Last year she got a major motion picture about her life and just recently she was high on Google’s hit list as new photos surfaced of her in Hawaii.
Seventy-three years after aviatrix Amelia Earhart vanished she still occupies our national consciousness. Just ask Megan Lickliter-Mundon.
“It’s just one of those things,” said the lanky blonde. “People just want to solve the mystery, they can’t let go.”
Lickliter-Mundon, the administrator of Houston’s 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport, joined The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery’s (TIGHAR) 10th expedition to Nikumaroro, an uninhabited tropical island in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati. The Earhart Project, which the nonprofit organization began in 1988, is using scientific methods to prove that Earhart crashed on the island and died there.
Lickliter-Mundon has a master’s degree in archeology and when she came across the TIGHAR website with information on an aviation archeology field school, well it just seemed a perfect fit. She must have impressed TIGHAR’s Director Ric Gillespie because by the second day he had invited her to join The Earhart Project’s expedition this summer.
Raffle day 2010 was an exciting and fun-filled day! Out on the ramp, we had several fly-in visitors including the Aero Commander of Coats & Evans, Gale Haskins’ PT-19, along with a Cessna 172H and a Cessna 170 taildragger!
Out front, we broke the record for the most cars in our parking lot! There were cars from all vintages, and all of them looked great in front of the museum!
After lunch, everyone gathered in the atrium for the raffle drawing. Several people came by to spin the ticket cage one last time before we drew the winner.
Art was not in attendance, so we quickly got him on the phone and let him know that he was the winner! We had the phone hooked up to the loudspeaker and everyone was listening in. He said he was in shock!
Thanks to museum volunteers Steve & Michael Wiley, we were able to live stream the giveaway over the internet! Using a cell phone with a high speed connection, we broadcasted the event to about 80+ people!
All of us at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum would like to say congratulations to Art, and wish him and his family all the best!
We take our annual airplane raffle very seriously. Throughout the year, we continuously check and re-check our raffle database.
There are a lot of things that need to happen before we draw the winning ticket on Saturday, July 17, 2010, which is why ticket sales stop at noon on July 16. First, we collect any sold and unsold tickets from our volunteer sales force. Some of our volunteers check out tickets to sell at a variety of aviation events and venues, and we need to get these back, sold or unsold, so they can be accounted for. Next, we need to make sure that the information from all of the tickets that have been sold has been correctly entered into our database. After we end ticket sales the day before the drawing, we conduct a thorough internal audit of every aspect of the raffle. In the course of this audit, we place each sold ticket stub in numerical order and cross-check against the sold tickets we have in our database. We do the same thing with every unsold ticket.
On the raffle day itself, an independent accounting firm goes back through and checks our work. They audit our records and account for and verify every sold and unsold ticket. Once the accountants have verified all of our records and the sold and unsold tickets, the sold ticket stubs go back in the tumbler and the accountants lock it.
Now comes the fun part – the drawing itself. We typically do this at about 2:00pm on the raffle day. We address the crowd and build the anticipation. Drew Coats, our Museum President, says a few words about the raffle and thanks the accounting firm for their help. Then, the big moment arrives. We give the tumbler a few last spins, and a representative from the accounting firm that audits the raffle draws the winning ticket. We announce the winner, meanwhile crossing our fingers that they are present. While the winners of our first two raffles were not present, we were able to call them from a telephone that was connected to our sound system for everyone to hear. It’s a fun moment, and the reactions from the winners are priceless.
The first two winners were from the local Houston area and were able to make it to the Museum while our Wings & Wheels – Raffle Day Celebration was still ongoing. After all of the photos have been taken and hands have been shaken, the paperwork gets signed, and the winner flies off into the sunset in their very own airplane!
We hope that this year, the winner will be present at the event and can shre the excitement of the actual drawing with our eager and enthusiastic crowd of visitors and volunteers. Who knows, it could be you! Get your ticket now!
Close on the heels of Michael Combs’ visit on his Flight for the Human Spirit, the 1940 Air Terminal Museum was visited by a couple more stalwart travelers. Florida CFI Jason Schappert and Swiss Private Pilot Vincent Lambercy from the Flying Across America project made our museum their third overnight stop on their westbound journey from Daytona Beach, FL to Catalina Island, CA. They actually extended their stay in Houston to be here for a few days so that they could take part in our make-up D’Shannon Products Beechcraft Day on June 26 (which was originally rained out on May 15).
We had a great time hosting Vincent and Jason here in Houston. We were able to arrange for them to visit several Houston-area establishments, such as NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Galveston’s Lone Star Flight Museum, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. During our Beechcraft Day event, Jason and Vincent got to address the crowd, and a couple of people got to fly with them, including a 5-year-old boy going for his first flight ever!
We appreciate Jason and Vincent making us one of their stops, and we wish them well on their journey!
The museum will host Michael Combs as a stop on his Flight for the Human Spirit. Michael departed from Salina, KS on April 8 on an ambitious journey that will see him flying a Remos GX Light Sport Aircraft, named ‘Hope One’, to all 50 states.
Beginning on April 8, 2010 Michael Combs will fly into all 50 states in a light sport aircraft covering 19,500 miles in 40 flight days with 135 stops. It’s always been his dream to fly — a dream he thought was lost forever after a serious illness nearly took his life in 2003. Nearly seven years later, it’s finally coming true! But, it’s not just about his dream, Michael knows what it’s like face impossible odds and he’s set out to inspire other to dream again and pursue those dreams with vigor and determination…and do it now.
Michael Combs has arrived in Houston and made a special apprearance at the museum on June 15, 2010.
We were grateful to have Michael choose the museum as one of his stops on his trip around the country! Check out the photos of his visit below. Photos by Max Tribolet.
Saturday, May 29, 2010, Blair McFarlain and I flew the museum’s 1958 Cessna 172 raffle plane from Hooks Airport (DWH) to Ranger, TX (F23) to sell raffle tickets at the Ranger Fly-in and Airshow. Drew Coats and fellow museum volunteer Gene Bursick also flew up in Drew’s 172.
We started out flying as a flight of two airplanes, which basically tells ATC that you’re going to fly in formation and only one airplane will get a squawk code and talk to to ATC. The other plane flies in somewhat close proximity and just listens in on the ATC channel. We weren’t flying in close formation, but we planned to stay within one mile of each other and maintain visual contact. This all worked well at the beginning with me working the radios for our flight, Blair flying the raffle plane, Drew flying his plane, and Gene hanging on for the ride. But, shortly after takeoff, we figured out that we made a mistake in our pre-flight formation briefing. We did not specify the airspeeds we would be climbing at, nor did we brief the power settings we would be using in cruise. So, Blair and I climbed at a much slower forward speed than Drew did, so he and Gene wound up leaving us in the dusk. Before we knew it, we were 3 miles in trail. No harm, though. Drew just called up ATC, told them he lost visual contact with us, and asked for an individual squawk code and flight following as a single ship. ATC then confirmed that we still had them in sight and told us to maintain visual separation.
This worked out well for the rest of the trip. Once we leveled off in cruise, we were at a faster speed than Drew, so we caught up quickly and we both kept an eye out for each other. Blair and I switched off on who was flying the airplane, and I stayed in control of the radios. The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful, except for a couple of notable things:
First, after we passed College Station, TX, there was a lull in the radio traffic. I keyed up the radio and said, “Houston Center, Cessna eight-five-foxtrot, do you have time for a question?” They replied that they always had time for our questions (we had just asked them about an abandoned airfield a few minutes earlier that didn’t appear to be charted as abandoned). I told him that we were raffling off the airplane that we were in to raise money for The 1940 Air Terminal Museum and it could be his for $50. I said that I could give him the phone number if he’s interested. He called back and said, “When you put it like that, how could I resist?” So I gave him the phone number and he said he’d call and get one!
