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According to my mother, the first word I said was "airplane" ("oh-pane") at around 11 months of age when a P-38 flew over the park we were in. I've had a love affair with airplanes and the people who are involved with airplanes ever since, which has become my career as an aviation historian and author.

I built my first model, a Strombecker all-wood P-80 (that dates me!) at age 6, after watching my father build other wood models for me. I quickly graduated to plastic models when I found Mr. Twist's Fix-It Shop on South Gaylord Street in Denver, with its corner shelves full of wondrous kit boxes. I built my first biplane (a Hawk Models Nieuport 17 - still available from Testors) before I was old enough to know that "biplanes are hard." With time out in the 1960s after graduating from high school for the Navy and college and "The Sixties" I returned to the hobby in 1970 and haven't left since.

I became a screenwriter in Hollywood in the 1980s, after first getting published as an aviation author in the 1970s in Air Enthusiast Quarterly. I love the fact that William Green, who wrote the first "serious aviation book" (All The World's Aircraft 1954) that I got my father to buy for me was the first person to publish me. I've flown the back seat of an F-4E Phantom for an article on the Wild Weasels in Air Force Magazine, and had 20 minutes stick time in Jim Nissen's 1918 Curtiss JN-4D Jenny back in 1979 for an article in Plane and Pilot, and been in everything in between over the past 47 years. When I worked in politics in Sacramento during the 1970s, I was a member of a club that flew Stearman N747JR (we called ourselves in as "Boeing 747 Junior") and got around 100 hours in that fun machine.

I'm one of the original members here of iModeler, and consider it the best model club on the planet.

Author of "Fabled Fifteen: The Pacific War Odyssey of Carrier Air Group 15", "Pacific Thunder: the Pacific War from Wake island to Leyte Gulf," "Tidal Wave: From Leyte Gulf to Tokyo Bay," "The Frozen Chosen: The First Marine Division and the Battle of Chosin Reservoir," "Holding The Line: the Naval Air Campaign in Korea," and "MiG Alley: The US Air Force in Korea - 1950-53" which will be released on November 26.

My most recent book, "Clean Sweep: VIII Fighter Command Against the Luftwaffe 1942-45" will be published by Osprey on May 23.

My wife of 27 years finally escaped Parkinson's on February 20 and sailed west to the unknown land beyond the sunset where she once again paints seascapes with her friends, her cats.

You can order all of them here: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Thomas+McKelvey+Cleaver&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

RCAF Sabre Mk. 6 – Kinetic 1/32

The Kinetic 1/32 F-86F done as an early RCAF Sabre Mk. 6 (hard leading edge wing) with Harold Offield's cockpit set and Leading Edge decals (which include the resin "sugar scoops" that are the visual difference between a Sabre 6 [...]

Planes of Fame A6M5a Zero Model 52

Forgot I had these shots, taken way back in 1999. The PoF Zero is the only original Zero left in the world, with a Sakae engine, the airframe was never torn down. This was one of about 14 that were captured on Saipan and returned to the [...]

“Princess Elizabeth” at Chino 2010

Ran across these shots of "Princess Elizabeth" at Chino back in 2010. This airplane was returned to The Fighter Collection this year and has been seen at the Duxford Flying Legends show. This "P-51B" really isn't one. [...]

A-36A at Chino in 2010

This is the A-36A owned by Tom Friedkin, after it was restored for flight by Fighter Rebuilders in 2010. The airplane is now painted like the A-36A from the 86th FBG with the mission marks all over the fuselage, one of the decal options [...]

Last Hawk 75: Finnish “Sussu” – 1/32 SH kit

The Special Hobby 1/32 Finnish Hawk 75. Known to the Finns as the "Sussu," this was done as the airplane flown by Kyosti Karhila, the top-scoring Finnish Hawk 75 ace (13.5 victories). Right after I finished it I discovered this [...]

Hawk 75A-4 “Mohawk IV” RAF, Special Hobby 1/32

This is the Special Hobby Hawk 75A-4 "Mohawk IV" kit. The French Air Force, in addition to ordering the Pratty & Whitney-powered Hawk 75A-1/2/3, also ordered the Hawk 75A-4, which differed by being powered by a Wright [...]

Azur (Special Hobby) Armee de i’Air Hawk 75A-3

This is the Special Hobby Hawk 75A-3 as released by Azur with French markings. The Azur offering differs from the SH kit in having resin parts for the cockpit that did not really give greater detail and in fact fit worse than the SH [...]

“The Gold Bug” – P-36A of CO, 18th Pursuit Group – Special Hobby 1/32 kit

The P-36 is one of those under-rated airplanes. For some reason, it's seen as a failure, though the record indicates otherwise. The first modern fighter for the USAAC that was remotely competitive with European contemporaries, the P-36 [...]

Curtiss BF2C-1 Helldiver – Hasegawa 1/32 classic

Hasegawa's "Golden Age" 1/32 kits - the F4B-4, P-12E, P-26A and BF2C-1 - stand the test of time. They are outline accurate with surface detail that is far more representative of the real thing than what would be the case had [...]

Nakajima’s Demon-Killer – Hasegawa 1/32 Ki/44 “Shoki” (Tojo)

This Hasegawa Ki.44-1b "Shoki" is built essentially out of the box, other than the use of Eduard JAAF seatbelts. It depicts a Ki.44 flown on home defense by the 47th Sentai, the most effective unit flying the Ki.44 in opposing [...]