Make sure you mark your calendar for Sunday, 5 February 2012 at 2 p.m. for an encore of one of our very best episodes in our educational and entertaining series of Hangar Flying presentations.  Bill Ayrey of ILC Dover will talk about space suit design and construction from the Apollo missions to the current Space Station missions.

ILC space suits have protected astronauts from the hazards of space for over 1,600 hours, including 250 hours of problem-free lunar space walks during the Apollo missions.  See and touch a Liquid Cooling Ventilation Garment (LCVG) and try on a helmet and glove.  Wondering what a LCVG is?  Join us on the 5th to find out!

This is a fascinating presentation. Don't forget the kids!

Free to foundation members and kids 16 and under!  A donation of $5 is requested from all others.  

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It may be cold and blustery outside but it's warm in our hangar and where else can you listen to great classical music (as well as popular and patriotic pieces) set among classic aircraft. Come join us on February 24th at 6 pm to hear the Langley Winds, a six piece woodwind ensemble of professional musicians from Langley AFB in Virginia that play a wide range of music.

Its FREE and just the thing to shake off the winter blahs.

Mike Leister  

Director, AMC Museum  

There is nothing to compare with standing in a control tower listing to a

giant C-5, 747 or C-17 call for clearance to take off and then watching it

majestically accelerate and climb away from Dover. Most of our instrumentation has been installed now and visitors can listed to as well as watch the local air and ground traffic now from our original 1956 tower cab.  It's worth the climb!

Next time you walk around the tail of our C-47 you may just notice a new exhibit.  It's a Clark Airborne Tractor, more commonly called a bulldozer and it's hard to miss.  Not because it's so large, in fact it was specially designed to fit in a C-47 or even into a CG-4A Glider.  How would you like to pilot a wood and metal tubing glider into a combat zone with a 4,000 pound bulldozer sitting so close to you that you could touch it?

There was only three feet between the outer edges of the tracks, and the blade was only five feet wide, but these "miniature" versions of earth moving equipment were used to build runways, roadways and fortifications around the world in WW II.  One of the most notable events was when thirty gliders carrying dozers, mules and an engineering group landed behind Japanese lines in Burma.  In 24 hours they had carved an operating airport out of the jungle.  Our "Clark" is part of a long term loan from collector/restorer Darrell Smoker.  If the museum is operating smoothly in a year he intends to make a donation of, not only the "Clark", but an air transportable Case Tractor and a dump trailer as well.

Our visitors often hear the sound of large aircraft overhead when they come to see us but it is more unusual to hear the sound of an old time steam locomotive coming from our exhibit hangar.  For the second year the triple train layout presented by the Shoreline Garden Railroad Club was a big hit, especially with our younger visitors. Large scale steam and diesel trains representing everything from the 1860s to current technology were presented.  We noticed there was no shortage of volunteers from our staff to help run the trains!!!