military aviation museum ~ dec 2010

8/7/2019 Military Aviation Museum ~ Dec 2010

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The Membership New sle t ter for The Mil i tary Avia t ion Museum Winter 2011

Military Aviation Museum

www.MilitaryAviationMuseum.org

Virginia Beach Airport

www.VBairport.com

Fighter Factory

www.FighterFactory.com

Inside this Issue:

Introducing New MuseumDirector 2

Pearl Harbor Attack Survivors Speak 2

100 Years of Shipboard Aviation 3

Trains and Planes 4

Chris, Ed and BoomsExcellent Adventure 4

B-17G: A Short History 5

Letter from Santa 5

WWI Hangar Almost Complete 6

Upcoming Events 7

New Volunteer Class 8

In the Press 8

Visitors to the Military Aviation Museum (MAM) re-cently had the opportunity to get the taste of a very,rare vintage. Circa 1944, full-bodied, and chilled toperfection.

On Saturday, January 22, 2011 Chuckie the only y-able B-17 Path nder in existence affectionately nick-

named after Charlyn Chuckie Hospers, wife of thelate Dr. William Doc Hospers, the planes prior own-ers, left Meacham Field in Fort Worth, Texas bound forits new home at the Military Aviation Museum in Vir-ginia Beach. The museum recently acquired the planefrom the Vintage Flying Museum with plans to fullyrestore the aircraft.

The B-17 G FlyingFortress started outearly that morning onits 1079 nautical mile ight with a crew of three including; Bob

Hill (Pilot), Don Anklin(Co-Pilot) and Patrick MaHaffey (3rd Pilot).Mahaffey, having themost technical experi-

B-17G Chuckies Arrival at Sunsetby Ed Laskowsk

ence with Chuckie rode along after having workedon the plane for over 25 years at Meacham. He addedthat he would surely miss the plane, but realized that itwould be in excellent hands here at MAM.

By 4:00 that Saturday afternoon, hundreds of museumvisitors were already on hand for this special event,

with many waiting patiently outside in the 18-20 de-gree frigid conditions. In anticipation, MAM vol-unteers monitored Flight Aware on-line to track theplanes anticipated arrival. Outside preparations werebeing made by museum staff for the B-17-Gs landing.

Standing next to the landing strip, excitement increased as it was announcedthat Chuckie was inbound and hadjust own over Lake DrummondShortly thereafter, two silver lightscould be seen moving eastward ovethe tree-line just south of the airportThe P-51 Mustang, Double Troublecould be seen taking the lead and escorting the huge bomber to its newhome. As the B-17 turned and made it

Back by popular demand, is the Valentines Day Han-gar Dance. February 12th, the museum is holdingtheir annual Valentines Day celebration with an oldfashioned, hangar dance. Whats a hangar dance?During WWII, dances were held in airplane hangarsand they were usuallyput on as fund-raisersfor the war effort. Ahangar dance is likestepping back in time,join us for a memora-ble Valentines evening lled with music, ro-mance and history.

The Terry Chesson Or-chestra will be on hand

1940s Valentines Day Hangar Danceto play all your favorite swing tunes thatll get youout on the dance oor.

Dont think you have to be a couple at this Valentinesdance, there will be plenty of singles there out to meet

new people.

There will be hors doeuvres anda cash bar. Break out your favoritvintage clothing and join us at thMilitary Aviation Museum, Saturday, February 12th from 6:00pm10:00pm. Get your tickets now, theyare going fast. Contact the museum a757-721-7767 or email us at [email protected].

Cont inued on page 2Chuckie arrives at the museum

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Last years dance crowd


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The Military Aviation Museum is pleased toannounce the appointment of Gary Powersas its new Museum Director. Gary has as-sumed this leadership position and began his

responsibilities as of this past January 18th.He was selected from a broad group of overone hundred candidates from the local com-munity, within the state of Virginia, andthroughout the country. The museum is stillrelatively new and has actually been only inpublic operations for less than three years.He brings a wealth of experience to this or-ganization and will be an important additionto the staff and its many volunteer members.

