Homespun Museums
Too often do we take for granted the organization of a museum’s collection. When the success of an organization is significantly due to preservation of a legacy and storage is not an option, displays are filled to the brim with donations of personal memorabilia, family heirlooms, and rare artifacts—each bearing a story. This is mostly seen in the case of small nonprofit organizations or what I call homespun museums. I’ve visited a few of these nonprofits, though mostly related to aviation or space exploration. After talking with volunteers and taking my time to explore the collection, I noticed that financial support comes from retired aviators and family members entrusting their donations. The small size of the museum lends the illusion of a mom-and-pop establishment, which is more an asset than a limitation. (This can also be experienced in small artist-run alternative spaces.) Especially because the volunteers are eager to narrate their own personal anecdote for their favorite exhibit.
Below are a few images of the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum in Titusville, Florida, which houses and restores vintage aircrafts and is home to the TICO Belle. I visited the Warbird Museum last September where I was given an exclusive tour of the museum and its restoration hangar. It is a rare occasion to be offered a museum tour by a passionate volunteer. Jason Davis, a helicopter instructor, showed me around for over an hour answering every question I threw at him. More pictures can be seen here.
Another recommendation for a homespun museum is the U.S. Space Walk of Fame also in Titusville. Placing emphasis on the American Space Worker, this museum was founded by NASA employees who dedicated their lives to space exploration. Though there are only a few rooms to peruse, the collection is impressive because the items donated include volunteers’ own personal effects from spacesuits, helmets, and other memorabilia to models and launch consoles. Spacesuits and other uniforms are surprisingly not encased in glass displays (excluding the glove pictured below), which allows a closer examination than any display at the Kennedy Space Center.
VA-22 and the USS Coral Sea
I’ve been trying to get info from my dad about his time flying A-7s on the USS Coral Sea, flying adversary for Top Gun, etc. Sadly, I know so little. But every now and then he emails me photos with tidbits about his Naval career. Here’s some photos that he took during his time on the USS Coral Sea circa 1973. His attack squadron was VA-22 The Fighting Red Cocks.
He found the photo below on Wikipedia of (what he thinks is) his A-7E airplane.
An in-flight left side view of a Vought A-7E ”Corsair II” aircraft, from attack squadron VA-22 ”Fighting Redcocks”, assigned to ”Carrier Air Wing 15 (CVW-15)” embarked aboard the aircraft carrier ”USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)” in 1981. The aircraft carr. (via)
In my dad’s words:
This is the airplane I jumped out of (Maybe). This one is Beefeater 314, or NL-314, pronounced November lima 314 with the identical paint scheme & markings. The star on the top of the LH wing blocks the 6-digit Bureau Number (BuNo) that would have been painted on the lower portion of the aft fuselage right in front of the horizontal stabilizer. Mine was BuNo 156846, ..( I think). When a unit/squadron sustains a loss, they get another one, different BuNo, & they paint it with the Unit number sequence, etc.
Speaking of aviation in art, check out this work by Fiona Banner.
From the Department of Whoa: Fiona Banner at Tate Britain, on view through Jan. 3. (As seen on We Make Money Not Art.)
Source: we-make-money-not-art.com
Naval Aviator’s Change of Command Speech
The following speech was emailed to me by my dad, a retired Naval aviator.
Change Of Command Dinner speech by CDR “Beef” Wellington, former USN VFA-203 “Blue Dolphins” C.O.
Two days ago I closed out my career as a Naval Aviator. The realization is just now starting to hit me, as I’m sure it will the rest of you someday. What follows are my remarks at my farewell dinner. Several of the guys in my squadron had asked me for a copy of what I had written and because it had been jotted down on the back of a cocktail napkin in my weird-assed hand writing and because these things came from my heart, I debated for a while whether or not to write it down, but the response from all the guys and their wives was so humbling and overwhelming, I thought … why not.
Being an F/A-18 pilot and an airline pilot at the same time gives you an interesting and different perspective. Unlike others, at my airline (NWA) they do not have a history of hiring Single Seat Naval Aviators and as such we are definitely in the minority. On every trip when you first sit down next to a guy, the first volley of questions in getting to know each other always includes “What is your background?” Based on 3 years in the airline industry, I have recently decided to flat out lie and stop telling guys that I am a Naval Aviator and an F/A-18 pilot. You might be asking yourself, why would anyone do that? There are 3 reasons.
