John Shupek — John is retired Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineer that lives in Southern California. John's 36 year aerospace career/adventure started in the mid-1960s when he worked for Pratt & Whitney at their “FRDC” … Florida Research and Development Center, West Palm Beach, Florida. John was part of the P&W jet engine design team for the CIA/USAF's Lockheed A-12/SR-71A “Oxcart/Blackbird” engines (J58/JT11D-20). He also worked on the RL-10 rocket engine and the JTF-17A which was P&W's entry into the United States' SST competition between Boeing and Lockheed. Several years later, John moved Back to California and worked at the AiResearch Mfg. Company at LAX and Torrance. He originally worked on the thermal design of the HRE (Hypersonic Ramjet Engine) which was a supersonic combustion Mach 7 ramjet engine that was to be tested on the North American X-15. John did about three more years of jet engine design work before he disappeared for 13 years into the classified DOE “GCEP” (Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plant) Atomic Energy program for the enrichment of U₂₃₅. After the GCEP program was cancelled by the DOE in 1985, John was hired by Northrop Aircraft to do the thermal design for Northrop's entry into the ATF (Advanced Tactical Fighter) competition, the Northrop YF-23A “Black Widow II” stealth supercruise fighter. He also worked on the Northrop Grumman B-2A “Spirit” stealth bomber. After several years on a classified stealth missile program, John worked the remainder of his Aerospace career as one of Northrop Grumman's Program Directors on the United States Navy's F/A-18E/F “Super Hornet” jet fighter program.

During John's career at Northrop Grumman he served for five years as Northrop's “Vintage Aircraft Club” Commissioner and the Curator and Webmaster for the Western Museum of Flight in Hawthorne, California. Several years later, John was the volunteer webmaster (for about 3 years) for the Yanks Air Museum, Chino, California. He also served as President and webmaster for two different NPO's after his retirement. The Whittier Historical Society & Museum and Whittier Meals on Wheels.

John's love of aviation history and aviation photography lead to the establishment of this Skytamer.com website in 1998. The Skytamer.com site has continued to expand and will always grow and will never be completed. It's sort of analogous to a snowball rolling down a hill without any trees to stop it. In approximately 2002, John remembered that he had collected Topps “Wings” (ACC# R707-4) airplane trading cards while in High School. Somehow the cards had disappeared over the years. So at this point, he started to re-collect airplane trading cards via eBay and become an airplane card “Image Collector” rather than a “Card Collector” per se. After John scans an airplane card for the website, he has no further use for it and he puts it Back into circulation via eBay. John's mission statement for the Skytamer.com is basically to restore and preserve high-quality card images/artwork associated with the various airplane card sets from the early 1900s to the present. These cards are wonderful historical “snapshots” into aviation history showing which aviation events and aircraft were important at that point in time. For the Skytamer.com website, basically if it is a trading card collection that features things that fly, but doesn't have feathers, it eligible for the consideration on the Skytamer.com website. John always welcome inputs and high resolution scans (600-dpi) that can be used on this website. John can be reached via the “Contact Us” navigation button on the left.

Richard “Dick” R. Dahlquist (1 September 1939 - 11 August 2007) was a lifelong resident of Holden, Massachusetts, and a United States Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War. Dick graduated from Wachusett Regional High School and the New England School of Accounting. He was an accountant for many years and also did private accounting work from his home. He was an avid sportsman and was active in the Nimrod League of Holden.

One of Dick's favorite hobbies was collecting Non-Sports Airplane Trading Cards. Dick wrote numerous articles concerning Non-Sports Airplane Trading Cards for “The Wrapper” non-sports cards periodical, and was a contributor to the NSB (Non-Sports Bible) by Dr. Chris Watson. Dick possessed one of the best and well known Airplane Trading Cards collections. In the Non-Sports “Airplane Trading Card World”, Dick was considered to be “The” Premier Airplane Trading Card collector.

Skytamer Images' John Shupek had the pleasure of working with Dick from 2002 through his passing in 2007. Dick was an avid supporter and mentor of Skytamer Images by supplying numerous airplane trading card images and insight for the Skytamer.com website. Skytamer's first contact with Dick was in 2002 when Dick and John were constantly bidding against each other on eBay. Dick and John soon realized that Skytamer needed card images, while Dick needed the cards, so they decided to join forces to solve the eBay “bidding war” mutual problem. Whenever Dick or John were about to bid on an airplane card, they would check with each other to confirm their intentions. If Dick needed the card(s), John would “snipe” the card(s), scan them for the Skytamer.com website, and then forward them on to Dick. During this five-year timeframe, Dick and John acquired several hundred airplane trading cards/collections in this manner which benefited both Skytamer's image collection and Dick's card collections. During this period, Dick and John talked with each other several times a month and exchanged hundreds of emails before Dick passed. The passing of Richard Dahlquist, has left a void in the Non-Sports “Airplane Trading Card World”. Dick was our mentor, technical consultant, and friend. R.I.P. Dick.