Gary was born in Los Angeles, California,and in 1990 received his undergraduate de-

gree in Philosophy from California State Uni-versity Los Angeles. While living in South-ern California, Gary worked for a variety

of contractorsand real estatedevelopers. Af-ter graduatingcollege, Garylived in Mam-moth Lakes,CA, where heworked in theconstruction in-

dustry during the summer months and with aski resort during the winter.

In 1992, Gary relocated to Virginia to fur-

ther his education. This was actually thehome state of both his parents. In 1995,he received his Masters Degree in PublicAdministration and Certi cate of Nonpro Management from George Mason Univer-sity. During his time in Virginia, he hasworked as the Assistant Registrar for theCity of Fairfax, Executive Director for asmall nonpro t dedicated to the historicalrevitalization of Old Town Fairfax, market-ing representative for a home inspectioncompany, and from 2001 to 2005 as Presi-dent/CEO for the Vienna Tysons Regional

Chamber of Commerce.While President of the Chamber, he over-saw the day-to-day nancial, business, andhuman resource operations. In order to growchamber membership, he successfully im-plemented the 2003 campaign to incorporateTysons Corner into the name of the organiza-tion. As a result of the name change, he over-saw the development of the Chambers newwebsite, increased sponsorship revenue, andexpanded circulation of its monthly newslet-

PAGE 2 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1

Chuck ie Ar r iv a l . .Con t inued f r om pag e 1

approach, cheers arose and cameras readiedfor the initial yby directly overhead.

Just under seven hours, they landed at theVirginia Beach airport. Members of the ightcrew described the trip as smooth and un-eventful, with pleasant weather conditions.All the while, temperatures inside the cabinhovered around minus 25 degrees Celsius asthe plane ew between an altitude of 7,000 to8,000 feet.

With a wingspan of 1039 feet and a length of 744 feet the Boeing B-17 G easily dominat-ed the airstrip. Poetry in motion could onlydescribe the movement as many watched

a

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Gary Powers, the newMuseum Director at the

Military Aviation Museum

The B-17 bomber landing just after twilight

Introducing the New Museum Director

Cont inued on page 3

each of the four mammoth Wright R-1820-97 engines shutting down. After landing andtaking its place, throngs of military veterans,aviation enthusiasts, museum volunteers andmany families with young children movedforward to welcome the crew and admire themuseums newest resident.

At that point one could not help but think about the closing scene in 1989s Fieldof Dreams, as cars streamed down Prin-cess Anne Road with headlights on andinto the MAMs parking lots. In the movieRay Kinsella, portrayed by Kevin Costnerhears voices saying if you build it theywill come. And come they did that dayto MAM to see one of the nest vintages inexistence and how sweet she is.

*See page 8, In the Press, for articles and videos associ-

ated with the arrival.

For the second consecutive year, the Mili-tary Aviation Museum was honored to havethree Pearl Harbor survivors as our guestspeakers on December 11, 2010. Mr. JohnDelia, Mr. Frank Chebetar, and Mr. WilliamTemple spoke of their friends, remembranc-es, and the sting of battle. They broughtwith them their individual collections of personal Pearl Harbor memorabilia suchthat the Museums visitors of that morningcould examine the maps, newspaper clip-pings, and aging photographs. For many of the guests and docents, the most poignantof all was a small, carefully sealed bottlecontaining Black Blood. For those notfamiliar with this term, Black Blood is amixture of Pearl Harbor seawater and theblack fuel oil that to this very day is leakingfrom the sunken USS Arizona (BB-39) andrising to the surface. On the surface it isknown as Black Tears.

