Chris Bucholtz

The grandson of a WWII B-25 crewman and a chemist at the Ford Willow Run B-24 plant, I was doomed to be interested in aircraft and aviation. I started a career in technology journalism in the mid-1990s, and worked as an editor at publications including Telephony, VARBusiness, HP World, Semiconductor Manufacturing and InsideCRM. I still work as a technology writer, serving as content marketing manager for a major cloud software vendor.

It wasn't until I invited a former B-17 pilot on a press flight in a restored Flying Fortress in 2002 that I realized how important documenting the past was. That pilot shared his story with me and it became an article; other former flyers followed and eventually I won the opportunity to write the book on the Tuskegee Airmen I always wanted to read.

My career and the timing of my life was fortuitous - any younger, and I would have missed the chance to talk to the WWII generation. In a different profession, I would have lacked the skills to interview and record their stories. I consider myself very lucky!

I still build models, and I'm the managing editor of the International Plastic Modelers Society Journal. But now, my models tend to depict the planes flown by the people I meet and write about!

My next book, "Thunderbolts Triumphant," is the result of a model decal sheet I researched for the 1998 IPMS/USA National Convention and Model Contest. After more than 20 years of work, this book is the first really in-depth look at an extraordinary USAAF unit. I'm very proud to have been entrusted by so many veterans of the group with their stories.