HOWARD HUGHES' FLYING BOAT SCHEDULED FOR ARRIVAL AT VISITOR CENTER HANGAR

The owner of Howard Hughes' Sikorsky S-43 flying boat has agreed to place the S-43 on disPlay in the 1940 Air Terminal Visitors Center Hangar when it opens. While most of the stately S-43s were purchased by Pan American Airways, Hughes purchased his S-43 new and used it as his personal corporate aircraft. The S-43 was owned by Hughes until his death.

Hughes' S-43 operated out of Houston Municipal Airport for many years. The S-43 perfectly captures Houston's rich civil aviation heritage and the glamour of Houston's golden age of flight. It is the only airworthy Sikorsky flying boat of any kind left in the world. This S-43 was actively sought by museums around the country and represents a remarkable coup for the 1940 Air Terminal Museum.

The Visitor Center Hangar will be located adjacent to the Terminal and is being designed in Art Moderne style to compliment the Terminal building. The Project has selected Howard Hill with Brand + Allen architects to design the Visitor Center Hangar. Look for renditions of the new building in the next Starliner and on the website. The new construction, which will proceed as soon as possible, will include a one story indoor area outfitted with museum-grade display space, as well as office, meeting and storage space. It will provide guests with impressive views of the Terminal prior to and during the Terminal's restoration.

In a joint venture with Kansas City's Airline History Museum (Save-A-Connie), the 1940 Air Terminal Museum has a acquired a rare original 16 millimeter master of the classic 1951 Arthur Godfrey film Flying with Godfrey. Flying with Godfrey is an hour long color documentary about the cutting edge of aviation in 1951. The film includes rare interviews with Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and in-flight footage aboard an Eastern Airlines Super Constellation.

While the film is an important artifact in its own right, it will also be digitally remastered. Expect copies of the newly remastered film to be available on VHS and DVD this fall from the 1940 Air Terminal Museum.

The 1940 Air Terminal Project is planning another cookout for September. All members, volunteers, friends and family are invited. This will be a great opportunity to get to know the terrific group of people involved in the Project. Tentative plans are to hold the Bar-B-Q at the West Houston Airport Terminal in mid-September. Look for more details and RSVP information in the next Starliner. If you would like to help us organize this event, or would like to donate or sponsor items for the event, please call or email Drew Coats at (281) 367-7732 or coats@1940AirTerminal.org for more information.

The 1940 Air Terminal Project is planning a gala dinner and silent auction to raise money for the Project. Tentative plans call for the gala to be held on the evening of Friday, October 19, 2001, and feature a live big band, celebrity guests and possibly a special speaker. If you are interested in donating items for the dinner or the silent auction or underwriting a portion of the dinner, please let us know. We also will need volunteers to help with invitations, guest check-in, parking, Project information, set up oversight and clean up oversight. If you would like to help us, please call or email Drew Coats at (281) 367-7732 or coats@1940AirTerminal.org for more information.

Hobby AeroFest, which was rescheduled due to torrential weather last November, was held on April 7 and 8. Half of the proceeds from this annual public event will be contributed to the 1940 Air Terminal Project. At this year's event, the Project sponsored and staffed a Pavilion which featured the Centennial of Flight Commission's traveling display, Io Communications' new promotional film on the Project, and the International Plastic Model Society - Houston Chapter's live demonstration of airline model building. Sales of museum merchandise and memberships were brisk. Special thanks to Hobby AeroFest, IPMS Houston, and our intrepid Pavilion volunteers, Pat Grymes, Nancy Iler, Marie Beaver, AJ High, TJ Zalar, Jeff Mills, Rob Singer, Kirsten Coats and Don and Robin Erwin.

As development of the Museum accelerates this year, we anticipate a growing number of opportunities to acquire some truly unique artifacts. Some of these opportunities may entail taking volunteer teams on "missions" to secure these artifacts. Do you: (1) have the ability to travel on short notice? (2) have airline employee travel privileges? (3)own or have friends or family with access to a large truck or semi? (4)have an aviation or automotive maintenance background? (5) enjoy adventures with other aviation and history enthusiasts? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, please call or email Drew Coats at (281) 367-7732 or Coats@1940AirTerminal.org.

As we move towards regularly bi-monthly publication of the Starliner we can always use more articles on Houston's aviation history, civil aviation history, vintage aircraft, and other topics of interest to our members. Please email submissions to Drew Coats at Coats@1940AirTerminal.org.

Teachers need to know what classroom resources are available to them early in the academic year. That's why we are getting ready for the next school year by scheduling teacher workshops and presentations on teacher work days. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers, we are offering some unique presentations that will be applied to history and English classes. Local history is frequently an academic appendage found on a class bulletin board or on worksheets reserved for rainy days. Our materials will bring this history alive. Presentations on Houstonians and Texans, and their place in aviation history will crisscross Texas, American and world history, describing the impact Texans, and more specifically, Houstonians have had on aviation throughout the twentieth century.

Almost a year ago, a sizable collection of early Texas International and Continental Airlines uniforms was donated by retired flight attendant, Pat Walters. Once again Pat has made a significant donation of early documents, photographs and visual arts that represent the responsibilities of one of the backbones of early commercial aviation -- the Airline Hostess. There have been many changes in commercial air travel and what better way to learn about those changes than from those who were in the trenches (aisles) of every flight. Pat's experiences include service in Trans Texas Airways aircraft, and the birth of international flights on Texas International.

One of the most interest and rewarding efforts of the 1940 Air Terminal Museum is our oral history project. Since the spring of 1999, we have been video taping interviews with people who participated in Houston's aviation history as aviators, airport employees, flight attendants, mechanics, passengers, or otherwise. In order to keep up with a growing pace of oral history opportunities, we are going to reorganize our oral history committee. If you are interested in taking a turn leading this dynamic effort, or would like to help, please stay after the July 2 Houston Aviation Alliance luncheon (at the Hobby Hilton) for a brief oral history committee meeting and/or call or email Drew Coats at (281) 367-7732 or coats@1940AirTerminal.org for more information.