Each of these distinguished veterans hadunique stories to tell. Mr. Temple is theVirginia state chairman of the Pearl HarborSurvivors Association and a former P-40

crew chief. He regaled the audience withstories of a near brush with death by ma-chine gun re from a Japanese ghter andlater arming one of the few US ghters toget airborne which shot down a Japaneseaircraft. Mr. Delia was assigned to a smallship at Ford Island and patiently explainedto all of the confusion and horror of theattack and the dreary aftermath. Mr. Che-betar explained that he was so moved bythe dastardly attack that he decided to servemore than his original tour and remained inservice to our country for 30 years, retiring

as a Navy Chief Petty Of cer.

If you missed these inspiring talks, we aremost pleased to announce that each gentle-man has stated that they will be glad to re-turn to the Museum for talks on 10 Decem-ber 2011.

Pearl Harbor AttackSurvivors Speak

by Rob Sidner


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VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1 PAGE 3

2011 is of cially the Centennial of NavalAviation. However, the rst takeoff froma ship was in 1910 (Nov 14) right here inHampton Roads. Although the West CoastNavy powers-that-be claim the openingevent will be in San Diego in February, theactual rst event was at NAS Norfolk andthe Military Aviation Museum (MAM) wasthere. Obie OBrien ew the SNJ-2 in forthe display of Navy aircraft. It was the old-est airplane there. The center of attentionwas a replica of the Curtiss pusher that wasthe rst aeroplane to launch from a ship.The replica even ew despite very gustywinds. Usually the MAMs immaculatelyrestored planes are the center of attention,but for this event being upstaged didntmatter.

As learned at ICAS, many of the airshows in2011 want to have historic Navy airplanes.(Oceana is planning for an all Navy show).MAM has those airplanes; our newly re-stored FM-2 Wildcat (which was actuallybased at NAAS Pungo in 1945), the gull-wing Corsair and hefty AD Skyraider (bothrepresenting both World War 2 and Korea),the TBM Avenger which appropriately ewover the commissioning ceremony of theUSS H.W. Bush aircraft carrier, and thealways impressive PBY Catalina. In thenon-combat category are a pair of SNJs,the Stearman N2S trainer, a T-34 and T-28.The oldest U.S. Navy airplane in MAMscollection is the Sopwith 1 Strutter. Thewhat?

Little known is that the rst USN airplane,with wheels (a ying boat was red off a

100 Year of US Shipboard Aviationby RR Boom Powell

gunpowder catapult two months earlier),to launch from a USN ship was a Strutter.After the Great War, 21 Sopwith Strut-ters were transferred from the RAF andFrench Air Force to the U.S. Navy. InMarch of 1919, Lieutenant CommanderEdward McDonnell launched from awooden platform built over a forward gunturret on the battleship USS Texas (BB-35). McDonnell landed ashore at Guanta-namo Bay, Cuba, after demonstrating thesuperiority of aircraft for gun re spotting.Sopwith Camels and Hanriot biplanesalso ew from battleships and cruisersduring this period. One and a half Strut-ters (so named because the large cabane

struts did not reach all the way to the low-er wing.) continued to y off ships untilthe U.S. Navys rst aircraft carrier, USS

Langley, was commissioned in1922.

The museums Strutter is amovie star. The lm Flyboys,based, very loosely, on the La-fayette Escadrille, had a eetof 80% scale Nieuport-17sbuilt to y for the movie. Anearly crash of one made theproducers ground them all.(The design fault was eventu-ally corrected and the replicasare ying again. The museums

Nieuport was one of them.) A two-placeaeroplane was needed to act as a train-er, observation, and attack aircraft with agunner; the Strutter got the role(s). In trueHollywood fashion, makeup changed itsappearance as needed. Makeup in thiscase being water-based paint which iswhy the Sopwiths markings look faded.

The previous owner had started to scruboff the temporary paint before the Strut-ter arrived in Virginia Beach for the Bi-planes and Zeppelins event. Whetherin U.S. Navy gray as when it launchedfrom ships or the olive drab of the RFCwhere it was the rst Allied ghter to bedesigned with a synchronized machinegun, the Sopwith represents milestonesin military aviation.