Second, near Waco, TX, there’s the small town of Crawford. Just outside of Crawford is a ranch owned by former President George W. Bush. When he became president, a Prohibited Area (airspace you are not allowed to go into) went into effect over the ranch up to an altitude of 5,000 feet. Well, we were at 6,500ft. as our cruising altitude, so we got to fly directly over the top of his ranch. We didn’t really see anything – just a couple of buildings in the middle of the woods, but it was still pretty cool to fly directly over the top of the Bush Ranch.
Anyway, we made our way up to Ranger and I made the requisite calls on the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency. There was surprisingly little traffic there when we arrived, and we came right in and Blair made a nice landing on the grass strip. We had beaten Drew there by a couple of minutes, and I guess our timing was perfect because there was significantly more traffic in the pattern for his arrival than for ours. We told the first marshaller we came to that we were the raffle plane for the museum and that we were supposed to park in front of the hangar. He radioed ahead to his buddies and we were guided right into the proper spot.
The fly-in itself was a lot of fun and very successful. There were probably close to 100 planes there of all different types – anything from powered parachutes and trikes to a Beech 18 with tri-gear and everything in-between. There was a gorgeous Cessna 195 that was parked right next to us (and I mean right next to us – there were less than three inches separating our wingtips. I had a brief discussion with the marshaller about that one). I told the owner that he had to move his airplane – he was making ours look bad by comparison! j/k
We set up shop and started selling tickets. Gene (the selling machine) led the charge and got quite a few sales. At around 1:00p, the field closed for an airshow, and Drew, Gene, and I retired to the hangar to have some BBQ and chat about the raffle and museum stuff. Blair stayed outside near the flightline and worked his camera shutter to the bone. Right around 3:00p, the airshow ended and the airport re-opened. Everyone ran to their planes and thus started an exodus of biblical proportions. Planes were taxiing out and taking off left and right! Blair’s poor camera couldn’t catch a break! It was quite the show.
We stuck around, selling tickets to the stragglers until around 5:00p or so. We then packed up and loaded into our planes. Once again, Blair was in the left seat as PIC for this leg, and I was in the right seat working the radios. We didn’t even try the flight of two thing this time, as we were parked so far from each other. Blair made a very nice soft-field takeoff and we took up an almost due-east heading to go to Stephenville (KSEP) to fuel up before heading back to DWH.
For the flight to Stephenville, we took up a cruise altitude of 3,500ft. We decided not to use flight following for this leg because of the short distance (only 30nm or so). We cruised along, over the top of a windmill farm in that area, and enjoyed the 80-deg outside air temp at that altitude. You know you’ve been REALLY hot on the ground when 80-deg at altitude feels nice! We got to SEP, overflew the airport, and circled around to enter the downwind leg of the pattern to come around and make our landing. As we entered the pattern, we heard Drew calling that he was in range, and we heard a flight of two aircraft call that they were coming in behind us. I had heard this flight of two calling when we left Ranger as well, so we weren’t the only ones who decided this would make a good gas stop!
Blair made another smooth landing and rolled to the end of the runway as the heat coming off the blacktop caused us to float pretty far before touching down. We taxied in to the ramp and parked in one of the spots there as we weren’t sure if the fuel was self-serve or truck. Turns out, it was self-serve. The flight of two that landed behind us was a Cessna 140 and a Christen Eagle, and they taxied right up to the pumps. We hooked up the towbar and pushed our plane over there in time for Blair to grab his camera and get a couple good shots of Drew’s landing. We struck up a conversation with the pilots in the flight of two, and it turns out it was a father, son, and daughter-in-law. The dad had flown the Christen Eagle all the way from Prescott, AZ to attend this fly-in with his son and daughter-in-law, who live in the area. They were some nice people with some beautiful planes. We chatted as they topped off their tanks, and we lent them a hand with pushing their planes around in front of the pump.
They fired up and took off, and we filled up our tanks as well. After we were topped off, Blair and I loaded back up into the plane, this time with me in the left seat as PIC and Blair in the right as SIC and radio operator. We taxied out, did a run-up, and held short of the runway since the local jump plane had just announced jumpers away. Unfortunately, the landing zone was behind us, so we couldn’t see when they landed. After a couple of minutes, we figured we were safe, and the jump plane said that they should be on the ground by now, so we launched out with caution. We climbed up to 5,500ft. and had a nice and smooth ride back to DWH with air temperatures of about 60 deg, which felt awesome after being on the ground in 95 deg heat all day. The flight was largely uneventful, save for my window popping open a couple of times. After the third time or so, I figured out how to latch it properly and it wasn’t an issue for the rest of the trip.
We descended for our landing into Hooks and when we got down to 2,000ft., the temperature difference was noticeable. We called Hooks in sight and ATC told us to contact the tower. We contacted them at about 13nm out, and they gave us a clearance to land at 10nm out since we were #1 to the field. Another plane actually called in on a 10nm straight-in approach before we got to the field, but thankfully they were far enough out that we were able to land before them. I did my first landing in this airplane, which turned out pretty good. We turned off on the high-speed taxiway and were cleared to taxi all the way to our parking area. Here’s the video that Blair shot of my landing:
All told, we sold 21 tickets, plus the one to the Air Traffic Controller from Houston Center. It was a great day of flying, and thanks to Blair for the great rides up to Ranger and over to Stephenville, and for the greeat insight into this particular plane on our flight to Hooks. Thanks to Drew for the opportunity to go, and to Gene for being such a great salesman. I can’t wait to do it again sometime!
BTW – I have to say that this airplane is sweet! It is one of the most perfectly-rigged airplanes I’ve ever flown. When you get up to altitude, you just trim it out and let go – it doesn’t drift or lean or anything. The winner is going to be one happy camper! Get your tickets by calling the museum today! 713-454-1940.
Museum volunteers Francisco Gutierrez and Blair McFarlain flew the raffle plane up to Fort Worth Mecham airport for the Cowtown warbird round-up.
We had a lot of fun, met some great people, and of course sold some raffle tickets! Our neighbors were a DC-3 from the CAF, as well as a Cessna 0-2 Skymaster!
We would like to thank you for participating in our Win Your Own Plane fundraiser.
As we stated in our previous announcement, our Cessna 175 suffered significant engine damage, and our only recourse was to find a replacement plane to give away. We have acquired a gorgeous 1958 Cessna 172, a sleek looking airplane sporting black & white trim on a polished aluminum body. Inside, you’ll find a vintage instrument panel, along with an interior in original green tweed on vinyl.
Tickets are still on sale for this raffle, until July 17, 2010 at 12:00 pm. Get your tickets now!
Only a few days are left until we host a presentation in conjunction with the first National Learn to Fly Day! At 3:00pm on Saturday, May 15, we will be holding a presentation as part of our Wings & Wheels event on that day designed to give you the information you need about learning how to fly. Also, there will be some flight schools on-hand from different airports around Houston to answer your questions as well. If you come after 2:00p and you present the free ticket you can get from clicking the link above, you get in for free! However, you are welcome to join us for our Wings & Wheels – D’Shannon Products Beechcraft Day festivities earlier in the day as well, and admission for that is $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for kids 12 and under, and includes lunch!
No matter when you decide to arrive, we hope to see you there and we hope you pursue your own dream of flight!
(Houston, Texas – May 10, 2010) The administrator for Houston’s 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport, Megan Lickliter-Mundon, will travel to the South Pacific later this month to participate in an archeological expedition intended to answer one of aviation’s greatest mysteries: what happened to Amelia Earhart.
Lickliter-Mundon has been selected to be evidence manager for the upcoming expedition to Gardner Island by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (”TIGHAR”), a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting responsible aviation archaeology and historic preservation.
The Earhart Project is TIGHAR’s science-based investigation testing the hypothesis that Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan landed, and eventually died, on Gardner Island, now Nikumaroro in the Republic of Kiribati. Archival research and nine expeditions have uncovered a compelling body of supporting evidence. Archaeological excavations during the next expedition, scheduled for later this month, will aim to recover artifacts from which Earhart’s DNA can be extracted. The expedition will also include a deep water search off the atoll’s fringing reef for the wreckage of the airplane.
