News from Carolinas Aviation Museum

From the Carolinas Aviation Museum

The CAM News. A changing newsletter for a museum on the move!

We are reaching out to the local education community to provide interactive exhibits that fit into the STEM programs offered by local schools. STEM is an acronym for SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, & MATH.

Katie McClamrock, our Education and Exhibits Director, has contacted local STEM educators and students who will work in teams to provide feedback for tour scripts about our exhibits. To this end, the Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology recently visited our museum to evaluate and offer feedback on how CAM can interface with this unique program. Be sure to click on the two links above to read more about the program.

We recently hired an intern who is working on a Masters in Public History and she will be helping to coordinate and create lesson plans for specific exhibits here at the museum.

The bottom line is that we hope to encourage schools to use CAM for their educational field trips relating to the STEM program.

CH-46 Sea Knights Fly Into the Sunset!

The CH-46 Sea Knight Helicopter

similar to the one on display at CAM (ours is a D model) is giving way to the MV-22B Osprey.

The Sea Knight has had a brilliant career as a medium assault transport helicopter and it has served in various theaters for the past 50 years. Read about the transition here.

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Airstairs Restored

Restored CAM Airstairs

Our airstairs look like new - and they are like new - but not without a lot of hard work.

Many years ago, the North Carolina Air National Guard donated vintage airstairs to the museum. We were happy to get them but at the time, we had nothing to use them for. They sat for years until the DC-7 arrived, had engine trouble, and had to wait for a decision on new engines. The museum has been taking advantage of this by allowing our visitors to take "guided" tours on the vintage airliner but we've had to use old airstairs that, although safe, were a little scary for folks who were bothered by heights..

Volunteer Duane Batey headed up a team dedicated to restoring the stairs. They were completely taken apart, repaired, sanded, painted and put back together. Now they are an impressive looking addition to the museum and our visitors are much happier using them to board the aircraft.

Thanks to our team of CAM volunteers:

Dwayne Batey (happy birthday Dwayne)
Buddy Auer
Bob Stroup
Matt Oste
Kory Lewis
Tom Conroy
Matt Conroy

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Record Crowds Visit CAM

Thanksgiving weekend produced record crowds at CAM. Normally about 175 to 250 people will visit the museum on a Saturday but on Saturday November 24th we had 500 visitors.

As we mentioned in the previous newsletter, we've developed new strategies and initiated more logical scheduling so that docents now know exactly what areas they need to monitor. Visitor feedback continues to be overwhelmingly positive. We were able to handle the large crowd smoothly and with no issues even though we had fewer docents on the floor.

Added Attractions

Besides the normal exhibits on the 24th, we opened the DC-7 and Hangar B which includes the Air Force One replica, three helicopters, and several smaller aircraft. Because we are taking visitors onto the active ramp area, these tours need to be "guided" tours with docents having escort privileges. The docent walks with our visitors and explains all about the exhibits. We charge a little extra for these tours and that provides additional revenue for the museum.

1549 Passenger Tripp Harris talks with visitors

We continue to have the passengers form flight 1549 come and talk with our visitors about their experiences as the aircraft descended into the Hudson. These folks volunteer their time and our visitors are captivated by the emotional stories they tell. Every passenger was on the same aircraft but like family members in the same family, although they may all have experienced the same event, each has a different memory and story to tell depending on where they sat on the aircraft and what was going on in their lives at the time.

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Museum Founders Letter

Dear Members

High lights of the years gone by.

Looking back at December, 1992

Our first year and half was behind us, which began on July 2^nd 1991 when Lois and I had invited Sharon Allen, Mel Preston and William Stapleton to have dinner with us at Gus's 49er restraint to discuss saving the first hangar built at the present Charlotte/Douglas Airport (Southern Airways Hangar). From that first meeting we started to grow. We had a monthly dinner meeting and a monthly newsletter. Membership in CHAC was now 575 Charter members. We were officially incorporated as The Carolinas Historic Aviation Commission and received our 501© (3) non-profit designation. We were preparing to move into the former Southern Airways hangar. The US army had officially transferred the T-28 aircraft to us; Hoechst Celanese Corp. gave us a Clark aircraft tug, A G.E. aircraft 24-volt portable generator, and a paint sprayer assembly.

We had hosted two warbird aircraft displays, and had had displays promoting CHAC in three air shows, Lincolnton, Gastonia, and Hickory (NC).CHAC participated in the 1992 Veterans Day parade in Charlotte. A CHAC member's trip to the Smithsonians's National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C was approved for February 5-7, 1993.

Most of all a hard working bunch of volunteers were working on repairing and cleaning out our new home the Southern Airways Hangar.