1

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The Sopwith Strutter 1 1/2 parked at the museum

ter. Under his leadership, chamber membershipgrew by 80 percent.

Gary and his wife Jennifer have been married forover ten years and they have one son, who is in3rd grade. He currently lives with his family in

the state capitol, but will be relocating to VirginiaBeach. His wife works for a major commerciallaw rm and intends to transfer to a local branchof ce of the rm in the Tidewater area.

Gary has an intense interest in the period of the Cold War and in 1996 helped to establishThe Cold War Museum to honor Cold War vet-erans and preserve their history. As the found-ing Director, he has lectured internationally,nationally, and throughout Virginia to variousaviation groups, government agencies, and civicorganizations. Over the past 10 years, he has

moved the museum forward by fundraising over$3,000,000 in nancial, artifact, and in-kind do-nations. He actively negotiated with the Smith-sonian Institution for af liate museum statusdeveloped mobile exhibits, organized spy toursof Washington, DC, created a quarterly emailnewsletter distributed to over 10,000 subscribers,and implemented an assortment of educationalprograms including, Cold War Conversations,the museums signature lecture series. Over thecourse of his career, he has worked with Dip-lomats; members of Congress and the VirginiaGeneral Assembly; and a variety of national,

regional, and local business, nonpro t, and community leaders. Gary has helped steer legislationthrough the General Assembly and has testi ebefore the Congressional House Subcommitteeon National Parks, Recreation, and Public Landsand the General Laws Committee of the VirginiaGeneral Assembly.

In December 2009, Gary negotiated a leasewith the Vint Hill Economic Development Au-thority to secure a permanent home for the mu-seum in Fauquier County, Virginia. As a resultof his efforts to form the museum between 1996

and 2001, the Junior Chamber of Commerceselected him as one of the Ten OutstandingYoung Americans for 2002. Some of Garysother interests are reading science ction, playing chess, and as an avid coin collector.

The Military Aviation Museum is delighted tohave Gary Powers joined our team and leadthe museum forward to expand and growour museum operations. We all join togetherin welcoming him and his family to VirginiaBeach and look forward to working with Garyin this important position for our museum.

New Di rec to r . . . Con t inued f rom page 2


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Spending four days in Las Vegas hangingout with aviation people at the InternationalCouncil of Air Shows (ICAS) sounded like adream assignment. And it was, with 235 or-ganizations exhibiting in a 60,000 square footexhibit hall with nearly 100 education speak-ers and over 1,500 attendees, it was a sight tobe seen. Everyone was trying to learn some-thing, sell something or get the best deal onsomething. There are currently 155 airshowsscheduled in the US and Canada for 2011!

Chris Vtipil, Ed Dillingham and BoomPowell had numerous duties while attend-ing this dream assignment. They wereto promote the availability of the museums

Chris, Ed and Booms Excellent Adventureby RR Boom Powell

warbird collection to a variety of show or-ganizers who might want to add the dignityof historic airplanes to a show. They werealso there to check out vendors that offeredall the items that go with an air show; com-munication systems; in atable playgrounds;golf karts; computerized tickets and passes,and anything someone would need to run asuccessful air show. The third reason was tolearn from those that have been running airshows, successfully, longer.

There were several symposiums to choosefrom over the four days including; Airshows101 (for new guys); Emergency Prepared-ness; idea swapping sessions; and a ses-sion on the changes to FAA and TransporteCanada regulations (a usually dry subjectmade lively by the presenters). One of thehighlights was an extremely well presentedSafety Meeting that included a long assess-ment of airshow accidents going back to1908 and their causal factors.

Many visitors to the museums booth wereinterested in two aircraft that are not yet inVirginia; the Fock-Wulf 190 (coming inSpring) and our B-17 Chuckie (here in

time for Valentines Day). The B-17 will a geographical gap for yable Flying Fortsin the United States.

