Palm Springs Air Museum

The second half of my day with Kae was a first for both of us... an explore of the Palm Springs Air Museum.

This video offers a fantastic 3½ minute film overview of the Museum. It is worth the time to see just how special this place is.

Our timing was chosen to coincide with a special presentation, Before the Tuskegee Airmen, Came the National Airmen Association of America.
"Hear the true story of the group of foresighted, concerned, and dedicated individuals who came together and set the stage for the participation of African Americans in the fields of aviation and aeronautics. These prescient men included Chauncey E. Spencer, the presenter’s father."
Chauncey E. Spencer III tours the country paying homage to the black pioneers of aviation and making certain these heroes are not forgotten.

In 1934, Spencer joined with a group of African American aviators in organizing the National Airmen Association of America (NAAA). Working as a kitchen helper in a Chicago restaurant, Spencer used most of his weekly wages for flying lessons. Later, he and a handful of companions bought an obsolete airplane and set out to repair it themselves. Two years after that, he and fellow NAAA member Dale Lawrence White flew a rented Lincoln-Paige biplane on a ten-city tour that started in Chicago and ended in Washington, DC. The notoriety of the Spencer-White flight in the black press contributed to convincing Congress to include blacks in the pre-World War II Civilian Pilot Training Program.
What a proud son and sharer of history. I knew of the Tuskegee Airmen but I never knew the men that paved their way. Wow.
As anyone who reads this knows, I'm a fan of Walt Disney. Seeing his MOUSE ONE, the Grumman Gulfstream I, even from a distance, made me happy.
Disney bought the aircraft in 1964 and used it for personal and business until he passed away in 1966. It continued to serve the company as an executive, and guest transport, until it was retired in 1991. The plane was on display at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando until 2022 when it was moved to the Palm Springs Air Museum. Decades of humidity in Florida damaged the interior. The Museum is in the process of restoring the entire interior to its original vintage condition. When it's done, I'll be returning.
I mean, how totally groovy is this?!

The interior of the plane, initially designed with creative input from Walt and his wife, Lillian, seated up to 15 passengers and included a galley kitchen, two restrooms, two couches, a desk, and nods to the mouse who started it all, including matchbooks and stationery adorned with a silhouette of Mickey Mouse. Mickey’s initials were eventually included in the tail number of the plane, too, as N234MM, in 1967. Throughout its 28 years of service to The Walt Disney Company, the plane flew 20,000 hours and transported an estimated 83,000 passengers before it was decommissioned.
Disney history is found everywhere!
This was an incredible discovery. Did you know that during World War II, in an effort to disguise the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant (above) and ward off enemy fire, officials at Burbank’s Lockheed Air Terminal (now known as Bob Hope Airport) took the unusual but highly effective step of covering the entire airport with strategically placed camouflage netting? From the air, in the eyes of the enemy, the entire area looked like a rural subdivision (below).
In February 1942, a Japanese submarine was spotted just outside San Francisco Bay. When another Japanese submarine surfaced off Santa Barbara, a few nights later, and fired a few shells at an oil storage facility, the War Department ordered Lt Gen John L De Witt, head of Western Defense Command, to protect vital installations along the Pacific Coast.

The job of disguising California fell upon Colonel John F Ohmer, a pioneer in camouflage, deception, and misdirection techniques. During the Battle of Britain in 1940, Colonel Ohmer’s carefully made and positioned camouflage caused the Luftwaffe to waste thousands of tons of bombs on empty fields.

With help of scenic designers, painters, art directors, landscape artists, animators, carpenters, lighting experts and prop men from movie studios in Hollywood, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Universal Pictures and others, Colonel Ohmer began the task of disguising March Field and its neighborhood. The disguise of California ceased to be critical when the US Navy dealt a smashing defeat to a Japanese carrier task force at Midway Island. The threat of a serious attack against the West Coast diminished, then vanished. History is so intriguing!




When we asked a volunteer what we should not miss, he pointed us to the Museum's latest and biggest restoration project to date, the F-117A Nighthawk “Black Devil.” One of only 59 built, this stealth fighter logged a total of 5,140 hours of flight (75 of which were in combat, making it the second highest combat time F-117) and was the 49th Wing Commander’s aircraft during Operation Allied Force, a bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War in 1999. The aircraft was also used in Operation Desert Storm, the 1991 military operation to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. It is one of four being given to museums around the country for display. How lucky were we?!

The Palm Springs Air Museum is a nonprofit living history museum dedicated to educating the public about the role Air Power played in preserving American liberties and way of life. The Museum preserves, exhibits, and flies aircraft from World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Global War on Terror. In addition to flyable and static aircraft, the Museum uses permanent and temporary exhibits, related artifacts, artwork, and library sources to perpetuate American History. Another cool component is the fact that many of the docents are veterans and were willing to share their experiences and sacrifices.
"Those who study warfare only in the light of history
think of the next war in terms of the last.
But those who neglect history
deprive themselves of a yardstick
by which theory can be measured."
-Cyril Falls

Kae and I had one of those Palm Springs days that leaves one with a feeling of contentment and with an eagerness to repeat it all again soon... it was just perfect.

posted under |

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Older Post Home
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Get new Blog Posts to your inbox. Just enter name and email below.

 

We respect your email privacy

Blog Archive


Recent Comments