Warbird Information Exchange

If you're a CAF conspiracy theorist, it's probably because the CAF will eventually move out of Midland altogether. Moving a premier exhibit out (like the nose art) follows the pattern of moving premier aircraft out (like the B-24 and B-29). Or it could be a fantastic coincidence...
kevin

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FOUND the elusive DT-built B-24! Woo-hoo!!!

Not to go slightly off topic but... I don't believe the CAF will pull out of Midland entirely. With the "National Base" being setup in Dallas, I'm sure the Midland location will become "CAF West Texas Base" or something like that.

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
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Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

The nose art collection was moved because the museum closed completely down and that building, along with the office space, is going back to the city of Midland. The nose art collection requires certain amount of climate control for conservation reasons and would have to go into climate controlled storage until the new museum is completed in Dallas. The other option was to loan the collection to another museum where it could be on display for all to see. More people will see the nose art in a single year at Oshkosh then saw it in ten years at Midland. The collection will likely end up in one or two other museums for short stays before coming to a permanent home in Dallas. This is no different than the Cairo Museum sending their King Tut display all over the world on loan to other museums.

There is still a very good and strong CAF presence in Midland with the hard working people from the High Sky Wing. That will continue as long as the local members want to keep it going. It is no different than the fifty odd other CAF units all over the place. This one just happened to have been the headquarters at one time. There was a CAF presence in the area long before HQ moved there. They have control of the big hangar and the Commemorative Center and are in the process of setting up their own smaller version of the museum in the hangar. A lot of the displays will focus on Midland Army Air Field and their part in WWII. The hangar does not have the climate control facilities to keep the nose art so that is why it isn't there.

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Brad

So my question is... Is the EAA providing climate controlled space for the collection?

The entire museum is climate controlled. So, yes.

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Curator - EAA Aviation Museum, Oshkosh, WI
"Let No Story Go Untold!"
http://www.timelessvoices.org

Neat! Well done EAA. And how cool that more folks get to see it, especially folks in a different part of the country.
kevin

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FOUND the elusive DT-built B-24! Woo-hoo!!!

I'll bet money they never return to Midland and the multi-million dollar facility built to house them.

There is no intention to ever return it to Midland. The museum is permanently closed and the multi million dollar facility you are talking about is no longer owned by the CAF in any way, shape or form.

The eventual home of the nose art, after the loan to other museums is done, is intended to be in the new museum in Dallas, when it is finished.

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Brad

So the move to Dallas of "Just Headquarters" and the museum staying in Midland was a lie from the start? Imagine that!

No...Tom Craddick pulling the $725,000 of state funding is what caused the closure of the museum.

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Brad

I for one am thankful that the CAF has entrusted us with this collection for a while. It is going to look amazing when done. Thanks to Zack, the EAA Museum staff, and the crew from the CAF, they have ensured that the panels will be well cared for and properly showcased in the Eagle Hangar. It's also a great example of two organizations working together.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

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!

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Brad

There have been discussions about a traveling tour of the Nose Art Collection for years (pretty much since the Collection was restored). It is not a novel concept. I think it is a great idea, but I don't think it should be limited to aircraft/WWII museums. As a one-of-a-kind collection of American folk art, I would love to see it displayed in The Met, The Smithsonian, The National Gallery of Art, etc. You'd be able to tell the story of these panels to an exponentially larger audience. EAA is a good start.

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Taylor Stevenson

Correct, Taylor, touring the Nose Art has been discussed and was a goal of the Museum in the "old days." I think that is a fine idea, and having them in the EAA Museum is an excellent solution.

At the risk of redundancy, I'll say again that, for the CAF, a "fixed facility" (Museum) no matter where located and how cleverly equipped with the latest and greatest holograms, video experiences, simulators, or whatever, is essentially building a Midland all over again. The mission of the CAF is best achieved by duplicating what Doug Rozendahl and the Red Tail "Rise Above" has done. Instead of spending the millions the CAF wants to raise for an "experience building" in the Metroplex, finance touring the airplanes: make it feasible for more units to take the "artifacts" to the public. CAF HQ can be wherever Steve Brown hangs his hat: truth be told it could have stayed in Midland.

Sorry to continue whipping this horse....