Wed, Mar 31, 2010
Fundraising Begins For "Wings Over Salina" Museum
It took nearly 7,000 construction workers close to four months
to build it in 1942. More than 5,000 men and their families
said good bye to it in 1965. And in 2005, more than 15,000
people were there when one man took 67 hours to circle the globe
and come back to it.
History has been made over and over again on the flightline of
the Salina Municipal Airport and now there is a way to ensure it
will be there for generations to come thanks to the Wings Over
Salina Air Museum.
The Salina Airport Authority, with the help of the Greater Salina
Community Foundation, has established two funds to raise the money
needed to build and maintain the museum. The Authority
started a provisional fund with $500 to raise money for planning
and construction. Money donated to that fund will go to
building the museum structure and monuments to commemorate items of
significance in local aviation. An endowment fund to support
operations will be seeded with $10,000.
"The Foundation is a public charity," explained Betsy Wearing,
president and executive director of the Greater Salina Community
Foundation. "All gifts that come to the Foundation are tax
deductible to the highest extent possible. Donors also have
the confidence that their gifts to a fund within the Foundation for
the museum will be restricted only for the museum."
Right now, the biggest push is for Smoky Hill Army Airfield and
Schilling Air Force Base related materials. The military had
a huge presence in Salina in the 1940s through the 1960s, and a
near devastating effect on the town when the base closed. The
men and women who called Salina home during the building blocks of
its history have since scattered to all edges of the country.
Those historic items are proving to be the most difficult to
find.
Plans are in works to gather oral histories and memorabilia from
the men and women who spent time on any of the bases in the Salina
area.
Along with a significant military
aviation history, Salina is the boyhood home of former NASA
astronaut Steven Hawley. The town made aviation history twice
in the mid 2000s. In 2005, Steve Fossett flew the first solo
nonstop airplane flight around the world, starting and ending in
Salina. Then in 2006, he set the absolute distance over a
closed circuit record, landing in Salina. Major aviation
manufacturers have employed thousands of local residents since the
late 60s. Unmanned aerial systems being developed at K-State
at Salina are quickly changing the course of history and the future
of
aviation.
Items related to these nonmilitary related pieces of history are
also being highly sought after by the Airport Authority.
Photos, uniforms, signs, paperwork and newspapers are just a few of
the items that are planned to be housed in the
museum.
Currently, the south lobby of the M.J. Kennedy Air Terminal
Building will play host to many of the items that will find a
permanent home in the Wings Over Salina Air Museum.
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