Preserving the History of the 406th Fighter Group

Challenges and Opportunities

The majority of the existing 406th Fighter Group collection is housed at the Arizona Aerospace Foundation, Inc. (Pima) in Tucson, AZ. While we appreciate the preliminary work done by the Pima staff to date, outside funding will be required to properly preserve and archive this collection in order to perpetuate the history of the 406th. At the present time there is only one permanent source of funding – the Patricia Locke gift. In 1999 Mrs. Locke gave the Pima Museum $32,000 in trust and specified the income generated is to be used for 406th purposes. While this gift is greatly appreciated it does not generate enough annual income to effectively fund the preservation process and therefore more needs to be done.

Anyone interesting in supporting the history/preservation project has two giving options available:

The 406th Fighter Group WWII Memorial Foundation OR
The Arizona Aerospace Foundation

The 406th Fighter Group WWII Memorial Foundation

This organization was created by Jack Yarger and John Whitlock as a charitable trust in 1986. Thanks to the efforts of Margaret Yarger the Foundation obtained tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service in 1987 and is recognized as a 501(c)(3) charity. This means all donations to the Foundation are tax deductible to the donor.

The Trustees of the Foundation are:

Mary Feldt (Younger Generation)
Susan Johnson (Younger Generation)
Terry Knowles (Younger Generation)
Bud Pieracini
Jack Yarger

The Foundation's Tax Identification Number is: 34-1519001

The Foundation's mailing address is:

c/o Terry Knowles
257 Mt. Dearborn Road
Weare, NH 03281-5411

The Arizona Aerospace Foundation (Pima)

This organization was created as a nonprofit corporation in 1976, obtained tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service and is recognized as a 501(c)(3) charity. This means all donations to Pima are tax deductible to the donor.

The Officers of Pima are:

Ferdinand von Galen, President
John Lane, Vice-President
Fred Farsjo, Treasurer
Sandra Maxfield, Secretary
Angie Brown, Assistant Secretary

Pima's Tax Identification Number is: 86-6031135

Pima's mailing address is:

Arizona Aerospace Foundation
6000 E. Valencia Road
Tucson, AZ 85706

Opportunities

Tax deductible donations may be mailed to either entity at any time.
Donations may be "restricted" or "unrestricted". Restricted donations generally require the organization to retain the principal permanently and expend the income for some specified purpose (preservation of photographs for example). Unrestricted donations may be totally expended by vote of the Trustees or Officers of the organization for any purpose they deem appropriate within the mission of the entity.
Bequests in a Will or Trust may be made to either organization. For example, the Will may state "I give, devise, and bequeath the sum of $XXXXX to the [name of entity] to be used for [restricted purpose or unrestricted]."
Donations may be given specifically to fund an "endowment" with the hope of creating a large, permanent endowment which would generate enough income to fund the 406th preservation project permanently.