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Bill Klaers and James Stewart from the Cockpit
Those of you who have been with us since the beginning already know that the Museum needs between $14 and $16 million to complete our plans, and by that we mean to present you with an exciting new national museum in a new building adjacent to the Colorado Springs airport. Think what this Museum will mean to all Americans, to every veteran, to their children and their children's children, and to all who visit from around the world! The large number of donors who have shown their interest in the NMWWIIA by making annual contributions are the foundation on which the museum will stand. Our first annual appeal was mailed in December and your response was exceedingly gratifying. If any of you have yet to make that first contribution, please do so now.
Needless to say we are also actively looking for major gifts of $100,000 and more to move the Museum forward as rapidly as possible. If any of you reading this newsletter have the interest and means to be such a donor please contact us at once. If others know of such a person or people who should know about NMWWIIA please let us know.
We plan to engage a project manager soon, to bring together the complex pieces of this enterprise and give us that extra push. As soon as this very important role has been filled we will focus our attention on raising $350,000 to take the concept design plans already developed by Gallagher & Associates, and deepen them through the design development stage to the necessary level of specificity: the people, the stories, the artifacts, the exhibitions and educational programs--and how they will all be placed in the new building.
Every donor is important to us, whether you are able to contribute $10 or $10 million, or anything in between. We know you will share our satisfaction as each milestone is reached. There is tremendous energy behind this enterprise and if you have not already done so, we invite you to join us. Many thanks to the many who have already done so.
Sincerely,
James Stewart
Bill Klaers
The National Museum of World War II Aviation |
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Internationally renowned museum design firm selected to bring National Museum of WWII Aviation to life |
The name Gallagher and Associates may not ring any bells of recollection for you, however their work certainly will. Based in Bethesda, Maryland, Gallagher brings deep experience and break-though creativity to their museum master planning and exhibition design. Their more recent work includes:
Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center, National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Normandy American Visitor Center in France, Yorktown Victory Center, Jamestown Settlement Gallery, Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, B.B. King Museum in Indianola Mississippi
Get a look for yourself: http://www.gallagherdesign.com/
When we say we are bringing a world-class museum to Colorado Springs, that is not marketing speak. We mean it! Look at these renderings of Gallagher's initial design work for the National Museum of WWII Aviation.
To make Gallagher's remarkable vision for the Museum take form, fundraising is the most critical task ahead of us. Please visit the Museum website and make a generous contribution today!
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Frequently Asked Questions |
After our initial Museum newsletter, we received hundreds of inquiries, congratulations, offers to contribute and requests to visit. We boiled down to the following FAQ's the topics people were most curious about.
When will the National Museum of World War II Aviation open?
Sorry but this one is one of those "How long is a piece of string" questions that we simply cannot answer right now. Obviously the current economic situation means we have adjusted our timelines, based on the downturn in giving that nonprofit organizations are experiencing.
$2.5 million is already expended on the Museum site preparations, the raw materials to construct the Museum building, the initial design by Gallagher and the initial architectural designs by award winning OZ Architecture of Denver.
We now must raise approximately $1.2 million dollars to complete the designs and turn them into blueprints for construction.
We will then raise $14.5 million to complete the capital construction. See the Museum website for the details.
We are conducting a high energy fund development campaign in Colorado Springs, across Colorado, and with major corporations and foundations throughout the United States.
What makes the National Museum of WW II Aviation differ from other aviation museums?
In a word, FOCUS. The National Museum of World War II Aviation will be the only museum to focus exclusively on the role of aviation during WWII including industrial mobilization and the strategy and tactics that brought victory. This will be the core of the Museum.
The Museum will also provide visitors with experiences that bring forward the state of American airpower prior to the war and the remarkable impact and frankly surprising legacy we enjoy today as a result of the broad mobilization and use of airpower.
People today little know the massive effort to design, build and deploy the Allies airborne war machine, the hundreds of thousands of Americans who left their jobs to work in factories turning out the bombers, fighters and transport planes that gave our men and women in uniform the power to take the fight to the enemy.
From school aged curiosity to full scholarly investigation, the Museum will have the depth of material to satisfy any inquiry.
And yes, there will be WWII aircraft! Thanks to our association with WestPac Restorations, one of the premier restorers of WWII aircraft viewing breathtaking flying examples of WWII aircraft will be included as a part of the Museum experience.
Copyright 2009 The National Museum of World War II Aviation |
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