[4][failed verification] Led by the fictional character "Thaddeus P. Throckmorton" and his recruiting officer "Jethro Culpepper", the CAC established several features that later became key characteristics of the CAF: folksy, tongue-in-cheek southern humor; a membership structure based on each member having the equal rank of colonel; and a rallying cry of "Semper, Mint Julep" ("Always Mint Julep").

Along with the P-51, this gave the pilots two of the most-advanced piston-engine fighters to see service with the U.S. Army Air Forces and the United States Navy.

The CAF colonels were shocked to find that the aircraft which played such a major role in winning World War II were being rapidly and systematically scrapped as obsolete with no efforts, not even by the Air Force or Navy, to preserve any for display for future generations.

On September 6, 1961, the CAF was chartered as a nonprofit Texas corporation to restore and preserve World War II-era combat aircraft.

The CAF created a new Rebel Field at Harlingen, Texas, and moved there in 1968,[6] occupying three large buildings including 26,000 square feet (2,400 m2) of museum space.

By the end of the decade, the CAF fleet had added medium and heavy bombers such as the North American B-25 Mitchell, B-17, Consolidated B-24 Liberator.

[6] In September 1990, CAF joined a statewide anti-littering campaign (Don't Mess With Texas), filming a low-level, high-speed pass of the B-17 Sentimental Journey on a mock bombing run of a highway-littering pickup truck, as part of a 30-second television spot.

[7][12][13] The museum and its artifacts (including the nose art collection) were moved to the new headquarters,[14] which it operates as the Henry B. Tippie National Aviation Education Center.

[18][19] On April 14, 2001, the CAF pilot of a Fairchild PT-19A was killed in a crash shortly after takeoff at Midland International Airport; the plane's one passenger survived.

"[25] On November 12, 2022, during the Wings Over Dallas airshow, two planes owned and operated by CAF—a Bell P-63F and the Boeing B-17G Texas Raiders—suffered a mid-air collision that killed six people.

Although a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt group,[27][28] the CAF has received financial incentives from state and local governments to move to Dallas and operate in Midland.

As the collection of warbirds at Central Valley Airport in Mercedes, Texas, started to grow, one member painted the name on the side of the original North American P-51 Mustang Red Nose.

[6] Many felt the name Confederate Air Force was confusing, did not accurately reflect the purpose of the organization, and was detrimental to fundraising efforts.