I've seen this topic a few times here and I thought I'd interject a bit more information. The conventional wisdom has the CAF organizing in 1957 in south Texas near Mercedes.
This certificate is on display at Sacramento Executive Airport and was issued to the Red Jensen, a famous California aviator, on January 1, 1955. This document would suggest either the CAF organized earlier or there was an earlier organization, based at Fort Worth, Texas, that also operated as the Confederate Air Force and dubbed everybody as colonels.