Upon her return from the TIGHAR Earhart expedition, Ms. Lickliter-Mundon will give a presentation at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum on the expedition and its results.
We would like to thank you for participating in our Win Your Own Plane fundraiser. The raffle has turned into one of our best fundraisers. It is also a great way to get out into the aviation community and spread the word about our museum.
We are pleased to announce that we have acquired our next raffle plane, a gorgeous 1958 Cessna 172. Tickets for the new plane will go on sale on July 17, 2010, the day that we hold the current raffle. We will be making more announcements about the new plane as Raffle Day 2010 draws closer. In the meantime, you can get a sneak preview of our next raffle plane at fly-ins and air shows we attend between now and July 17.
We also need to let you know about developments with the current raffle plane. Our Cessna 175 recently experienced a significant engine malfunction. While we have researched a variety of options to repair the current raffle plane, we are concerned that none of those options could be completed before July 17. Because we are fully committed to give away a flying airplane no later than July 17, 2010, we have decided to go with the final remaining option, which is to buy a comparable airplane to give away on July 17, as described in the Acceptance Agreement referenced in the terms of the raffle which appear on the back of each raffle ticket.
We will announce the details about the replacement raffle plane in the very near future, but expect that the replacement will be a Cessna 172. Thanks again for your participation and support.
My friend Mike and I flew to Hamilton, Texas today in my Bonanza. Hamilton has a population of 8,229. It is southwest of Fort Worth. I suspect that in most seasons, Hamilton is brown, but Texas has had a wet spring and Hamilton is green and gorgeous. It is just high enough and west enough that the light is different and colors are different.
We arrived at this idyllic little rural airport, taxied up to the galvanized, corrugated hangars and shut the Bonanza down. We had come to Hamilton on behalf of the 1940 Air Terminal Museum to look at an antique Cessna owned by a young man named Chris. As we climbed down from the Bonanza, a man approached us. “Are you Chris?” I asked. He was not, but we explained that Chris would be along shortly and we were in Hamilton to look at his 172. Our host asked us if we were in the business of buying and selling planes. I explained that we were not. We were with a museum in Houston. Our host’s eyes lit up. “Oh”, he exclaimed. “You’re museum people. You need to meet Harry.”
Our host led us around the largest of Hamilton’s small hangars and into the very small airport office. We were introduced to Harry Hansen. Capt. Hansen started flying for Continental Airlines on the Douglas DC-3 in the late 1950s after a stint as a corporate pilot for Moncrief Oil Company. Capt. Hansen retired from Continental flying the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in 1999. The office walls were covered with black and white photos of aviation’s rich past. As we admired them, Capt. Hansen jabbed his finger towards one and quizzed us, “do you know who that is?” I successfully identified the man in the photo as Will Rogers and the plane as a Travelair. “That’s right,” Capt. Hansen barked, “a Travelair 5000. National Air Transport used them on the Chicago to Dallas route… follow me.”
We followed Capt. Hansen through the back of the office and into the hangar. There was the Travelair 5000. The same one Will Rogers flew on. Capt. Hansen has been restoring it for years. We admired the beautiful woodwork in the wings. “A German fellow who flew for Continental did the woodwork. He died recently, but his wife is sure that his interest in the project kept him alive two or three years longer than he would have lived otherwise,” Capt. Hansen explained.
The Travelair was in good company. Behind it was an elegant biplane, partially restored. Despite my love of aviation history, I couldn’t identify it. “It’s an American Eagle”, Capt. Hansen told us. The only one left. Capt. Hansen also had two Curtiss Pusher projects in the hangar, a 1929 Cadillac and a Dodge Brothers sedan… made before the brothers sold their company to Chrysler.
I have visited lots of little airports and imagined what treasures might be hidden in their aging hangars. In Hamilton we learned that those treasures really exist. If you happen to be flying through that part of Texas, stop in Hamilton and go visit with Capt. Harry Hansen. Ask to see his planes. You won’t regret it.
We here at The 1940 Air Terminal Museum feel very fortunate to be able to be first-hand participants in many historic endeavors. All we are doing these days is just continuing on the tradition of the Houston Municipal Airport Terminal Building (which is now the museum), which saw such things as the first squadrons of Women’s Air Service Pilots being trained next door, the birth of Trans-Texas Airways, several of Howard Hughes’ flights, and more. In more recent history, the museum was the second-to-last stop for Barrington Irving before he returned to Miami on his around-the world trip. It was on this trip that he became the youngest man to fly solo around the world, and the first African-American man to do so. All in a modified, single-engine, Columbia 400 aircraft.
Coming up, the museum has the opportunity to bear witness to two more historic flights and will take part in another historic cause, all within less than 60 days of each other!
First, the museum will host Michael Combs as a stop on his Flight for the Human Spirit. Michael departed from Salina, KS on April 8 on an ambitious journey that will see him flying a Remos GX Light Sport Aircraft, named ‘Hope One’, to all 50 states. As this post is written, he is flying over Long Island, NY. On April 30, 2010 (subject to weather delay), Michael is scheduled to arrive at The 1940 Air Terminal Museum. We will have a reception and press conference for him at the museum that evening, so stay tuned to this page for more info on that. Michael is doing this to help inspire people to pursue aviation, either as a vocation or a hobby, and to remind people that they can accomplish anything, so long as they persevere.
Michael Combs has irons in many fires, and is putting together a second initiative that we at the museum are glad to be a part of. What good is flying all over the country, telling people that they have the ability to learn to fly, if you don’t tell them how they go about learning to fly? To that end, Michael’s group has organized a National Learn to Fly Day, scheduled for May 15, 2010. On this day, flight schools, museums, and aviation groups around the country will be holding presentations designed to give you information on learning to fly. You guessed it, one of these presentations will be held right here at The 1940 Air Terminal Museum, at 3:00p CDT. May 15 just happens to be the day that our Wings & Wheels – Beechcraft Day falls on, so we will already have a lot of people and airplanes here. Everyone is welcome to join us for this, and admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under, and includes lunch. However, if you register on the National Learn to Fly Day website and get your free ticket, and you arrive at the museum after 2:00p, you can get in for free to view the presentation and see any planes that are still around after the day’s activities. We are also working on having a few flight school representatives on-hand to answer your questions as well.
The third upcoming event that we are proud to be a part of is the Flying Across America initiative, in which two gentlemen, American CFI Jason Schappert and Swiss-German Private Pilot Vincent Lambercy, will be flying from Daytona Beach, Florida to Catalina Island, California and back in an IFR-equipped Cessna 150. The goal of this endeavor is to promote General Aviation’s accessibility and utility, and that it can be affordable – it’s not just for the rich and affluent. It is also designed to show that even across cultures and with different backgrounds, aviation is a uniting factor. They will launch on their flight on June 18, and are slated to be in Houston on June 24, 2010. We will be holding a reception where you can come and hear them speak about their trip, how it all got started, and about Vincent’s experiences with learning to fly and flying in Europe. Again, stay tuned to this site for more information on this.
As you can tell, we’re very excited here at the museum about continuing to be part of these events, and we hope that you will come join us and be part of them as well.
Well, since today’s Cessna Day event was a washout (literally) with heavy rain and strong winds, we would like to invite all of the Cessnas to try again next month! On April 17, we are hosting our Wings & Wheels – Women in Aviation Day, and we would like to invite any and all Cessnas to fly in again for this day. It should be a great event, with a lot of women’s aviation organizations present, as well as Monika Petrillo on hand to show and talk about her movie, ‘Flyabout’! This is a documentary about a trip she and her father took around the continent of Australia in a Cessna 172. So, it all fits!