One - Because everything that the uninformed population knows about Naval Aviation they got from the movie Top Gun: a credible and reliable source of information if there ever was one.
Two - Because when I tell guys that I am an F/A-18 pilot, the machismo and bravado that immediately comes from the left side of the cockpit becomes somewhat intolerable and I am forced to sit and listen to stories for the next 4 days that go something like, “Mike, did I tell you about the time when I landed my C-5 on a 15,000 foot runway with only 30,000 pounds of fuel in the tanks, with the weather at mins, and oh, oh yeah, did I say it was at night.” You gotta be $hi **** n’ me!
Three - Because, in their state of curiosity, invariably questions get asked about what flying the F/A-18 is like and what this business of Naval Aviation is all about. It is in my futile attempts to answer these questions that I have finally decided that it is impossible to do so. How can anyone possibly explain Naval Aviation?
How do you explain what it has been like to have seen the entire world through the canopy of an F/A-18 like a living IMAX film?
How do you explain what is like to fly an engineering marvel that responds to your every whim of airborne imagination?
How do you explain the satisfaction that comes from seeing a target under the diamond disappear at the flick of your thumb?
How do you explain catapult shots - especially the night ones?
How do explain the exhilaration of the day trap?
How do you possibly explain finding yourself at 3/4 mile [on final], at night, weather down, deck moving, hyperventilating into your mask, knowing that it will take everything you have to get aboard without killing yourself?
How do you explain moons so bright and nights so dark that they defy logic?
How do you explain sunrises and sunsets so glorious that you knew in your heart that God had created that exact moment in time just for you?
How do you explain the fellowship of the ready room where no slack is given and none is taken?
How do you explain an environment where the content of a man’s character can be summed up into two simple 4-word phrases - “He’s a good $h ** ” or “He’s a f***in’ idiot.”
How do you explain the heart of maintenance professionals whose only enjoyment comes from taking care of our young sailors and providing us with “up” jets to execute our craft?
How do you explain the dedication of our young troops who we burden with the responsibilities of our lives and then pay them peanuts to do so?
How do you explain the type of women who are crazy enough to marry into Naval Aviation, who endure long working hours and long periods of separation and who are painfully and quietly forced to accept the realization that they are second to the job?
The simple fact is that you can’t explain it; none of it.
It is something that only a very select few of us will ever know. We are bonded for life by our proprietary knowledge and it excludes all others from our fraternity. As I will, no matter where you go or what you do, you should cherish that knowledge for the rest of your life. For when I am 90 years old sitting on my porch in my rocking chair and someone asks me what I have done with my life, I will damn sure not tell them I was an airline pilot, but rather I will reach into my pocket, pull out my Blue Dolphin money clip and tell them I was a Naval Aviator, I worked with the finest people on the planet, and that I was the Commanding Officer of the Blue Dolphins.”
This says it all.
Aboard the USS Yorktown
Built during World War II, the USS Yorktown is the tenth aircraft carrier to serve in the US Navy (decommission in 1970). It is also known for recovering the Apollo 8 command module in December 1968.
For more photos click here.
I stumbled upon this photo while searching through my email. The photo was taken by my Dad. It was in an email with six other images. (I posted one previously.) The photos move me. Partly because all I knew of him was my dad. But he had a crazy, dangerous lifestyle prior to my being born including hot shot A-7 pilot, Top Gun adversary, Washington, DC based NTSB investigator (major airline crashes), and FAA safety inspector, which is what I am most familiar with. It’s seeing these photos and hearing his stories that makes me want to carry on and get my pilot’s license. He wrote a small explanation for the photos saying:
Ole’ (young) Dad took the A-7 Images using my Mamiya 35mm after I had developed the skill & confidence to use a hand held while flying formation & modulating the jet thrust – a trick. WE USED STILLS TO PHOTO DOCUMENT Russian freighters going in & out of Haiphong harbor. I think the film was Ecktachrome – too much blue!
