?
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, preview of what to expect at up summit what kind of aircrafts are going to be on display there? Well, yeah, we should have, um, quite a few of the warbirds on display. I don't think we've narrowed down exactly what we want to fly, but, um, last year we flew, uh, four of the fighters and and a jet kind of a modern fighter trainer jet um, I don't, I don't have any reason to think there'll be any less entertainment than that. Absolutely, it'll be a pretty good year. It'll always be a good show Cool.
Speaker 1:And then I know you have another upcoming project with the German Stuka dive bomber. Do you want to talk a little bit more about that one?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right. So one of the things that we do at the Roost out here at Thayden Field is restorations, typically only one project at a time. Like I mentioned earlier, we're not a huge shop, but yeah, we have an opportunity to restore the Ju-87 Stuka. It's a German dive bomber and it's very rare. There's no flying examples of the Stuka. There's only two other complete examples worldwide. Those are both in museums and they'll never fly. So this will be the world's only example of the most famous, probably most iconic world war ii aircraft of all time wow, that's huge and I'm like the fact that you're even trying to tackle that big of a task has to.
Speaker 1:It probably took a while to get there.
Speaker 2:I would bet to make the only flying one now it is, yeah, and it it's huge for not just because of um kind of what we're doing and the responsibility of what we're doing, but also, um, because there's so few of them, we don't really have a support system.
Speaker 2:Like if you're restoring a P-38 or a Mustang or any of the other warbirds. There's others that are currently flying and there's parts, but with the Stuka we don't have any people to give us insight on how they've done it or to help with parts or tribal knowledge operating. It's just us here in Bentonville doing something that nobody's done in 80 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, well, good luck. You guys are doing a great job, I know.
Speaker 2:We'll take it all. We'll probably need it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, you know what is one thing that you wish whenever someone sees one of these airplanes in person that they take away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good question. It's kind of evolved over the years but working with museums in the last you know, 15 years or so I'd have to say. To narrow it down to one thing it would be my hope that it sparks a feeling of some sort with whoever sees the aircraft. Could be a feeling or emotion of pride, either in our hometown, you know, like knowing these airplanes are here and kind of part of our community, or a feeling of pride in what the airplanes and the people did with them back then. Or just a feeling of fascination. I mean, they're very moving to watch fly when you hear them and see them and if you're around them you can kind of smell them.
Speaker 2:They have a kind of a life about them and ultimately, you know, the drive is that it'll spark a young person's interest in aviation and get involved on some level and be encouraged to maybe change the path of aviation eventually, because it's there's still a lot out there to do and we just got to get the right kids excited about it and hopefully these old airplanes will help do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that segues into my next question, which was long-term. How do you feel like Bentonville and the community and the roost, just like what's the future. What do you feel like you're hoping to look towards?
Speaker 2:you feel like you're hoping to look towards. Well, I think long-term the roost will be a little bit more public facing and more interactive as things kind of develop and the local collection grows. For now I say Up Summit Community Day is a fantastic way to stay involved in the other kind of smaller events that we're going to have. But eventually we'd love to try and be more interactive with the public and take opportunities to educate, you know, young people and well, everybody really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everyone, Everyone needs it. I think yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:The airplanes are a great reminder of kind of where we come from and what we can achieve as a community and a world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome. Well, thank you so much. If anyone is listening and wants to learn more about their visit to Bentonville, or maybe going to UpSummit, go to visitbentonvillecom and you can find everything out there. Jason, thank you so much for joining us today on A New American Town. We will see you guys next.