The 1940 Air Terminal Museum is now signed up with iGive.com. If you sign up with iGive.com, and designate The 1940 Air Terminal Museum as your cause, hundreds of participating online retailers will contribute to the Museum anytime you make a purchase. All you have to do is sign up and designate us as your cause. iGive and the retailers (including eBay, many major airlines, Expedia, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Best Buy and hundreds more) take care of the rest and update you on how much has been donated.
To sign up, click here: http://www.igive.com/welcome/warm_reg_promo.cfm?c=54649
The 1940 Air Terminal Museum is going to host a presentation on general aviation efforts to provide Haitian disaster relief from 2-3 during tomorrow’s Wings & Wheels open house. We will post additional details as we confirm them, but will have information on the various GA relief efforts, what individuals and local businesses can do to help with those efforts, and a presentation on adopting Hatian orphans.
More information on general aviation assistance efforts appear here:
We’ve been really busy booking appearances for the raffle plane over the next several months. As we receive confirmation for the various events, we post it under the “Events” category here in the blog, and under the “Raffle Plane 3.0 – N9379B” category as well. If you want to see where the plane is going in the future so you can plan to come see us, click the link below to view all of our upcoming events.
Also, keep in mind that we are always looking for volunteers to help out with selling tickets at these events, especially the large, multi-day ones. If you are interested in driving or flying out to volunteer and help sell tickets, or if you live in an area where we are going and want to come to the airport and lend a hand, please let us know! We’d love the help and can certainly use it!
Anyway, whether you come to help or to just enjoy the event, please make sure you support our generous and gracious hosts and of course, purchase your ticket to win this fabulous airplane!
2009 has been the most exciting and most productive year in our museum’s short history. We are now looking towards 2010. Next year already promises many opportunities for us. In the coming weeks, we will be charting our museum’s course for 2010. We will be prioritizing opportunities and goals and planning how we want to realize such opportunities and accomplish our goals.
On Saturday, January 9, 2010, we will host our first annual museum planning seminar to brainstorm about our course for 2010. our board of directors will be there, as will many of our current lead volunteers. If you have considered volunteering with us, this is a great opportunity to meet our team, get involved and have hand in planning our upcoming year.
Here is what we have in mind for this action-packed day:
2010 Museum Planning Conference
9:00 Intro: Where we have been and where we are going
Background
Mission
Organizational History
Museum goals
Organizational structure: meet the Board and the Lead Volunteers
10:00 New volunteer orientation/veteran volunteer recurrent training
Our philosophy regarding volunteers
The volunteer/public interface
This is your museum
Special Events: Wings & Wheels, Pops & Props, Hobby Hangar Hop & other museum events
12:00 Lunch
Catered BBQ lunch
1:30 2010 Strategic Planning: Museum Goals & Implementation
What do we want to accomplish in 2010 and how will we accomplish it?
Museum Operations
Museum Funding
Collections management
Volunteer recruitment
Growth Area Targets
3:15 Aircraft Restoration Projects
DC-6 nose
Cardinal
Simulators
Biplane
Airstairs
4:00 Q&A
4:30 Conclusion
We invite you to be a part of our volunteer team. To participate in our planning conference, please RSVP by calling 713-454-1940, or email info@1940AirTerminal.org.
Context differentiates an artifact from a mere collectible and allows a photograph to become a window into the past. Context can knit together anecdotes and memories into History.
One of the challenges and most exciting aspects of the Museum is to put the artifacts, photos, documents and other parts of our collection into historical context. Some parts of the collection come to us with their complete history – in context. With other parts of the collection, we know little or nothing, but engage in historical detective work to put such items into context. It is exciting and rewarding, and for those who love history, one of the most fun aspects of participating with the Museum.
Early in our Museum’s existence, long before we had started actually restoring the 1940 Air Terminal, we were offered a set of negatives from photos taken by a prominent local photographer. They were offered to us by a collector, who had acquired them from the photographer’s estate. The photos were diverse and beautiful and gave us glimpses into Houston’s aviation history. They were too extraordinary to let pass, so we acquired them.
One of our favorite groups of images from this collection are photographs taken in front of the 1940 Air Terminal in what appears to be an orchestrated publicity photo shoot. The subject matter gave us some clues into the photos’ context: the aircraft in the foreground were all Eastern Air Lines aircraft. The lighting indicated the photos were taken in the early morning. The vintage of the aircraft, as well as the configuration of the 1940 Air Terminal, suggested the photos were taken in the early 1950s. In at least several of the photos, a flight crew is shown. An example is show in our website photo galleries, with the caption “Fair Skies”, here: http://www.1940airterminal.org/history/galleries/historical/FlightCrews/
Who were the crewmembers? Exactly when was the picture taken? For years we did not know.
Recently we were contacted by Jerry Griggs, whose dad flew for Eastern. Jerry provided us with first hand context for these photos, from his Dad’s friend and fellow Eastern pilot, Clint McHenry:
“It might be of interest that the only air-conditioned area in that terminal at that time was the control tower. The photo was taken in late 1952 when the DC-3’s were still being used and the Martin 404’s were being introduced in the southwest. The crewmembers, left to right, are Don Landry, Marcia Roeding, and Ed Wyrick.
The Houston pilot domicile was closed in October 1952 and most of us moved to New Orleans shortly after. Two years after Marcia and I were married we moved into Idlewood, a development entirely conceived and built by EAL pilots. We all stayed there until MSY was closed in 1964. The husbands, wives, and children grew almost as one large family. It was a delightful time. The residents were Jack Schlaffer, Tex Maxwell, Bill Moore, Don Landry, Gib Geurin, McHenry, Morris Hooton, Jack Rolfson, Fenwick Lind, Don Smith, Tom Yaeger, Ed Wyrick and Chancey Flint.”
Thank you, Captain McHenry, and thank you Jerry. You have helped us put these beautiful photos into context.
As we near the end of our 2009 Wings & Wheels Fly In Open Houses (by far our best year for Wings & Wheels to date), we decided it was time to share our plans for 2010 Wings & Wheels. While a few of these are still tentative, you know you can count on a really fun Saturday at the Museum on the third Saturday of every month, so go ahead and mark your calendars now:
January 16 – Chopper Day: Helicopters & Motorcycles
February 20 – Business Aviation Day
March 20 – Cessna Day/AOPA Let’s Go Flying! Day
April 17 – NASA day (tentative)
May 15 – Beechcraft day
June 19 – Women in Aviation Day
July 17 – Raffle Day: we will draw a winner of our raffle plane live at Wings & Wheels, and unveil our new raffle plane (unless we sell out of raffle tickets and give the plane away at an earlier W&W)
August 21 – Experimental Aviation Day
September 18 – 1940 Air Terminal 70th Anniversary Celebration
October 16 – International Biplane Association Biplane Day (also tentative date for the Hobby Hangar Hop)
November 20 – Salute to Veterans
December 18 – Houston Spotters/Volunteer Appreciation/Hobby Airport Rescue & Fire Fighting appreciation day
There are 33 shopping days until Christmas. If you are shopping for fans of aviation and history (or want to provide a hint to your friends and family where they can shop for you), come visit our newly expanded Museum giftshop. We think its the best aviation shopping in Houston and one of the best aviation shops in the country. We have more interesting new items arriving over the next few weeks, too. And for a truly unique gift, how about buying raffle tickets for a chance to win our beautiful 1958 Cessna?
This weekend, museum volunteer Max Tribolet and I had a really good weekend with the raffle plane. I got to Hobby Airport at about 1:45p and started packing up the plane. Blair McFarlain, another museum pilot, had texted Max to tell him that the right main tire was low and needed to be filled, and Max forwarded that message along to me. We did the pre-flight and I was going to use my emergency car air compressor to fill the tire, but it didn’t work. So, long story short, I wound up taxiing it down to Million Air to get it filled (thanks for that, Million Air!), which caused Max and I to not get airborne until about 3:40p or so.
