Warbird Information Exchange

With all the hot&heavy discussion on museums, Kermit is headed in a new direction:
https://www.facebook.com/KermitWeeks

.Several of you questioned my recent comment about morphing Fantasy of Flight away from being an Airplane "Museum." You heard me right and I felt I needed to address the issue. I've been working on our future concept for over a decade now ...and it's time to draw a major line in the sand and let go of the past.

I've been in the Airplane "Museum" business for 28 years and by all accounts, it appears I'm a slow learner. What I HAVE learned, is that if the doors of life continue to keep closing in your face, maybe life's trying to tell you to head down another hallway.

While maybe YOU and I love airplanes, it's a sad fact for us that... MOST PEOPLE DON'T!

I've had the opportunity to speak twice years ago, six years apart, at the Smithsonian Mutual Aviation Concerns Conferences. With over 100 people in the room from aviation museums from all around the world, I asked one simple question - "If you took away the grants, the subsidies, and paid your volunteers, how many of you in the room would be making a net profit?"

NOT ONE PERSON raised their hands! BOTH TIMES!

I've come to realize there is much bigger and better way to touch EVERYBODY that comes through my doors. And it's NOT with airplanes! Fantasy of Flight has NOTHING to do with airplanes... but airplanes have EVERYTHING to do with Fantasy of Flight.

Look at this sculpture and see and feel what it means to you. THAT'S what Fantasy of Flight is all about.

For some of you somewhat disappointed airplane lovers out there that still don't know what I'm talking about... you'll still get to see your airplanes at Fantasy of Flight, but that's not going to be our product. If I can deliver what I know I can in the future, you'll still get to see what you came for, but you'll end up taking home a whole lot more than you expected.

Each and everyone of you out there has far more potential than you realize, and so does Fantasy of Flight. I'm done with the "Museum" concept and if you don't like the way we're headed please direct your support to all the other Aviation "Museums" that need your support! Trust me, they need it!

Life has set me up to create something that doesn't exist with the potential to truly touch the world on a global basis. It's not going to happen overnight but it will over time. So, just sit back and watch us morph and grow into what I know we can become!

Sadly, I predict that sooner or later he'll lose interest in his aircraft while trying to build a new role for himself.

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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.

A stroll through his blog will explain the many facets of the complex Mr. Weeks:
http://blog.kermitweeks.com/

Let him do whatever, his coin is his call. All I know is that if I am ever in the area I will be swinging by Fantasy of Flight!

Not really quite sure what he's going on about, but as they say, one must follow where one's muse leads them, so good luck to him.

I'm hip to dat! Big tub o' at ready! Will there be classical music? Something with a 24-cylinder Napier Sabre symphony would be nice!

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

I didn't follow or understand a thing in his statement about FoF...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

How many different ways can these museum operators package "I just didn't have as much money as I originally thought?"

I'd imagine that is the case with just about any museum, anywhere. When people think about making money that don't say "let's open a museum". Having said that I respect the man and all he has accomplished and wish him and his organization the best. I hope whatever it is works out.

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Always looking for WW2 Half-Tracks and Parts.

My take is that Kermit feels that to fufil a person's inner desire for freedom through flight, a museum may not be the vehicle to that end. We look at the warbird as a relic to remember the courage and sacrifice of others for us and their respective nations. FOF presents many aspects of aviation including the warbirds, such as racing, seaplanes, early pioneers, etc,.
Museums tend to offer the story of flight in a static or flight display which may not scratch that flying itch. More younger folks have probably experienced flight through Microsoft than by any other method. Kermit's books have attempted to reach that generation.
My assumption is that Kermit at this stage of life, wants to have a bigger impact in exposing people to flight than through FOF as a museum. He has lived an aviator's dream in flying all the great aircraft and perhaps wants others to experience the same thrill.
Whichever direction FOF heads, I wish him well and great success.

Well whatever he does I hope he will sell some airplanes that really need to fly again.I, and a bunch of other people, put a lot of work in some of those planes to make them fly back in the day.

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Hang The Expense

Which makes it sound like an interactive thing.
I don't know, by not saying anything plainly, he sounds rather metaphysical-ish.... like he's channeling ferret-era Richard Bach...or perhaps a starting a church (the First Church of the Warm Warbird?)



Agreed.

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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.

He spoke about this at a dinner I attended there last year. Basically it's not going to be a museum but a theme park with the focus being the fantasy of flight as a whole as opposed to a historical traditional museum. With other museums failing fiscially my opinion is that this could be a winner or at least keep him in business! People shouldn't be offended or alarmed as the basis for our love if the physical airplane is still the "fantasy of flight."

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Cessna 195

This is Kermit's spritual direction:
http://www.monroeinstitute.org/

^^^This, exactly! I can understand where he's coming from. Many people do not get the satisfaction of simply watching a plane fly, or looking at it in a hangar. Sometimes, a more creative method needs to be used. I think more flight experiences, training/hands on activities with the public is what he has in mind. Also, flight can be a spiritual thing. When you're up there in smooth air, 10SM Viz, there's a feeling in your soul that simply cannot be felt by looking at a plane. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with. He is a very "outside the box" thinker.

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Austin Hancock
Pennington P-51 Memorial
www.lp-51.com