Warbird Information Exchange

Not quite full fledged museums, but we have renderings and a site plan for two United States Air Force air parks courtesy of the design firms:

Baer Field Heritage Air Park

• Picnic Shelter
• Aerial View

(Source: Viridian Architectural Design)

Scott Field Heritage Air Park

• Site Plan

(Source: Oates Associates)

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

The Connecticut Air & Space Center now has more information about the restoration of their 1929 Curtiss Hangar on their website. In addition to the hangar itself, the project will also include the renovation or replacement of the attached workshop to have a second floor with bathrooms, kitchen, offices, an archive and an outside observation deck. The decision to locate the archives on the second floor is particularly well taken, as much of the museum's collection was damaged when Hurricane Sandy flooded the airport in 2012:[1]

Connecticut Air & Space Center

• Layout Proposal
• Mockup
• Potential Layout of Aircraft

(Source: Connecticut Air & Space Center)

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

The Air Force Museum of New Zealand is planning a new $16 million "exhibition space" to display its P-3K2 and recently acquired C-130H inside:

Air Force Museum of New Zealand

• Exterior 1

(Source: Air Force Museum of New Zealand)

• Exterior 2

(Source: Facebook)

The museum also added a 70,000 square foot Technology Centre in 2012:

Air Force Museum of New Zealand (Cont.)

• Exterior 1

(Source: Air Force Museum of New Zealand)

• Exterior 2

(Source: Contech)

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

A few years ago the National Museum of the United States Air Force had an exhibit called "100 Years of Heritage: National Museum of the United States Air Force, 1923-2023" that included a panel titled "A Look Into the Future" with a site plan of a proposed expansion of the museum. Unfortunately, it seemed to be short lived and pictures of it are hard to come by. The museum made a post on Instagram with some, but the site plan isn't legible. Luckily, one of the volunteers at the Tri-State Warbird Museum, who used to volunteer at NMUSAF, took a picture of the map when it was still up and sent me a copy:

(Source: National Museum of the United States Air Force via Jim Newport)

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

Apparently, the Tennessee Museum of Aviation is moving from Sevierville to Lebanon, where a new building is being built on 3.5 acres east of the Bakers School of Aeronautics:[1]

Tennessee Museum of Aviation

• Exterior 1

(Source: WKRN.com)



(Source: YouTube)

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

The Piper Aviation Museum has plans for a 9,600 square foot addition on the back of their building. The goal is house ten to fifteen additional aircraft:

Piper Aviation Museum

• Exterior 1 & 2

(Source: Piper Aviation Museum)

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

Wow, I missed that news. I'll miss dropping into the museum on my regular visits to hike in the Smokies. Last time I was there was January 2024. Hopefully Lebanon will be a good long-term location. I believe there is a CAF unit at the field. Maybe they can collaborate on events and/or displays.

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Matt

As part of the "transformation" of the the Imperial War Museum Duxford mentioned in a previous post, the museum has released renderings of a planned Second World War exhibition:

Imperial War Museum Duxford

• Interior 1
• Interior 2
• Interior 3

(Source: IWM)

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

I can't find anything that states that the Tennessee Museum of Aviation is moving. The new facility will house the TN Aviation Hall of Fame as well as a museum, but nothing in this clarifying statement from the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame's Facebook page says that the museum in Sevierville is moving west: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EcqF73mcm/

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Good catch, thanks for the correction! The statement is as follows:


(Source: Facebook)

Although I have to say, no offense to TAHF, but that is a not a well written press release. It states that its goal is to "clarify incorrect, published news". However, it never states what the incorrect news is aside from referring to "recent local media coverage" - which is not linked or named. I presume the reader is supposed to infer that the mistake is the suggestion that the TMOA is moving with the TAHF, but the former is never mentioned. Instead, the first time I read through it, I was confused because the preface to the press release proper in the Facebook post seems to imply that the TAHF is not moving to Lebanon, Tennessee. However, it then goes on to strongly suggest that TAHF is moving. I get that because they are early in the process they probably can't release much information, but the problem is that it doesn't explicitly state one way or the other, so you have to read between the lines to understand it.

I will admit to a mistake on my part as well, as neither of the news reports I cited specifically use the name "Tennessee Museum of Aviation". However, the two organizations have been co-located since approximately 2001 and, as far as I can tell, not much distinction has been made between the two. Nevertheless, it's a good lesson in making sure you have the details correct.

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

Thanks for posting that, DaveG. I looked through a couple news articles and it appears some outlets used the term Tennessee Museum of Aviation and Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame interchangeably. That's probably the source of the confusion.

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Matt