We had a beautiful flight up there at 6500ft. with unlimited visibility and the air was as smooth as glass. Max (who is also a licensed pilot) and I traded the controls a few times, and basically split the flight time up there. It was dusk when we arrived, and we found the airport without a problem, then made left traffic for the runway, as directed. On our base, they asked us to fly through the final approach path and make a right 270-deg turn back to final since a King Air that had been waiting there for 15 minutes just got their IFR release.
So, we landed, taxied in, tied down the plane, gathered our belongings and got a ride to the hotel from one of the line guys (thanks for that, Harrison Aviation!). We were invited to a reception at the hotel that night with a bunch of the performers, so we went down there and had a good time hanging out talking airplanes and music. Then, one lady brought out her cello, another got out her wooden flutes, and a guy got out his saw. Yes, he brought out a wooden-handled, Stanley saw and a violin bow. It made a really cool sound, and the three of them just had an impromptu jam session. A couple of other people got out guitars to play along, so I couldn’t help myself and brought out my guitar to play with them for a while.
The next morning, we got out to the airport at around 7am. We got everything set up and started selling tickets. Early indications were that the day would be very good as we had sold 5 tickets by 9:00a (doors opened at 8:00a). My friend Troy Whistman from the Pilots of America forum (who we stayed with on Saturday night) came in early and spent a lot of time hanging out with us and even sold a few tickets throughout the day (thanks for that, Troy Whistman!).
We had a lot of people stop by and check out the plane, and sold a total of 24 tickets on the day. People couldn’t believe that it was a 1958 model plane! Interestingly enough (and I didn’t realize this), but the plane actually used to be based at Spinks airport, where this event was. We had a couple of people come up who were familiar with the plane and the owner, and the guy who actually owned it and restored it came up to talk to us too! That was really interesting, even though he didn’t take the opportunity to win his plane back for $50. We did let him jump up into the plane for a minute for old time’s sake. After the event was over, we packed everything back up, pushed the plane to its tie-down spot, and tied her down for the night. Troy then took us on a tour of downtown Ft. Worth, drove us by Meacham Field, then on to his house, where we had a delicious dinner with him and his family (thanks for that, Teresa Whistman!). We hung out for the evening telling flying stories with him and another friend of mine, Kent Shook, also from Pilots of America, who is an over-the-road truck driver and just happened to be passing through town that night.
Sunday morning we awoke to 500ft. overcast ceilings, so we went out for a great breakfast with Troy and two of his daughters before heading to the airport. The original plan was for us to go to Cleburne airport to get some cheaper gas, then head to Hooks via the Waco VOR and the College Station VOR. But, the Waco VOR is on the San Antonio sectional, which I didn’t have. So, we went to Meacham to try to buy it at a flight school there, but they were sold out. We went to another pilot shop, which was closed, then we went to another FBO, but they didn’t have any. So, I went into the flight planning room where there were a couple of King Air pilots (who also didn’t have the VFR sectional), so I just printed the parts I needed off of SkyVector.com using the FBO’s printer (thanks for that, Texas Jet!). While we were in there we sold a raffle ticket to one of the King Air pilots .
We finally got to Spinks airport and checked the weather forecasts, and decided to wait things out until conditions improved while we evaluated our options. Troy had to go, so we bid him goodbye and thanked him profusely for all that he had done. We then called up the tower on the phone and asked if we could come up. They said yes, so we walked over there and went up to hang out with the two guys up there. It was a pretty slow day, so we just watched football and they checked their fantasy scores between arrivals and departures. Suddenly, around 1:15p, the ceilings lifted up and it got a lot lighter, so we figured it was our opportunity to go. I called and got an abbreviated weather briefing and was told that the ceilings were anywhere from 1300 to 4300ft on a direct route from Spinks to Hooks. Troy called me and said he checked METARS and if we went east to Corsicana before heading south, the ceilings were above 2500ft for the entire route. So, we went with that option.
Initially, ceilings were high and visibility was >10 mi, so we went up to 2500ft. There was even some blue sky visible through some holes in the clouds. Early on, it looked like we could pretty easily climb above the clouds and cruise along in clear weather, but I resisted that urge because I didn’t want to get stuck up there without a way to get down. In the end, I’m really glad we stayed low. We stayed at 2500ft. until we got to about 10mi from Corsicana, when things started looking really good to the south. So we turned to go direct to Hooks. As I flew, Max followed us on the charts, pointing out any towers and checking the weather at upcoming airports along our route. We were on VFR Flight Following with Regional Departure and Waco Approach until we left their airspace, then were dumped off to our own devices since Houston Center had a low-level radar outage. We traded the controls for a while and I followed our route and checked weather. As we got further south, the ceilings got a bit lower, so we had to go down to 2000ft. We got almost to Huntsville before we went down to 1800ft. However, visibility was still right around 8 mi or more, and I was ready to turn back to any of the airports we passed if things got too bad. When we got past Lake Conroe, the visibility got down to about 5 mi and the ceilings forced us down to 1700ft. to maintain the legal cloud separation minimums, but we were on with Houston Approach by that point. We were on a direct track in for a final to runway 17R at Hooks at that point, and we tuned in the localizer to help us stay lined up until we could see the airport. We saw the airport about 5 miles out, landed without incident, and taxied in to the FBO.
After gassing up and coordinating with Museum President Drew Coats for hangar space (we decided it wasn’t a good idea to get back in the air to try to make it to Hobby, and he has a hangar at Hooks) and called my girlfriend Heather Gould to come get us from Hooks and bring us to Hobby, we walked out to the plane to taxi it to Drew’s hangar. Just then, two Army Blackhawk helicopters came in to land on the helipads at the FBO. We watched them land, then we walked over to introduce ourselves and ask if they would like to come to Wings & Wheels in a couple of weeks. After that, we hopped in the plane, taxied to Drew’s hangar, put the plane away, and drove off into the sunset with Heather.
Big thanks to Max Tribolet for being such a great co-pilot, Million Air at Hobby Airport, Harrison Aviation at Spinks Airport, and Texas Jet at Meacham Airport for their assistance, Troy Whistman for helping us out so much while we were there, The Whistman Family for their hospitality, John Zapp and Aileen Hummel of the Flying Musicians Association for allowing us to come sell tickets at their terrific fly-in, Heather Gould for coming to our rescue at Hooks Airport, and to everyone else who helped make our weekend so great!
Our Museum is honored to have one of a handful of surviving Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses as a neighbor. The Commemorative Air Force’s Texas Raider has undergone a long restoration at multiple locations around Hobby Airport, but is now hangared just south of the Museum’s hangar, and a few buildings north of the 1940 Air Terminal itself.
Fresh off her first flight in 8 years, Texas Raider was the star guest at our recent innaugural Hobby Hangar Hop. Standing in the fading autumn light that evening, I reflected on the emotional response B-17s generate. While almost any aviation or history aficianado enjoys being in close proximity to sleek fighters, like the P-51 Mustang, the Mustang is a combination of adrenaline, chivalry and testosterone: a 20th Century suit of armor for dueling warriors. The B-17 is different. On the one hand, the B-17’s purpose is obvious. It bristles with guns and its design is obviously intended to hoist the maximum destructive payload in its bomb bay and facilitate its delivery to an intended target. Yet, for all its destructive might, the B-17 is fragile and delicate. I cannot stand next to a B-17 without thinking of the ten young men riding aloft through skies filled with danger. It’s probably human nature to picture oneself in a given situation when trying to imagine what a historical event would have been like, but at 42, I would have been decades too old to join such a crew. Rather, the vast majority of such crews were comprised of scared, brave teenagers. So I think of the young men I consider friends, volunteers at the museum and otherwise, who are at the stage in life where they are now obtaining drivers licenses, pilots licenses and deciding on colleges, and imagine them aloft in subzero temparatures, guiding one of these machines towards Germany as the entire Luftwaffe tries to kill them.
