Old Shep wrote:
Actually, Brad, that state money was to be used to create a larger Midland Army Airfield Museum in the main hangar. Now we (the High Sky Wing) are trying to do the same thing on a shoe string budget. The bitterness about the move is very deep in this community, and things could have been done differently to ameliorate that bitterness. The tragic death of Ray Hofman was a major setback to our planning going forward.
The American Airpower Heritage Museum has effectively dissolved: I wonder if or when it will ever be reestablished as such, since the the idea of an "info-tainment" attraction is a bit antithetical to museums. If it were up to me i would recognize the success of touring the airplanes in the CAF fleet (the Collons Foundation has done this very successfully, as has the B-29, the B-17's, the SB2C, the Red Tail Mustang and the Rise Above exhibit, the new "That's All Brother" C-47), and encourage (that means money) those tours. The mission of the CAF would be achieved more readily that way, instead of building another Midland-like facility in South Oak Cliff. Aviation Museums are money-losers, no matter what their location. The Museum at Love Field is struggling, and I believe Cavanaugh, the Cold War Museum, the two "museums" in Fort Worth, also are having difficulty with poor attendance. The Nimitz, the National World War Two Museum in New Orleans, even the Air and Space Museum rely on income far beyond what is generated by bodies through the turnstiles. The CAF didn't want to subsidize the Museum in Midland, but moving the Museum to another location like the Metroplex will not, in my opinion, make it self-sustaining.
I used to have more sense about all of this, but I'm out of the loop now.
Bill, I do not disagree with a single thing you say here!