Secret Buyer Drops Big Bucks for Cessna/Dodge Combo

** Cessna L-19 Bird Dog/Dodge M37** Cessna Aircraft Company

The immaculately restored 1959 Cessna L-19 Bird Dog/Dodge M37 truck combination that was donated to the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction, which took place last week in Scottsdale, Arizona, did quite well for its charity, to say the least. Cessna announced that the auction pieces were bought by a Cessna customer who wished to remain anonymous and that the sale brought in an impressive combined $1.1 million, money that will be donated directly to the Armed Forces Foundation.

Based in Washington, D.C., the AFF provides financial assistance; therapeutic, recreational and outreach programs; hospital dinners and national educational initiatives. In addition, the foundation's Help Save Our Troops program advocates for veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain Injury and educates the American public about these psychological ailments, which are suffered by many who return from active war zones.

"At Cessna, 10 percent of our workforce has served as a proud member of the Armed Forces family, making this cause an intensely personal one for us," said Roxanne Bernstein, Cessna's senior vice president of marketing and communications. "We are proud of our veterans, and proud to do what we can to help support organizations like the AFF who do so much to promote veterans' causes."

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Pia Bergqvist joined FLYING in December 2010. A passionate aviator, Pia started flying in 1999 and quickly obtained her single- and multi-engine commercial, instrument and instructor ratings. After a decade of working in general aviation, Pia has accumulated almost 3,000 hours of flight time in nearly 40 different types of aircraft.

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