In the six-plus decades since the beginning of World War II, its remnants, like the withering memories of those who lived it have become the province of historians. For most of us, the past is little more than a fading echo, muddled in the sensory overload of a 21st Century world.

  In our ever-accelerating daily lives fueled by increasing technology, the American collective consciousness has lost sight of the past and set its sights on unlocking the doors that will become our future. The humble heroes who participated in the war effort are reticent to reminisce. Thus, so very little has endured from that age to this.

  Perhaps that is why a fighter plane, a technological hero in its time, the North American P-51 Mustang has achieved iconic status. Six decades and three generations since it rolled off the assembly lines in Los Angeles and Dallas, the Mustang has exceeded the hopes and expectations of the men who designed it and the pilots who flew it into harm’s way. And it has fired the imagination of those, both young and old, who have ever dreamed of flight.

  So the question persists: “Why is the Mustang considered one of the greatest fighter planes in history and why, sixty years after it was born, does it continue to beguile us?”

  While there were nearly 16,000 Mustangs built only 200 remain worldwide and nearly 100 gathered at an unprecedented event. "The Gathering of Mustangs and Legends" event, held at Rickenbacker Field in Columbus, Ohio in September 2007, was designed to pay tribute to the heros and the planes from another time.

  “Gray Eagles” is the story of a humble WWII Mustang ace, his grandchildren and the bond that is formed when history comes alive all set against the backdrop of one of the most admired aircraft in history and the pilots who flew her.