The Centennial of US Naval Aviation(CoNA) is in 2011 and the CoNA commis-sion had a large display set-up. The muse-ums six Navy airplanes should be much indemand for these celebrations this year.

Among the more interesting companis wereones providing pyrotechnics (no explo-sion is too big or too small); an announcerwho handed out cookies baked to look like

him; and our neighboring booth with a fullsize, jet-powered school bus which canbelch ame and go 300 miles per hour. Thedisplay even had small desks, black boardand a lovely teacher.

The ICAS convention brought togetherthe small world of warbirds. Everybodyseemed to know everybody and everyoneknew which airplane was where and its his-tory. Although relatively new, the MilitaryAviation Museum is well thought of amongthe professionals.

Boom Powell, Chris Vtipil, Ed Dillingham

Just when you thought that it couldnt getany better, you notice that many displayshad interaction buttons you could pushand watch the different parts of the displaycome alive. Children were amazed and en-joyed this; their smiles were from ear to ear.

It wasnt just the trains. There was also anassortment of aircraft in the other hangar forpeople to tour. The attendees were amazedsurprised to learn that these shiny aircraftwere also in working yable condition.

Then there was a y-by from Santa Claushimself who was stopping to visit all thechildren at the museum. Sitting in the opencockpit of the Stearman, waving to the

crowd, he brought excitement to all. WhenSanta landed he was escorted to a big com-fortable chair next to a decorated Christmastree and talked to each child. Pictures weretaken and the children had a memorableexperience. The whole facility had an airabout it that was special. The Toys for Totsbin was lling up and the spirit of Christ-mas was everywhere.

MAM Holds Holiday Trains and Planes Eventby Brad Groom

Something unique was going on at the MilitaryAviation Museum that brings out the youngand old alike. It was the Trains and Planesweekend and oh what a joy for all to see.

As you entered the hangar, the very distinc-tive sound of train whistles was echoingthroughout the facility. If you looked closerthe white smoke was pouring out of thelocomotive stacks. Train enthusiast camefrom all over Virginia and North Carolinato setup their special displays of uniquetrains and scenery. Every dis-play of trains had a theme inmind and they were true totheir character.

One display with very largetrains was Winter Wonderlandwith Christmas as the maintheme and was very popularwith the children. The displaysaveraged about 750 square feetand there were many that lledup the hangar space. As a novicelooking at these displays, it was

mind boggling on how all the trains were run-ning and the detail of all the displays.

Trains from the different lines were there

the Chesapeake, Ohio rail, American FlyerLines, Missouri Paci c, Southern Line,Baltimore & Ohio (B&O), Union Paci c,Southern, and the Denver Rio Grande. Therewere unique trains for everyone includingthe fans of stream engines. It was a delight tosee the puffs of smoke and hear the whistleonly a steam locomotive engine can make.

Santa arrives in the Stearman


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The B-17G that now ies as Chuckie wasbuilt by the Vega Aircraft Corp. at Burbank,California, in October 1944. Vega built

2.750 B-17s as part of a manufacturing poolto produce the famous four-engine bomberin suf cient numbers to meet the demandsof war. Chuckie was built with the Armyserial number of 44-8543. Though the mili-tary records of its rst year of service aremissing, it has been well established thatthis B-17G was modi ed as a special radarequipped Path nder airplane right off theproduction line but never went overseas.Its initial use may have been in training ortesting, but by September 1945 it was as-

signed to the All-Weather Flying Centerat Patterson Field, near Dayton, Ohio, andused to develop blind ying procedures andequipment.


B-17G 44-8543: A Short Historyby Scott Thompson

The record suggests that it was used insome aspect of the All-Weather FlyingCenter until 1951 when it was reassigned as

a test bed by the USAF. After 1951, it wasplaced on loan with the Federal Telecom-munications Corp. at Westchester Airportin New York. It carried special equipmentincluding unusual wingtip antennas, andwas used for research with the FTC until itwas declared excess to USAF requirementsin March 1959.

