CARMINE MOWBRAY

Publicity Liaison

Remember when avgas was 68¢ a gallon? Carmine was just learning to fly in a 150-hp TriPacer, and wondered how to afford to keep flying. These four decades later, she still loves flying. “I’ll give up lattés, professional pedicures and even shoes to keep flying,” she says. So far, it hasn’t gotten to that point.  


When she learned of the Recreational Aviation Foundation’s mission, she signed on, beginning by helping build the Ryan pilot shelter, and chopping sagebrush on Missouri Breaks airstrips with a pulaski. 

Carmine was raised in western Washington, and moved to Montana as soon as she was of legal age. Her first journalism job was with the Missoula daily. She and her husband started a print shop that they built into a regional printing plant serving western Montana, and published a small chain of award-winning weekly newspapers. For nearly two decades they flew a turbo Lance to manage their six locations around Montana. They sold the enterprise to a larger chain in 2000, divorced, and she began Clarity Communications, produced an award-winning radio program, and served in Montana’s State Senate. “It’s a real honor to serve in the Legislature, and very stimulating to be surrounded with 49 Type-A workaholics who consider arguing a sport,” she adds.

She has written two works of historical fiction, one about the pilots who flew from Montana to Fairbanks delivering nearly 8,000 warplanes to the Soviets during WWII. Her book website is authormargomowbray.com. During summers she lives near Flathead Lake, and flies her Cessna 182 to her winter home in St. George, UT, “where it’s VFR almost every day.”

Merilee, one of Carmine’s four adult children flies for a major airline, as does Merilee’s husband. Carmine gets her journalism fix by serving as the RAF’s publicity liaison. “RAF leadership devotes an incredible complement of skills to the organization. I am honored to be part of the RAF, plus I get to fly my old 182 – with its Sportsman STOL – to some outstanding places and meet great people,” she adds.

Posted in Press Liaison

Recent Posts

IF WE COULD . . .

By Kodi Myhre • December 23, 2025
At about this time, every year, we have this conversation at the RAF about what our year end letter (code for asking for your financial support) should say to you, and about the RAF and the accomplishments of the past year.

WORTH THE READ: STEF GOZA GUEST EDITORIAL

By Taylin Trafton • December 23, 2025
Our many RAF supporters have such vast and varied experience, and we’re capturing some of their words of wisdom to share with you. This guest editorial is by Stef Goza, a pilot and an RAF Alaska liaison.

BILL DUGAN IS NEW NEBRASKA LIAISON

By lellington • December 21, 2025
Bill credits aviation for much of his success in business and the ability to serve his companies and family. What began in a Champ, and a Tri-Pacer owned by five people, turned into what Bill calls, “a key business tool” in which he accumulated 9,000 hours – in a Cheyenne, a Pilatus, and a TBM, where ninety-five percent of his flying was for business. “My retirement enabled me to recall ‘Why I Learned to Fly’, a slogan from an old RAF video.” Bill’s son, Patrick, purchased the C185 they now share. “While attending a business function, some associates arrived in corporate jets. As they joined up on the tarmac, the jet pilots gathered around Patrick’s 185, and one of the passengers asked, ‘What’s special about this?’ No explanation needed for this RAF audience,” Bill says. “My involvement in the RAF is, in a partial way, repaying the rewards aviation has endowed me with. Having been involved in many worthwhile nonprofits, this is one where financial support is only part of the picture. Physically participating in great projects that have a lasting effect, with good people, returns a great personal benefit,” he says. “My only regret is that I wasn’t there at the start.” Bill and his wife Jane are privileged to be able to split time between their long-time home in eastern Nebraska and Scottsdale, Arizona. While still serving on several boards, he enjoys golf “about every third shot,” biking, cars, and reading, but always looks forward to the time he can be involved in the RAF. “It’s flying with a purpose,” he adds. Bill can be reached at bdugan@theraf.org

Jake Hampton

December 15, 2025
AR Ambassador

RAF ADDS MICHIGAN LIAISON SCOTT ANTTILA

By Taylin Trafton • December 11, 2025
A Christmas gift of flight lessons from his parents started Scott Anttila’s aviation journey in 1985. “I learned at Johnson Field, a small grass strip tucked into the woods in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and that early exposure to simple backcountry flying stuck with me,” Scott says. Growing up in the U.P., he spent a lot of time outdoors and found that flying was another way to get to the places he liked to explore—especially the ones most people never saw. As he earned more ratings and eventually moved to the Detroit area for work, Scott realized he needed a way to stay connected to northern Michigan. He bought an airplane and used it to get back to the smaller airstrips and lake country he enjoyed. Along the way, he also flew gliders out of Frankfort, soaring along the Sleeping Bear Dunes and towing sailplanes over the Great Lakes. “Those flights gave me a different appreciation for the landscape and made me even more interested in the small, out-of-the-way airports scattered around the state,” he says. Visiting those kinds of places, Scott first came across the Recreational Aviation Foundation. He started using RAF-supported airstrips both inside and outside Michigan. “I noticed how well-kept they were and how much access they opened up,” he says, adding, ”Over the years, I’ve watched a number of grass strips close, which made the RAF’s mission feel especially important to me. Maintaining these airstrips keeps aviation connected to the outdoors and makes it possible for more people to reach the quiet, remote areas that inspired me to fly in the first place.” Scott joins the other two RAF Michigan Liaisons, General Grant and Tanmoy Ganguly. He can be reached at santtila@theraf.org . Submitted December 11, 2025.