1st Edition AviatorCast T-Shirts – FLY OR DIE

The shirts are finally here! I wanted to share a bit about the need, vision, process, reveal and some people that have received shirts so far.

The Need

AviatorCast has been a total blast. Although the show stands on it’s own, and we really don’t need to do something super cool and awesome like t-shirts, I just had to give back to the supportive listenership.

What better way to show your AviatorCast pride than a t-shirt? Well, we didn’t want to just do any t-shirt.

Before getting started, we knew that we wanted these shirts to be special. And by special, they needed to be rare. Numbered, exclusive, only one printing.

The only way to get one of the shirts would be as a member of the AviatorCast community. You either get one by reviewing the show and having your review read on the show, or we will also give them to our Hangar Talk guests.

The Vision

Our design team started out with the notion that these couldn’t be just any t-shirt- these suckers had to be awesome. They had to be tees that people would be proud to wear. They had to come without a ton of branding, feel great, and scream that aviator spirit that we all know and love.

Our focus was the old days of aviation where flying men and women were true aviators. This is a theme I’m very attracted to. You know… the days when there wasn’t much navigation, aviation was really new, and we were pushing the boundaries. As I look back in history, I see so many amazing aviators who have gone on before to pave the way for us.

WWII was one of those eras where aviation took major leaps. Of course, these leaps were made out of necessity to try to out-power an enemy. Yet, we ended up with tales of valor, and the machines that carried these heros through a war torn sky.

Our team finally settled on the idea, of many ideas, of the F4U Corsair. It’s no P-51, perhaps a more iconic aircraft. Yet the Corsair stands on it’s own as an icon of an era full of true aviators.

The Process

Through many long conversations, a handful of design iterations, and a late night printing the shirts to have them shipped to Oshkosh just in time, the t-shirts were complete.

But this came at a great labor.

We settled on a washed out and vintage look. The “Fly or Die” green may seem an odd choice of color, but this is actually quite an historical aviation color. This is a green (or yellow) color created by using a compound called Zinc Chromate as a primer on aircraft in WWII. Developed by the Ford Motor Company, this compound is anti-corrosive, and works as a galvanizing agent.

Fly or Die? Why this phrase? You can make up your own meaning. It says “Fly” in it, and it rhymes. It doesn’t have any violent connotation to it, and is simply meant to be fun.

Wouldn’t we all die without flying? Maybe that’s too far- but at least it sounds cool.

The material we printed on also had to be nice. No rigid t-shirts that feel like garbage. This thing had to feel like quality. Through a selection of different manufacturers, we landed on something that just felt soft to the touch, would last the test of time, and of course, looked sexy.

We couldn’t stop there. We wanted there to be contibuting elements to make this thing totally Angle of Attack and AviatorCast. There’s a small logo on the left sleeve. Hardly noticeable. Again, this isn’t a billboard for our brand. You’ll also find a custom label on the neck. Read the label carefully for washing instructions. If you don’t know how to wash it, “just have your mom wash it” as it says.

To polish things off, there is a custom hang tag. This is where you see what number shirt you have in addition to a few inspirational phrases about being an aviator.

The Reveal

We’ve been talking about these t-shirts for a while. They couldn’t have been delivered at a better time than right at Oshkosh 2015.

The real reveal publicly didn’t happen until several days after I had been handing these bad boys out. (video below)

The stars aligned, however. My new friend and aviator buddy Cap’n Aux helped me reveal the shirts in front of one of many Corsairs present at Warbird Alley.

This seemed a fitting place to reveal this great shirt to the public at large.

Here is the video of our live broadcast. Excuse the vertical video– it’s the only type of video you can do on Periscope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZiebWR-tfo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaMfKVyw2H4

The People

Over the course of Oshkosh, I really enjoyed seeing the reaction people had to the new shirt. Many were surprised it was so awesome. Most of the people I gave shirts to were guests on the show. Some I gave away as gifts. Here are just a few.

What can you get one?

Well, they aren’t for sale. Sorry. We MAY do a second printing, but they won’t be numbered, and we’ll probably switch the colors up.

But if you want to get one of the Limited Edition, numbered Edition 1 shirts, you’re going to have to review AviatorCast on either iTunes or Stitcher. Then, if I read your review on the show, I’ll send you a t-shirt.

Also, if you’re way freakin’ cool and find an out of the box way to get the word out about AviatorCast, I’m totally for it. And it may earn you a shirt.

In other words, if you promote the awesomeness of the show, you’ll get a shirt.