About the Artist

The High flyer statue is just one piece from the artist Ed Walby. A retired USAF U-2 pilot, his career spanned 26 years of flight operations piloting the KC-135A, KC-135Q, and the U-2C, U-2R, and U-2S.

His assignments in the High Flyer community were varied with his first encounters with the Dragon Lady at Beale AFB as a U-2 line pilot, U-2 flight instructor, Deputy Director for Squadron Operations and Operations Officer at Det 5, Patrick AFB, FL. After a follow-on assignment at the Pentagon as the Program Element Monitor, he served as the Commander of the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron where he forward deployed as commander of U-2 expeditionary squadrons at Taif, Saudi, Arabia, RAF, Fairford, England, Istres, France, and Prince Sultan AB, Saudi Arabia.

His last assignment in the USAF was the Director of Platforms and Sensors for the AFC2ISRC at Langley AFB, Virginia where he managed the requirements development for the U-2, RC-135, Global Hawk, MC2A, JSTARS, AWACS and various classified platform and sensor programs. In this capacity, shortly after 9/11 he deployed forward supporting Global Hawk operations co-located with the U-2 in the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Ed's art works are scattered throughout the USAF and around the world at many installations in the form of murals, paintings and pen and ink drawings.