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Museum Public Opening Planned July 2012 | |
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Museum Opening Planned |
August 2012 |
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World War II Veteran William "Bill" Beck
 Colonel William Beck is a Founding Member of the National Museum of World War II Aviation and a proud veteran who served during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Colonel Beck piloted his Douglas A-20A Havoc affectionately named "Grass Cutter" with the 89th Attack Squadron, United States Army Air Force, from Port Moresby, New Guinea, during 1942. The Havoc was a single pilot twin turbosupercharged R-2600-7 Wright Cyclone radial engines, attack, light bomber and night fighter used by the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union during World War II.  The aircraft was also call the "Boston" by members of the United Kingdom. It was introduced into service in January 1941 so Bill was flying a brand new aircraft. Over 7400 were built by Douglas Aircraft Company. The aircraft could also carry one or two gunners to increase lethality and survivability.
Bill Beck enlisted into the Army Air Corp March 17th 1941 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and pilot on October 31, 1941. Lieutenant Beck volunteered for the Pacific theater and left the United States on November 22, 1941. War broke out and Bill found himself headed to Brisbane, Australia on December 22, 1941. By February, 1942, Bill was enroute to the Philippines in an A-24 when the Battle of Java Sea took place and Java fell to the Japanese. He acquired time as a copilot in B-25s before getting assigned to the Havoc. Lieutenant Beck flew in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea with a photographer on board and captured important images of that battle including the destruction of a cargo ship and a destroyer. Unfortunately, his bombs would not release from the aircraft on that mission.
Captain Beck returned home from the war in June 1943 and married Elizabeth in September 1943. Bill left the military in 1945 and went back to college. He returned to active duty in 1952 as a group commander at Mather Field in California. His service included assignments to Japan, Air War College, Pentagon, CincPAC in Honolulu, and Air Training Command. Colonel Beck retired from active duty in 1969.
 Some of Colonel Beck's war experience is highlighted in a book by Mr. Lex McAulay entitled Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Bill and three other World War II veterans have done some video which will be featured on local television and included in our museum displays. Special thanks to Colonel Beck for his financial support and personal devotion to bring this museum to reality. The spirit of the Greatest Generation will live on through our laser focus on science, technology, engineering and math education combined with the lessons of history.
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N3N-3 Becomes Property of the Museum |
r than the details of your event to your contacts. It may be news in your indust
 For those who have visited the Museum site in Colorado Springs, you probably noticed an early World War II trainer aircraft with no engine and no fabric covering. Many have asked about the history of the aircraft and our plans for its use. The aircraft was donated to the Museum by the Feenix Partners of Tennessee and we want to thank them for this generous donation to the Museum. Some of you may know that the United States Navy produced several aircraft types during World War I and early World War II because there was a lack of interest among civilian manufacturers in producing small numbers of aircraft to Navy requirements. Most Navy aircraft and those built for the Army Air Corp were designed and built by civilian contractors working on behalf of government requirements.
The Naval Aircraft Factory plant in Philadelphia was built in 110 days after groundbreaking and the main construction building still exists today. The facility gave the Navy the capability to not only build the aircraft in-house, but to also test aircraft built by external sources. That test capability eventually morphed into the Naval Air Test Center which is located at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.
 The N3N Canary or Yellow Peril was built as a tandem seat, open cockpit, primary training biplane by the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Other products of the factory included seaplanes and drones meeting specific Navy requirements. Between 1935 and January, 1942, 997 Canaries entered service. The Navy also acquired the rights and tooling to build the Wright R-760 series engines so they could build their own power plants for the aircraft. The N3N was the last biplane in United States military service. Cadets at the US Naval Academy received their familiarization flights in the aircraft until they were retired in 1961.
Volunteers with the museum intend to restore the aircraft to interactive display condition leaving the control surfaces and their linkages exposed so visitors can clearly see how actions in the cockpit affect the aircraft. This display will be part of the co-curricular activities in our partnership with formal educators. If you have or know of components associated with the N3N, we would love to hear from you. At this point we do not have the Wright R-760-2 Whirlwind Radial and some of the internal components of the aircraft. Your donations could significantly enhance this artifact. Our volunteers are excited about this project and the Link trainer mentioned in the previous newsletter. However everyone is focused on the summer opening so display cases and drywall have taken priority over other projects until fall., |
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How to Receive the Newsletter |
The National Museum of World War II Aviation uses a special software to get our newsletter to you in a speedy and spam free process. We know that some are receiving the newsletter from a friend or organization rather than directly from us to your email box. The newsletter is used to inform you of activities taking place on the Museum campus in a timely and graphic manner. There are different ways you can get subscribed to our newsletter database.
The preferred and most efficient method is to visit our website www.worldwariiaviation.org and scroll to the bottom where you see a line titled Our Newsletter. You can enter your email address and hit the submit button. This gives us the basic information to get the newsletter to your computer. I highly recommend you go down to the bottom of the first newsletter you receive and use the Update Profile/Email Address link to provide addition information such as your name and other information you might want to share. Your name allows us to personalize the email specifically for you.
If you received your newsletter because someone used the "Forward this email to a friend or acquaintance" link provided in the newsletter, complete the process and you should be fine. Don't forget to edit your profile as appropriate.
If someone used their email service provider's capability to forward the email, please use the preferred method above and visit the website for newsletter registration. If you actually visited the museum site and filled out a log or sign in sheet, assume that we do not have your email address and visit the preferred method shown above. We have strong controls to prevent spam and you can unsubscribe at any time. We value you comments so contact us at jim@worldwariiaviation.org |
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Volunteers |
Our volunteers are very special folks with an array of skills and talents. We have the equipment, tools, and staff personnel to answer their questions and provide assistance when appropriate. With state of the art facilities for welding, sheetmetal, painting, and research; volunteers see maximum return for their efforts. Colorado Springs is a military community with people from all branches of the service who have worked with the most sophisticated tools and technologies.
 Folks are really committed to the education portion of our Museum mission and work constantly to include science, technology, engineeering and math training into all our youth activities. If you would like to be a part of our volunteer activities or assist in other ways, give us a call or visit with the staff. The rewards to our efforts are seen daily in the eyes of World War II veterans and in the enthusiasm of our youth visitors. We continue to meet each Saturday around 9 AM at the Museum hangars in preparation for our opening this summer. Bring your skills and help us progress toward this objective. |
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