It was stored at Davis-Monthan AFB in Ar-izona until sold by auction to the AmericanCompressed Steel Corp. in August 1959 for

the princely sum of $5,026. It shortly after-wards received the civil registration num-ber of N3701G, the same number it wearsto this day. It and another surplus B-17 weresold to a new owner in February 1961 and

the pair of B-17s went into ser-vice hauling fresh dairy productsfrom Florida to the Bahamas,and returning with cucumbersor other fresh vegetables. Localsdubbed them the pickle bomb-ers, and N3701G was used forthis unusual mission until 1963.In that year it and two other sur-plus B-17s were purchased byHugh Wheelless, who ran Do-

than Aviation from a small air eld in northeastern Alabama. Wheelless converted histhree B-17s as big crop dusters and, under

contract with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture,became re ant bombers used in a decadelong battle with the dangerous pest migrat-ing through the southeast. The three B-17s ew hundreds of low level missions criss-crossing the region dusting with Mirex tokill the re ants. By the mid-1970s, howev-er, such widespread dusting programs fellout of favor, and N3701G ended up parkedin the corner of the air eld without a mission.

It sat there for a couple of years until agentleman named Dr. William Hosperscame along. Hospers came up with the ideaof buying the B-17 and, with a small cadreof volunteers, restoring the veteran back tomilitary con guration and ying it aroundthe country to airshows. Hospers deliveredthe airplane to its new home at MeachamField, Fort Worth, Texas, in October 1979.Together with his wife Charlyn, betterknown now for her namesake Chuckie, theairplane was lovingly rebuilt and gainedboth her name and the markings of a war-time 486th Bomb Group B-17G.

First test ights in December 2010

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Many thanks to all the nice olks who came to see me at the Military Aviation Museum. We had beauti ul November

days with a small nip in the air; made old Santa eel right at home.

It was so heartwarming when all the children ran to greet me. I f ew in in a Stearman piloted by Ray Scott, one day and Nelson Eskey,

another. Im trying to get Ray and Nelson to get their multi-reindeer rating so they can come to the North Pole and f y or me.

I will always remember my riend who wanted to give her presents to the needy,the boy who wanted a lot o appliances or his mother so she wouldnt have to work so hard in the kitchen and the sister and brother who wanted guns so they could go hunting with their dad and give their mother some peace and quietat home alone!

The job o Santa Claus is the best job in the world. Thanks again to all the support sta , volunteers, and railroad clubs with the beauti ul train stations,

kiddies and parents. Love, Santa

Cont inued on page 6


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World Wide Wedding Reception, April 30th

The Military Aviation Museum is delighted to announce their celebration of the upcom-ing royal wedding and will be hosting a Reception commencing Saturday, April 30th at

2:00 pm.We were trying to come up with a unique idea for the perfect function during the monthof April and seem to have come up with this intriguing idea. We will hope to coordinatethis wedding reception in our main Naval hangar with another signi cant wedding re-ception.

British aircraft own in honor of the Bride and Groom:Spit re Hurricane Tiger Moth Chipmunk

AVRO 504k Sopwith Strutter Dragon Rapide

Photo opportunities will be available to have your pic-ture taken with the happy couple (Prince William andKate Middleton cardboard gures). Wedding cake will

be served and on view a rendi-tion of the beautiful blue Sap-phire and diamond engagementring provided by Longs Jewel-ers.

Obviously, the wedding fromthe day before will be the ma-jor topic of conversation allover our country and throughoutthe world with news reports on every television sta-tion, magazine, and newspaper. Live broadcasts will be

streaming from the UK all week long. Everyone will be proud to tell their many friends

that they attended the actual American wedding reception in Virginia Beach.

We will certainly invite the happy couple and hope that they will attend. After all, Willie is apilot and would enjoy all this ying about in his countrys historic airplanes. However, we willstill have a wonderful and most memorable time, even if they have to send in their regrets withother more pressing engagements.

