The shrill whirling of a drill could be heard across the hangar as an intense spotlight lit up a usually dim area of the building, used to show visitors some of the most important history of American flight.
Two men in cargo shorts and gray t-shirts bent over a work desk next to a silver B-17 Bomber in the Scott Exhibit Hangar. Workers are approaching 95,000 hours of labor put into the aircraft, said Mike Wood, the museum’s volunteer restoration specialist who has been working with a team of volunteers to restore the plane.
It’s about 92% of the way done, said Museum Curator Arthur Sullivan, and it’s one of dozens that crews at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins have worked on as patrons come and go through the facility. “Ten years ago, you would have seen pieces everywhere: wings, engine, the entire interior completely pulled out,” said Sullivan.
Restoration volunteer Mike Woods works on the B-17 Flying Fortress on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in the Scott Exhibit Hangar at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, Georgia. Woods is one of a number of volunteers that have worked on restoring the aircraft since 2015. Katie Tucker/The Telegraph
The Museum of Aviation has restored or touched up about 85 planes over the 40 years it’s been open. The second largest aviation museum in the United States is free for visitors.
Lacey Meador, Museum of Aviation Foundation communications coordinator, said education and preservation are big priorities for the museum. Each aircraft in the museum has its own connection to history. “It’s just really neat when you can match those real people with real stories back to the stationary, static item that we have here, and it really makes it come alive,” said Meador.
Preserving History with Human Stories
The aviation museum has four hangars: Eagle, Scott Exhibit, Century of Flight, and Nutergen Exhibit. The Eagle hangar is the largest and has a bit of everything, the Scott Exhibit Hangar contains mostly World War II artifacts, the Nutergen hangar contains artifacts from the Vietnam War, and the Century of Flight contains more modern planes, like the SR-71 Blackbird that set the record for fastest flight.
At the entrance to each hangar, a volunteer sits in a red vest. Most of them have a personal connection to the aircraft on display, said Sullivan.
“They are a wealth of knowledge to our visitors who come in,” Sullivan said. “When somebody visits our museum for the first time, the first person they see is a volunteer.”
One of those volunteers is Pat Walrath. He served in the Marines and the Air Force for 26 years. He was a police officer for many years, and he flew in a Kaman HH-43B during the Vietnam War. He can tell stories about all the aircraft in the Nutergen hangar and the other hangars.
“There’s so much history here, some history we don’t even know about,” said Walrath.
Golden Eagle volunteer Pat Walrath poses in the Nugteren Exhibit Hangar of the Museum of Aviation on Friday, July 26, 2024, in Warner Robins, Georgia. Walrath served in the military for 26 years in both the Marine Corps and the Air Force and has volunteered at the museum for six years. Katie Tucker/The Telegraph
The volunteers are one of the ways the museum keeps the history of its artifacts alive, along with events such as Family Aviation Day, in which people who have personal experiences with the aircraft can stand in front of them and talk about their experiences.
General Rick Goddard, former commander of Robins Air Force base, is one of the people who comes out every year. He flew the F100 in the Nutergen hangar for 200 combat hours in Vietnam.
Outside of events and volunteers, the museum has immersive exhibits. The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment and the Air Invasion of Normandy display, is one of visitors’ favorites, said Sullivan.
Walking through the doors leads visitors to an enclosed room with walls painted to look like the sky, flashing red and white lights, sounds of serious commanding voices, and an interactive aircraft display.
Farther into the unit is a room displaying soldiers’ uniforms, weapons, and other artifacts. The voices of the pilots talking about their experiences at Normandy play over speakers.
“Listening to their stories and the artifacts and making that connection that this was a person with life and family and fears and goals,” said Sullivan.
Various planes sit in the Nugteren Exhibit Hangar on Friday, July 26, 2024, at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, Georgia. The Museum of Aviation is the second largest aviation museum in the country with four buildings of exhibits and free admission to the public. Katie Tucker/The Telegraph
Education through Exhibits, and Interactive Simulators
The Museum of Aviation prioritizes education through its exhibits, programs and classes.
“We try to use the entire campus as a classroom, and we have small spaces set aside within certain buildings to facilitate that,” said Meador
The Tuskegee Airmen Exhibit is one of the exhibits that emphasizes education. It details the first Black American fighter pilots. The exhibit was moved and expanded in the early 2010s.
The museum also has a STEM academy with STEM summer camps, and they offer an aviation simulator class called Mission Quest.
“Mission Quest is just, really cool,” said Sullivan.
Mission Quest starts with a class where students learn about the four forces of flight, navigation, and communication. Then they go to the simulator. Students sit in a trainer aircraft that the military used back in the 60s and 70s to teach people how to fly jets, said instructor Holly Bradley.
The aircraft each have two screen map displays in the cockpit, and a projection of their aircraft and where it’s going in front of them. The participants fly a mission in the aircraft with one person as a pilot and the other as a navigator and communicator.
For those looking for a shorter, but exciting experience, the Eagle hangar has a virtual reality flight simulator with four open cockpits to sit in throughout the hangars.
The museum is on target to hit 500,000 visitors this year. It’s open six days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.. Meador said it takes about three hours to walk through the museum and read the exhibits.
The museum remains dedicated to its goal of preservation and restoration and recently took in a C47 to restore. The plane may be added to the museum’s exhibits in the future.
“Ultimately, if it’s not preserved, it’s lost and it’s lost forever,” said Meador.
The Eagle Building sits at the front of the Museum of Aviation on Friday, July 26, 2024, in Warner Robins, Georgia. The Museum of Aviation is the second largest aviation museum in the country with four buildings of exhibits and free admission to the public. Katie Tucker/The Telegraph
This story was originally published July 31, 2024, 5:00 AM.
