TIM GAGNON

Tim’s is a lifelong aviation enthusiast and history buff that has led him to this point. After high school, Tim joined the U.S. Army as an AH-64 Apache helicopter mechanic. After separating from the Army, he pursued his pilot’s certificates through a small aviation school in Texas and began his aviation journey in earnest. After an eight-year break in service, Tim joined the Kentucky Air National Guard as a C-130H Loadmaster. Over the course of the next twelve years, he flew to over fifty countries and amassed over 2500 hours of flight time, including hundreds of hours of combat and combat support during Operation Southern Watch, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom. While serving with the Air National Guard, Tim continued flying and eventually flew for a cargo operator and regional airline.

Upon relocating to Arizona in 2008, Tim joined the USAF Reserves as an Aerial Gunner on the HH60G Pave Hawk (CSAR). At the same time, he was hired as a pilot by NetJets Aviation, a large fractional operator. In 2010, after being furloughed from NetJets, Tim became a Department of Defense contractor flying the Dash-7 providing ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) to Special Operations Forces overseas. In 2015, Tim returned to NetJets, where he remains today as a Captain. Also in 2015, Tim transferred to CAP-USAF and that is where after over twenty-eight years of service, he retired from the military.

In 2020, Tim founded the Arizona Aviation Historical Group to celebrate the history of aviation in Arizona. After four years of operating a stunning T-33, the group needed another airplane with ties to Arizona, and this has become Project Tweet.

Tim is excited to work with this group and the wider aviation community to bring these airplanes back from the brink and return two to airworthy status.