English tea will be served. We are also inviting all the lady guests and their escorts tobring along their own favorite tea cup to the affair. Then we could have a judging of themost unique and favorite one for an award to be presented to the winner as a courtesyafterwards to all those with a cup.

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Upcoming Events

Flying Proms: Symphonic Airshow Spectacular!

with Virginia Symphony Orchestra, May 7th In England, The Flying Proms is a beloved tradition that showcasesthe beauty of vintage aircraft ying maneuvers accompanied by livemusic performed by a symphony orchestra. Now this unique showcomes to the United States, courtesy of the Virginia Arts Festival!Share this soaring, symphonic celebration with family and friends onthe grounds of the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach-picnicon your own blanket or chairs, or reserve VIP seating.

Saturday, May 7, 7:00 PMGates open at 3:00 PM, Concert begins at 7:00 PM

Military Aviation Museum, Virginia BeachTickets: $45 VIP Seating, $35 Lawn, Students under 25, $15 Lawn

Warbirds of the Beach artwork This painting was commissioned as posterart for the 2011 Warbirds at the Beach Air-show. It depicts an assortment of WWII eraaircraft cruising over the beautiful VirginiaBeach Ocean Front and the historic landmark Cavalier Hotel as it would have then ap-peared. The artist, Sam Welty is well knownand recognized for his work in many homes,businesses, and public venues. A nativeTexan, Sam lives in the Hampton Roads area

of Virginia and works locally and nationally."My favorite thingabout painting whenI can affect peopleslives and share my arand expression. Thatsa great feeling, espe-cially when it honorsthose who defend ourfreedom." The original painting will be ondisplay in the MilitaryAviation Museum inVirginia Beach.

aIliaactf nd

A ying prom at the Shuttleworth


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Membership Newsletter for he Military Aviation Museum

1341 Princess Anne RoadVirginia Beach, VA 23457

(757) 721-PROP

Open Daily9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Current Resident

New Volunteer Classby Felix Usis

It was a very busy day at the museum onSaturday, 22 January. In addition to thelong anticipated arrival of Chuckie theB-17G from the Vintage Flying Museum.

The Museum held the rst Volunteer Ori-entation class of 2011.

The rst of the new prospective volun-teers were waiting at the doors before theyopened at 9 AM. Class started at 9:45 AMwith an introduction by the founder. Hispresentation included an introduction of the Museums new Museum Director, GaryPowers. The classes began with an over-view of the museum, how it started, andwhere he envisions it going.

After the rstbreak, StephenChalker, picked-up and discussedthe rules, regula-tions, and quali-ties of being avolunteer.

The class was repeatedly interrupted withupdates about the progress of Chuckie.So much so, that during each break in thepresentations, www. ightaware.com was

brought up to be viewed. And the classwatched the slow progress of Chuckieacross the nation at 5,500 feet and 185 mph.

After lunch Felix Usis, presented the classwith a quick over view of the museumsaircraft and other exhibits. His presenta-tion was interrupted, not only Chuckiesprogress, but by the take-off in the P-51D.Then it was back into the theater for thewrap-up.

Following the formal Volunteer Orienta-tion presentation, the pro-spective new volunteerswere invited to remainand await Chuckiesarrival. Many took ad-vantage of the extra timeto have Tom Owens, takethem around on a walkingtour of the museum.

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDVIRGINIA BEACH, VA

PERMIT NO. 235

Articles and video clips of the B-17 arrival.

www.youtube.com./watch?v=-h_X1Y-Bu5Vs

Flight tracking of trip from TX to VA:http:// ightaware.com/live/ ight/N3701G

Live Webcams of the B-17 at the museum:www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/webcams

Fort Worth Newspaper:www.star-telegram.com/2011/01/21/2788018/world-war-ii-bomber-is-leaving.html

Local NBC television:www.wavy.com/dpp/military/B-17-ar-rives-at-Virginia-Beach-museum?ref=scroller&categoryId=10011&status=true

In the Press

military aviation museum ~ dec 2010

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