These young men died in atonishing numbers trying to accomplish their mission. But they succeeded and played a vital role in defeating Nazi Germany. Without their sacrifice, the world would be very different today.
If you are not familiar with their history, read some of their literature and see some of their experiences in any number of excellent books and movies about their effort. And most of all, if you have a chance to meet any of these heroes, don’t pass it by. Shake there hands and tell them thank you.
Today, after the Wings over Houston airshow, I had the honor and privilege of taking Captain A.J. High with me on the return flight of the raffle plane to Hobby.
I had to move the raffle plane back to Hobby, and was just going to go solo, but then someone told me that AJ was in the Heroes & Legends tent right next to us, selling books and signing autographs.
So I headed over and asked him if he’d like to fly with me over to Hobby. He said “YES”! I could tell that he was very excited, and so was I!
I planned to fly out VFR to the north, fly around the San Jacinto monument, and then north around downtown, and come back in to Hobby.
After the show, we packed up, and were selling tickets until the very end. We sold 47 tickets today, and had a total of 96 for the weekend. It was a good event for the museum.
Anyway, we got the assistance of HPD and pushed the plane out to the ramp, but then HAS operations stopped us, and told us we couldn’t get out, and had to wait until the notam was lifted. All we could do was pull it off to the side, and then wait.
About 5 minutes later, a police helicopter was being rolled out. They opened the gate for them! And also let us out, as well as one other aircraft. We pushed it out on to the ramp, and started it up. We waited for the helicopter to depart, then we headed out.
On ground frequency, I could hear the blue angles getting their IFR flight plans activated and getting ready to go.
We taxied up to taxiway C and did our run-up. Called up tower, and departed. We climbed into a golden sky.
We flew over to the San Jacinto monument, then headed west toward downtown. I called up Houston approach and asked for clearance to circle downtown, and come in to Hobby.
We had to wait a bit to hear the magic words “Cleared into Class Bravo airspace”, and remained north of I-10 until we did. They had a few Southwest 737’s coming in to 12R. Once we got clearance, we flew closer to downtown, and got handed off to tower.
Approach told us to head for 12L, but I requested 17 with the tower, and they gave it to us. We came in to Hobby just as the sun was setting.
The landing was probably one of the best I’ve ever done. Basically the definition of a “greaser”. Captain High said only one word after we touched down. “Slick”.
I just smiled, as we taxied off and headed for the hangar.
After we put the plane away we were waiting on his wife to come pick him up, and we were in the hangar looking at an old aerial photo of Hobby. He mentioned that he had not flown a single engine plane since 1946!
This flight now sits on the top of my list of my favorite flights. It tops hanging outside the door of a DC-3 to do photos.
I am deeply honored to be the one to get him back in the air. I don’t know how long it’s been since he’s flown, but I know he enjoyed it, and of course, so did I.
This will not be our last flight together!
Captain High was a B-25 Pilot during WWII, beginning the war in the Aluetian Islands and later served as a B-17 and B-29 instructor. In 1947 he was one of the first sixteen pilots hired by Trans-Texas Airways, and his career spanned the evolution of commercial airline passenger service in Texas from its beginnings to the modern era.
With more than 40 years and 40,000 hours of flight time, he has witnessed quite a few historic moments. Captain High flew many types of aircraft, from converted Army C-47 prop planes, to jet engined DC-9s, and was the pilot of the first plane to land at Houston Intercontinental Airport when opened in 1968. He can be found volunteering at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport.
Museum volunteers Blair McFarlain and Mike Kelly flew the raffle plane into Ellington on Friday afternoon. Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days!
Volunteers Bernard Morris, Diana Morris, Megan Lickliter-Mundon, Tim Mundon, Ross Simons, Blair McFarlain and Gene Bursick were also on hand to help sell tickets on Saturday. On Sunday Bernard Morris, Blair McFarlain, Elaine, and John Kaltenbach were on site selling tickets and telling people about the museum.
We sold 49 tickets on Saturday and 47 tickets on Sunday!
THANKS to all volunteers who came out to help sell tickets, and THANKS to all who purchased tickets. The museum appreciates your assistance!
Captain A.J. High was also on hand in the Heroes & Legends autograph tent signing copies of his book and enjoying the show.
A.J. High was a B-25 Pilot during WWII, beginning the war in the Aluetian Islands and later served as a B-17 and B-29 instructor. In 1947 he was one of the first sixteen pilots hired by Trans-Texas Airways, and his career spanned the evolution of commercial airline passenger service in Texas from its beginnings to the modern era.
With more than 40 years and 40,000 hours of flight time, he has witnessed quite a few historic moments. Captain High flew many types of aircraft, from converted Army C-47 prop planes, to jet engined DC-9s, and was the pilot of the first plane to land at Houston Intercontinental Airport when opened in 1968. He can be found volunteering at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport.
Sunday morning, Francisco & I got up, ate breakfast, checked out and expected to catch the “bus”.
It was supposed to leave at 8:30 and we were downstairs at 8:00. I will say the Holiday Inn Express had an excellent breakfast buffet both days.
Anyway, we finally called the ranch, and no one answered. We gave them more time, but no one answered. We finally had to call on our friends who took us home on Friday night to see if they could give us a ride.
They agreed, even though they weren’t planning on going back on Sunday! They were in the hotel right next door, and so we walked over and hopped in the suburban.
They were very gracious, and drove us right up to the plane!
It was about 9:45 at this point, and everyone was leaving. So, we decided to pre-flight and pack up, and head on home. One last guy walked up to us and asked “Are you guys still selling tickets.” To which I said “Yes Sir!”
Our official ticket count was 38 for the trip. I know what you’re thinking… 7 on Friday, and 30 on Saturday doesn’t make 38. Well, we ended up giving our friends who gave us a ride, a ticket for their troubles. They were very appreciative and we will keep in touch with them, they live up in Oklahoma.
As people started to depart, we gathered up all our stuff, and stuffed it into the plane. It’s amazing we got all that stuff in the back of the plane and back seat!
We took off using only about half the runway. It was a very fun trip, and one I intend to repeat next year.
We had only used 1/4 of the fuel on board to get up there, so I decided to fly straight to Hooks where the museum has an account that we can get the plane filled up, and also get some food, before heading back to Hobby. We can get fuel at Hobby, but it’s cheaper at Hooks & West Houston.
After we ate lunch, we headed down to Hobby, and flew the “Rick Sharpe” approach into Hobby, which is to come into runway 12, and then switch to runway 17. It was gusting to about 22 knots, so I decided to do a no-flap landing, and came in pretty good, right on the centerline, and even still only used half the runway, mostly because of the headwind. (I’ve got video of this too, will post it soon!)
We taxied to the hangar and put the plane away. We also spent a little time cleaning it and wiping the bugs off of it before going home.
We plan to be at Reklaw again next year!
A big THANKS to David & Marcia Mason for letting us attend. We had a blast!
On Saturday morning, we got to sleep in late! PJ, Mark and Bernard drove up early, and got to the airport at about 8am.
PJ dropped Mark & Bernard off, and headed up to the hotel to come pick up Cisco & I.
Once we got there, we helped them get set up, and started to watch everyone arrive.
There were lots of campers. Once the morning got going, many people were arriving and flying and going around the pattern, making low high speed passes. It was fun! I could have just sat there all day watching it!
There were many different types of planes there. This one looked like fun!
Here are our intrepid volunteers, doing what they do best!
The Antonov AN-2 made an appearance around lunch time, and did a few fly-bys. It would come down low and slow, and smoke the place up! the entire runway turned white for just a minute, it was awesome!
Clint was also flying around with his other Cub buddies.
It was a fun day of watching planes and selling tickets. We sold 30 tickets on Saturday!
Once it started getting dark (and cold) we packed up everything for the night. PJ, Mark and Bernard were ready to head back. PJ drove us back up into Jacksonville for dinner at a mexican restaurant and then dropped us off at the hotel.
