Anyone know anything more about the North American Warbird Museum/North American Museum of Flight? Apparently there was a plan to found a museum at the Allegheny County Airport in mid-1988 by a Mr. Thomas E. Bridge. I found two articles in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about it:
Planning tribute
Pittsburgh may someday become the home of an aviation museum. Thomas E. Bridge, founder and director of the Richland-based North American Warbird Museum, says the region has made many contributions to aviation, especially during World War II. To get started, the museum is changing its name and the group backing the effort has made a few acquisitions of aircraft for possible display. Page 23.
(PG North, 7 July 1988, page 1)
Museum planned to mark air contributions
During World War II, H.J. Heinz Co. was doing more than canning rations for fighting men and women at the front.
The food-processing company also made a little-known, but very important, contribution to the war effort. It manufactured wings for glider aircraft used in the D-day invasion of Normandy and elsewhere during the war.
Thomas E. Bridge, founder and director of the Richland-based North American Warbird Museum, said the unusual effort by Heinz was just one of dozens of local contributions to the war effort, particularly in the field of aviation.
"Gun turrets, bomb sights, wings, fuselages ... the list is endless, but they were all made by companies in this area," Bridge said.
The story of Pittsburgh and its contribution to aviation goes far beyond the infamous air battles over Europe and the Pacific Ocean 45 years ago, according to Bridge.
Samuel Pierpont Langley carried out many of his experiments in lift and drag on a plane while he was director of the Allegheny Observatory on the North Side between 1867 and 1887.
Pittsburgh was a pioneer and test city for the first air mail and early passenger flights.
Bridge said the logic was that if mail and passenger planes could make it over the Allegheny Mountains without the benefit of sophisticated weather information and navigational equipment, the two air services eventually would fly, so to speak.
With Pittsburgh's rich heritage in aviation as a drawing card, Bridge and about 200 other area aircraft enthusiasts are attempting to establish a two-site museum of flight here.
Bridge, 57, of Hampton, said, "We want to create something worthy, something that will reflect the tremendous role this area has played in the field of aviation."
The museum in name only at this point was incorporated about four years ago and is in the process of changing its name to the North American Museum of Flight, because its collections will not be limited to military aircraft.
The organization has made several aircraft acquisitions, including a Lockheed P2V "Neptune" submarine chaser and bomber. The aircraft was introduced during the Korean conflict and was used in Vietnam.
Courtesy of the Allegheny County commissioners, the Neptune is parked at Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin. It was a big hit during the recent county air show there, Bridge said.
The oganization also has a World War II T-50 "Bamboo Bomber" and several other older aircraft parked at out-of-state airfields.
Bridge said members are negotiating with county officials for space at the county airport to park 15 to 20 vintage planes, which they plan to purchase or acquire on loan from the Air Force and Smithsonian Institution.
Additionally, museum organizers have hired James L. Swauger, curator emeritus of anthropology of the The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, as a consultant for establishing a model museum of flight at Station Square, South Side.
Swauger said the model museum of flight would fit in with the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation transportation museum there.
Swauger said the Station Square facility would "tell the story of flight from the mythological flight of Icarus to beyond the space shuttle program."
Swauger said the museum also, will tell the story of famous people involved in the history of flight, including local people and the contributions Pittsburgh has made in the development of air travel.
"We're not asking for any public monies," Bridge said. "We're just asking the county to give us a helping hand with a little space at the airport to park some of our aircraft."
He noted that Howard Lovering, founder of the now successful Museum of Flight in Seattle, started with a little "in-kind" help from Seattle officials 10 years ago.
"They [Seattle officials] told Lovering he was crazy but gave him some space at their municipal airport anyway," Bridge said. "From practically nothing, Seattle now has a $30 million museum of flight, which draws thousands of visitors annually and employs dozens of people."
(PG North, 7 July 1988, page 23)
Aircraft enthusiasts hope to land museum
Aircraft buffs who hope to establish an aviation museum at the Allegheny County Airport have launched a petition drive to convince county officials that the project enjoys widespread support.
Thomas E. Bridge, president of the North American Warbird Museum in Gibsonia, said organizers of the petition drive have garnered the names of nearly 5,000 area residents.
"Our goal is 10,000 names," Bridge said. "If it takes more than that to convince the board of commissioners and other county officials there is genuine local interest for the museum, then we'll get more."
He and others want the county to donate space at the West Mifflin airport to park 15 to 20 vintage aircraft for public display.
The county is not in the business of giving away valuable public lands "to every person or organization with a dream," said Scott O'Donnell, county aviation director.
"Nobody here is saying there is anything wrong with the museum idea In fact, the county Department of Development said it would be willing to work with Mr. Bridge in getting some federal assistance," O'Donnell said. "But it is essential he meets some basic criteria to assure us and the public his idea is feasible."
The county first would require a market study to determine whether there would be enough interest to' support such a facility. Secondly, county officials want Bridge to submit a preliminary financial statement showing that he has enough private funding to get the project off the ground.
"We simply cannot allow someone to haul in 20 old aircraft and park them on valuable airport lands without some kind of plan. ... It wouldn't he fair to our tenants or the citizens. ... We're challenging Mr. Bridge to put something in writing," O'Donnell said.
Bridge said it is his organization's hope that the petition drive will serve as a preliminary market study.
Joining the North American Warbird Museum in the signature campaign are the Pittsburgh chapters of the Air Force Association and the Vietnam Veterans Association, Bridge said.
The museum was incorporated about four years ago and is in the process of changing its name to the North American Museum of Flight, because its collections will not be limited to military aircraft.
The organization has acquired several aircraft, such as a Lockheed P2V Neptune submarine chaser and bomber used in Korea and Vietnam and a World War II T-50 Bamboo Bomber. Many are parked at airfields outside the state.
The county granted museum officials space at the airport to park the Neptune while it is undergoing repairs.
Bridge said the plane was toured, by thousands of visitors during the recent Allegheny County Air Show[.]
"This alone proved to us that there is genuine public interest in vintage aircraft," he said.
(PG East, 25 August 1988, page 6)
EDIT (22-05-16): Apparently, according to a
newspaper article, the collection ended up going to a man named Gino Lucci who tried to start his own "North American Air Museum" at the Fitch H. Beach Airport in Charlotte, Michigan.