Sun, Dec 10, 2006
Phase One Opens On 65th Anniversary Of Pearl Harbor Attack
Last Thursday, December
7, the doors of Hangar 37 on Ford Island in the middle of
Hawaii's Pearl Harbor opened to aviation enthusiasts there to visit
the Pacific Aviation Museum for the first time.
In attendance for the celebration was WWII ace and USAF
Brigadier General (Retired) Chuck Yeager and US Navy Captain
(Retired) Wally Schirra, one of the original seven Mercury
astronauts.
Ford Island was the focus of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941. The bulk of the US Pacific naval fleet of
the time was moored off its shores that Sunday morning. Among them
was the USS Arizona, now a tomb for many of her 1,177 crewmen. She
rests at the bottom of the harbor and is the site of a memorial
visited by thousands every year.
Hangar 37 is a 42,000 square foot facility representing the
first of four phases for the museum. It sports a collection of
vintage aircraft including military aircraft from the WWII era. The
focus of phase one is WWII military aviation in the Pacific.
Twelve-year-old Eric Jones of Kansas City, MO told the Honolulu
Advertiser "It's amazing. I don't know how they got so many planes
in here. I like it that they have some of the Japanese stuff. You
don't see that too often."
Aviation nuts from around the world can see an authentic
Japanese Zero, a US Navy F4F Wildcat and a B-25 Mitchell bomber of
the type used on the Doolittle raid on Tokyo in retaliation for the
Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
A highlight of the opening celebration was a visit from 20
Japanese Zero pilots who posed for photos in front of the museum's
Zero fighter.
Phases two through four will be housed in Hangars 79 and 54, and
will tell the story of Pacific aviation in the Korean, Vietnam and
Cold wars.
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