PJ and crew then loaded up for the long trip back to Houston. Francisco & I decided to watch the video I had got from Friday and Saturday. I’m still processing the video, and will have it posted soon!
Cisco had confirmed that the “bus” would be running in the morning…
Reklaw has become an annual tradition in Texas. It is the largest fly-in in the state!
Museum volunteers Blair McFarlain (myself) and Francisco Guiterrez played hookey from work on Friday and flew the raffle plane down to the annual Fly-in / Camp out known as “Reklaw” (www.reklawflyin.com)
We started up at about 7:30 and were in the air at about 7:45 after getting our clearances and taxi.
The morning was spectacular, and it was VERY clear. I had decided to try to resurrect my old Sony video camera with a new battery. I’ve had issues with it in the past, but figured Reklaw was worth buying a new battery for it.
Turns out, everything came out great! Video to come soon!
We departed with our squawk code and got routed to the west a little bit before being allowed to proceed on course.
Once we were past Hooks, we got a direct routing. Reklaw was not in the database on the plane’s GPS.
However, I have a GPS program on my phone that I was able to use and type in the Latitude / Longitude coordinates for Reklaw and take us right to it.
Anyway, I will admit that I messed up and didn’t write down the unicom frequency for Reklaw. It’s not on the sectional, we asked two different center controllers to look it up, and they came up empty. We decided to divert to Nacogdoches to look up the frequency. We didn’t want to go into there without a radio.
We landed and saw a Falcon 50 on the ramp, and once we parked, it taxied out and was doing engine run ups.
I called fellow museum volunteer Emily, and she was able to get online and look it up.
With the frequency in hand, we got back in the air and headed to Reklaw. I used my phone’s GPS and we went directly to it, but didn’t see it until we were just about on top of it. We entered the pattern via the left crosswind and flew downwind and base, then turned final. There was about 5 or 6 other planes in the pattern.
They have a hump in the middle of the runway…
I had put in 20 degrees of flaps to get us down over the trees, then had asked Francisco to “dump the flaps” after we touched down, meaning to just put them all the way up. This reduces lift, and gets the full weight of the plane on the wheels as soon as possible, so you can get on the brakes and have them be more effective.
There are several positions where the flaps will click into, and Francisco thought he had them all the way down, but only went down to 10. Anyway, we touched down, and we were just about stopped when we hit the hump, and took off again, just a bit, and landed just a bit down the hump. I was able to stop it and turn around to taxi. In the end, we only used about 1/2 of the available runway.
We taxied back and just picked a spot. PJ had spoken to Marcia (wife of the owner of Flying M ranch, David Mason) and she said we could park next to the registration booth, so we could get lots of foot traffic when people walk by to register and sell tickets.
We didn’t want to park there without speaking to her first, so we just parked in any old spot.
After we got out, we spoke with the local Sheriff who was just sitting back enjoying the show, and he said he’d buy a ticket from us. We had our first sale!
After Francisco spoke with Marcia, we were able to move next to the registration booth.
We got set up, and started to sell tickets. We ended up with 7 tickets for the day. We knew Friday would not be as busy as Saturday, but we wanted to get in before the crowds on Saturday.
They didn’t have lunch on Friday, so we had to fend for ourselves. We brought food to make sandwiches, snacks, and drinks. There was a taxiway right next to us that was in a low spot between two trees. The low spot held some water, so people going by kept getting stuck! They (tricycle gear pilots) were not operating properly by holding the elevator up and keeping the plane rolling. They’d come up to it, elevator down, and stop and evaluate, then creep up to it, and get stuck. :facepalm:
I have video of a few of these planes. Some would have the elevator up, some wouldn’t, some would go through faster, but not have the elevator up.
There were LOTS of incredible planes. I wish I could have just walked around shooting photos.
This Pietenpol is owned by Mike Hergenrather who lives across the street from our favorite retired Continental pilot, Mike Kelly, and is a good friend of the museum.
Some of you may recognize this Cub, it belongs to our ATC buddy, Clint. He showed up about 3 hours after we did, even though we actually left at about the same time!
Once it was getting dark, we tied it down, and packed everything up.
The local EAA chapter provided dinner for $7 per person. We headed to the main hangar to line up for food. We stood in line for about 30 minutes before we got our food. It was COLD. I could no longer feel my toes!
After dinner, David announced that they lost the keys to the “bus”. They run a bus to take people to / from the area hotels who don’t want to camp out. Yeah, I was a wuss, I didn’t want to freeze my nuts off, and Drew said he’d pick up the tab for the hotel, so we decided to do that. Well the “bus” wasn’t a bus at all, but rather a 10 person van. Since they had no keys to the van, we had no ride to the hotel 30 miles away.
He made an announcement with a megaphone and a very nice couple who had driven down from east of Oklahoma city offered to take us and two other people in their suburban. They were going to the hotel right next to ours. We were very appreciative, because we would have been stuck out there with no tent!
We got to the hotel and checked in, and cleaned up and went to sleep. PJ, Mark and Bernard would drive up in the morning, and PJ would come pick us up.
Stay tuned for the next installment of Reklaw 2009!
The raffle plane will be on display Saturday and Sunday at the Wings over Houston airshow, come by and visit us, and check out the plane that you could fly away next July!
The 1940 Air Terminal Museum is looking for new volunteers to help with our raffle ticket selling and PR efforts at the Wings Over Houston Airshow. This is going to be a really exciting event. If you are interested in helping us on Saturday and/or Sunday, please call or email the Museum.
The Hobby Hangar Hop was a great success! As Houston temperatures dropped into the 50s on a gorgeous evening, the CAF’s B-17 Texas Raider provided a perfect backdrop for this magical event. Expect pictures in our galleries soon. Special thanks to our table sponsors, guests, the Barnstorming movie producers, the Gulf Coast Wing of the CAF and to Megan Lickliter-Mundon and our terrific volunteers for making the evening such a success.
Our friends at the Gulf Coast Wing of the Commemorative Air Force are planning to make high speed taxi tests at Hobby Airport today with their B-17G “Texas Raider” after an 8 year restoration. If all goes well and the weather holds, they may actually fly her today! We will have an excellent vantage point at the Museum. Come out and join us as we watch history return to the skies!
Final details are being attended to as we gear up for our very first Hobby Hangar Hop. Live Big Band music, the Houston premier of the movie Barnstorming, great food, vintage aircraft, dancing in the shadow of a B-17… this is going to be great! If you have not purchased your tickets yet, now would be the time. See you on Saturday!
A big thanks to Jack Hodgson, Jeb Burnside, and Dave Higdon at the Uncontrolled Airpsace podcast (http://www.uncontrolledairspace.com) for their mention of the Hobby Hangar Hop in episode 155. These guys do a great show and have been for over three years now. They have mentioned us before – most recently was a mention of our second raffle plane – the 1957 Cessna 172 that we gave to Larry Smith on July 19, 2009. If you’re a fan of general aviation, then this podcast is a must-listen. You can find them in iTunes, Zune, or any other podcast aggregator, or you can just download the episodes straight from their website. You don’t need an iPod to listen to podcasts – you can listen on your computer or any other device that plays mp3 files.
The kwote.me site has been having some problems with their embedded player, so if you don’t see it this time, check again in the future, or download the episode from the UCAP site (our mention starts at about 1:23:22). Thanks again, UCAP Gang!
The 1940 Air Terminal was originally opened to the public 69 years ago today. On September 28, 1940, the Terminal represented architectural and technological state of the art. Although the airport had been operating since 1927, the 1940 Air Terminal was Houston’s first purpose-built air terminal. Happy Birthday, 1940 Air Terminal!
