E-Digest                                                                               28 May 2012 

Visitors often comment on the rusty old airplane that sits behind the fence

on the road leading to the our museum. The first giveaway is that it is

rusty, aluminum may turn whitish but it does not turn rusty brown. In

reality it is a full scale training aid for the fire department. There are

several large propane torches built into the steel framed trainer that allows fire department personnel to fight a large fire while retaining the ability to turn it off in less than a second.

Recently our director was driving some visitors back to the museum and happened upon a training scenario so we thought you'd like to share in one of the pictures.

Our dedicated volunteers are moving ahead quickly with the installation of the fabric covering of our CG-4A.  What may have been a problem turned out to be no problem at all--because we had the right person volunteer for the job.   

We were not able to get aircraft fabric in widths large enough to cover the main fuselage in one piece.  Stitching fabric together for use on aircraft takes some special skills. It just so happens a friend of the museum is

Renate Brown who also happens to sew space suits for ILC in Frederica. Not only did she do a flawless job (as you might expect from a space suit seamstress) but she did it in one day. Another awesome job well done.

Speaking of the Glider, our restoration team believes they will have it ready for exhibit by this Fall. That will require moving the C-45 outside so that we have room for the whole glider fuselage inside. A team of

specialists is already installing bird-proofing and weatherproofing on the Twin Beechcraft in expectation of moving it onto the main ramp.  Fortunately we already have permanent tie downs available to secure it to the ramp. 

Thawing Western relations with Myanmar's government may unearth a squadron of Spitfire fighters buried by British forces at the end of World War II. Just several weeks before Japan surrendered in early September 1945, British troops entombed as many as 20 Spitfire Mk. XIVs-a rare variant powered by Rolls Royce Griffon engines-in their original weatherproof packing to prevent them from falling into Japanese hands in case Japan tried to re-occupy then-Burma. "We sent a borehole down and used a camera to look at the crates. They seemed to be in good condition," said David Cundall, the British farmer leading the recovery effort, reported Australia's Sydney Morning Herald. Cundall has said he located the aircraft based on a veteran's offhand remark years ago. During his official visit to Myanmar on April 13, British Prime Minister David Cameron secured Cundall's right to recover the trove from the Myanmar government, reported the UK Guardian. Only 35 Spitfires of any type still fly today, according to the press reports.