Warbird Information Exchange

We just saw the new aviation museum on Ford Island at Pearl Harbor. It's long overdue and they have some good displays, but it was sad to see some of the neglect of other parts of Ford Island. They have let the grass grow over the runway and the paint is peeling off the control tower and the rails are rusty. This should be amoung the most historic areas in Hawaii and preserved with respect. When I asked one of the volunteers there about preserving the runway he looked at me like I was nuts and said they were planning to build more housing where the runway is.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

The airfield is still owned by the US Navy. I was there over the summer and was told by the museum director that the base commander wants to put solar energy panels all over the field. Not really so much because he is concerned with green energy, mind you, but because its a huge project that would named after him when its done. Screw history, I guess.

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I paint, therefore, I am.
site: http://www.russellsmithart.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Russell-Smith-Studios/103226508613

Hi Bill...glad you made it out there...I stay in touch with these nice folks who have done so much with so little...they now have an SBD I last heard so that so further round out their collection.

Its true that the museum and the rest of Ford Island are two distinct entities. Last I spoke with them the museum is intersted in a resto of the control tower but that is under strict govt ownership.

Im sure if I could put my ear to the wind I could hear the ramp area around the museum tellling its stories...

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Rauhbatz
Commemorative Air Force
CAF Ohio Wing/Airbase Georgia Member
PT-19/26, T-34 CAF Pilot


Favorite quote from Wind, Sand & Stars - A. St. Exupuery "friends are like trees...when they are gone we miss their shade"

They should let the new Hawaii 5-O film part of an episode there in exchange for CBS fixing up the tower etc.

Bill, Did you get to the new visitor's center?

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

This is an unfortunate consequence of the restructuring of the military over the past 20 years. This story can be replayed dozens of times at historic bases all over the US. Places like NAS Alamdea, Hamilton AFB, etc that were once bustling hubs of activity are now succumbing to mother nature. To me it is sad to see such historic places not be at preserved amd reused for modern uses but there are an awful lot of politics around reusing these old bases. I was closely involved in the reuse discussions of NAS Alameda and between the people who want to see it become a nature preserve and those who want it to become a high density beachfront condo complex there isn't much hope for preserving what is there for the longterm.

Re: Alameda....if someone was smart, they'd turn it into condos. With Bay Area real estate prices being what they are, that deal alone could pay for Obamacare.
But, the federal government being the federal government, they'll probably sell it to the state/city/country for $1 and someone else can make the money off it.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

wish we could save all history

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

Yes they have a nice SBD at the museum, an airplane that was important in the early part of the Pacific war.
As for the visitor center, I think I was there, if that is the buildings that you go in at the entrance to the bus that takes you over to Ford Island.It is also near where the boat ferries people to the Arizona memorial.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

I remember getting a chance to wander freely around Ford Island while in the Navy. It was incredible place to walk around thinking about the history, it seemed like much of the island really had not been touched after the war. The air field at the time was still open for the flying club or something, but I could be way off on that. I hope to return to check out the museum and the USS Missouri.

Tim

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www.tailhookstudio.com

Were you able to go over to the USS Utah memorial? I must be up in the night, but I thought I had read/heard somewhere that they had gotten funds to do some work on the Tower. . .

Tom P.

i bet walking around that battleship would be a trip all in itself

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" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

Tim, I had that same feeling myself when I got to the area. I had first taken the air tour over the island and Schofield Barracks, Wheeler Field and Ford Island; a very good tour in a DH Beaver on floats, called Island Seaplane Tours.

I didn't know about the Utah memorial, as far as I know. There is one there , sort of a small wall with names on it, but I think it is for Oklahoma, not sure at all.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Bill,

I took the sea plane tour as well from Island Tours but we were in their other a/c. It was a highlight of my honeymoon to see those sights from the air, especially the whole outline of the USS Arizona visible under the water. I got to visit the memorial later but it wouldn't have been the same without seeing Pearl and the Arizona from the air.

Dave in NJ

The USS Missouri has been nicely restored and takes some time on it's own. I got over there last year.

@ Tim, no civilian walking around on Ford Island allowed, and no pictures are allowed through the windows of the bus that takes you to both the ship or the museum.

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Roger Cain
www.sfahistory.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stearman/


We must limit politicians to two terms:
one in office and one in jail.