After a brief delay waiting for the weather to clear up Saturday morning, museum volunteers PJ Gustafson and Mike Kelly took off from Hobby Airport in the raffle plane, bound for the Flying V Ranch airport in Louise, TX for the “Under the Wire” Fly-In. Incidentally, this fly-in got its name because there used to be a power line that stretched across the runway mid-field that you would have to pass under on takeoff and landing. That power line has since been buried under the runway, but the name, and the fly-in fun still remain!
Songbird, as we affectionately refer to the 1958 Cessna Skylark which we are giving away, arrived at the fly-in right around noon and we were given a prime position right in front of the main food hangar. Museum volunteers Gene Bursick, Francisco Gutierrez, and Blair McFarlain had all driven down, and got right to work selling tickets with PJ & Mike. It was a great day with a lot of beautiful airplanes flying around, and a lot of good contacts were made with other fly-in organizers. By the time we all left at about 4:30p, we had sold a good number of tickets and told a lot of people about the museum.
For the return trip, PJ rode back with Francisco and Blair flew Songbird back to Hobby with Mike. It was a great day, and we can’t wait to take Songbird up to Terrell, TX for next weekend’s fly-in!
The 1940 Air Terminal Museum is pleased to announce formation of Chapter 2 of the new International Biplane Association. Chapter 2 is hosted by the Museum and fits perfectly with our mission to preserve and promote the rich history of civil aviation. If you have not already done so, please sign up on IBA’s Facebook fan page and visit the IBA on the web at www.internationalbiplane.com.
We are pleased to welcome the producers and director of Barnstorming (see www.barnstormingmovie.com) to the museum for the Hobby Hangar Hop. We will preview the movie at 11 am on October 17, during our Wings & Wheels Hobby Hangar Hop Preview Party, then host the Houston premier of Barnstorming as dinner is served during the Hobby Hangar Hop. Don’t miss this great opportunity to see the movie, visit with the producers and director and take home an autographed DVD. If you have not purchased your table or tickets for the HHH, call the museum today!
We are restarting our home school aviation education program this Sunday. The redesigned program is a two semester program, which will be tailored for grades 3-6, but is open to kids older and younger. We will meet monthly, on the fourth Sunday afternoon of each month. Each class will run about 2 hours. We will generally start about 2, but the subject matter of certain classes may dictate a later start time on occasion. While we understand that participants may miss a month here and there for vacations, family commitments, etc., the program is designed to have participation for all nine months, not just an occasional class. The cost will be $250 per participating child, payable $125 per semester, which covers all expenses related to the class. The fees go to the Museum. At least one parent should attend with their participating kid(s). There is no separate charge for parents or for non-participating siblings. If you would like to participate, please email Coats@1940AirTerminal.org.
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Fall
September 27:
Introduction of aerodynamics: how a plane works Airplanes at Hobby Airport Flying paper planes
October 25:
Navigation
The history of the airplane
A tour of the museum – scavenger hunt
November 22:
Fly Day – plane rides (weather permitting)
December 27:
Family cookout
Plane watching
January 24:
Careers in aviation
February 28:
Field Trip
March 28:
Weather
Communications
Interesting ways planes help us
April 25:
Field Trip or Fly Day – to be determined
May 23:
Introduction to aviation education, including college aviation programs, flight schools, aviation maintenance schools, and air traffic controller training End of class party
There is a terrific set of Life Magazine photos from 1956 on the Sunshine Skies website, depicting various aspects of airline travel in the age of the giant propliners. While these photos were taken in Atlanta, it is very easy to imagine the same scenes, involving many of the same aircraft, at the 1940 Air Terminal just a few years earlier. Take a look and enjoy: http://www.sunshineskies.net/life.html
For years, we have struggled to get the word out about the Museum. While there is still lots of work to do, it seems that our young and growing museum has turned a subtle corner. As a case in point, I was in a very non-aviation location this past week, but happened to be wearing one of my museum t-shirts. An individual I had not previously met asked, “Have you been to that museum? It’s great! I have been several times.” The implication was that he assumed I had not been there and wanted to share what a neat place he thinks it is.
Then, while flying to Museum for Wings & Wheels this past Saturday, I heard the pilot of an aircraft check in with Houston Approach Control, calling from near Navasota, Texas, and indicating that he was inbound to the Museum.
While we are making great strides in publicizing our unique museum (new website, Face Book, etc.), one of the best mechanisms for PR remains word of mouth. If you enjoy the museum (on site or on the web) please tell your friends to come visit, visit the website, become a Face Book fan, etc. Thanks to all of you who are already doing this!
Well, we had planned to go to the Angelina County Airport in Lufkin, TX (KLFK) this past Saturday, September 12, to attend their monthly Fajita Fly-In, but unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. We awoke to low ceilings and poor visibility here in the Houston area, and a quick call to Lufkin confirmed that things were even worse there, and not forecast to get any better. So, we went with the prudent decision to keep ‘Songbird’ (as we affectionately refer to the raffle plane) safely tucked away in her hangar and try the Lufkin trip again in a future month.
For next weekend, you can come see Songbird on display at Wings & Wheels – Women in Aviation Day on Saturday, September 19. We hope to see you there!
The raffle plane will be flown by museum volunteers PJ Gustafson and Bernard Morris to the EAA Chapter 1347 BBQ in LaGrange, TX (3T5) this Saturday, September 5, from 11:00a – 1:00p!
This was a fantastic and record-setting Wings & Wheels event! It was described by many as one of the best we’ve ever had! We set a new record with 22 fly-in aircraft on our ramp at the same time.
In addition to the museum’s raffle Cessna 175 (which could be yours for $50!), we had two Cessna 172’s, a North American Navion, a Navy T-34C primary trainer aircraft from the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, TX, and 17 RV aircraft of various models.
The 1940 Air Terminal museum announces its 3rd annual win-a-plane giveaway.
Raffle tickets for the new fundraising contest are available for $50 each, and no more than 2,500 tickets will be sold.
The winner will be announced at the Museum’s July 2010 Wings & Wheels open-house, or a sooner Wings & Wheels if all tickets have been sold.
The raffle airplane will be on display at the Museum’s monthly Wings & Wheels open houses, at fly-ins and airshows and at popular flying destinations throughout the contest.
To buy tickets: please call the museum at 713-454-1940 with your credit card details or send in a check to the museum address. Make sure to include your telephone and email.
You can of course visit the museum and buy your ticket in person!
Read more about the raffle plane and see more photos in The Hangar.
The winner of our 2nd annual raffle plane, Larry Smith has picked up N7433A, along with his daughter, and they are safely back at home in Polly Ranch in Friendswood, TX.
Larry’s daughter has taken some flight training a while back but has yet to solo. The first task of their new plane will of course be to get her trained. Larry is a gold certified flight instructor, and teaches at San Jacinto College.
We wish them well with their new plane. They don’t live very far away, so keep an eye out for N7433A at future Wings & Wheels. We will try to have them back for the 2009-2010 raffle plane giveaway next year.
It is currently 10:42AM on Raffle Day Wings & Wheels and we’re having a hot humid day so far. Volunteers are out in force and we’re having an exciting time so far. The two raffle planes, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, should be arriving within moments and setting up for prime display down here at the museum. Come on down and join us for the excitement and watch someone win an airplane!
Time is running short! We will give away N7433A to one lucky winner on July 18!
Get your tickets now! Stop by or call the museum at 713-454-1940 to have a chance to win your very own airplane!
The 2008-2009 Win-A-Plane Raffle: A Cessna 172!
The 1940 Air Terminal Museum is raffling this vintage 1957 Cessna 172 as a fundraiser. Raffle tickets for the new fundraising contest are available for $50 each, and no more than 2,500 tickets will be sold. The winner will be announced at the Museum’s July 2009 Wings & Wheels open-house, or a sooner Wings & Wheels if all tickets have been sold. The raffle airplane will be on display at the Museum’s monthly Wings & Wheels open houses, at fly-ins and airshows and at popular flying destinations throughout the contest.
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