New Pegasus No1

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description

Fairchild aircraft / Hagerstown Aviation Museum

Transcript of New Pegasus No1

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Welcome to The New PEGASUS

It’s hard to believe that it’s been less than a year since the Hagerstown Aviation Museum was offici ally founded, and what a year it has been! After nearly a decade of working to establish an aviation museum, this past year has been a defin-ing one in the preservation of our local aviation history! Last July, after four months of hard work preparing the 2000 square foot facility and designing and constructing the displays, the museum opened its doors to the public in the Discovery Station at 101 West Washing-ton Street in downtown Hagerstown. Much has happened since our opening and much more is in store! Over the next several months we will be adding to the mu-seum displays and our much-anticipated interactive Cessna 150 will be arriving at the museum. Thanks to the generosity of donors, we have received some fascinating donations. We have and will continue to weave them into the displays or add them to our archives and research library, which already contain thou-sands of books, documents, photographs and memorabilia. Although the opening of the museum itself consumed much of our time throughout the year, we have also been involved in many other activities. For the past year we have been working with the Maryland Historic Trust, Preservation Maryland, the National Park Service’s Historic American Building Survey, the Washington County Historical Society, the City of Hagers-

town, Dave Andrews and Vincent Groh to document, disman-tle and preserve the original 1920’s Kreider-Reisner Aircraft factory building, out of which grew Hagerstown’s aircraft manufacturing industry. I’m happy to say that the preliminary work is complete on the Kreider-Reisner “ Little Green Shed” along Pennsylvania Ave. and we plan to have it taken down by spring. Once dismantled, it will be put in storage pending fu-

ture display in the museum. In addition to constantly being on the look-out for artifacts and displays to enhance the museum collection, we are actively seeking aircraft that played a role in Hagerstown’s aviation history. Since these airplanes are be-coming scarce, it is imperative that we locate and acquire them for the museum. We have located several aircraft that should be in the museum and are currently exploring means to acquire them. And there are treasures out there to be found! In this newsletter you’ll see pho-tographs from our expedition to Georgia and read a moment-by-moment account of the finding of a real Georgia peach!

As Hagerstown Aviation Museum activities expand, and especially as we acquire aircraft, the need for more members, volunteers and donors grows enormously. We invite you to become involved in the museum’s effort to preserve Hagers-town’s rich aviation heritage. Kurtis Meyers, President Hagerstown Aviation Museum, Inc.

Hagerstown Aviation Museum offi-cers: Left to right, John Seburn, Trea, Jack Seburn, Sec, Kurtis Meyers, Pres, Tracey Potter, VP. Board member Joe Boyle not pictured.

The Old & New PEGASUS The Hagerstown Avia-tion Museum has titled its public information publica-tion “The New Pegasus”. While Bellanca, the Reis-ners, Kreider, Custer and others all made significant contributions to Hagers-town’s aviation heritage, it was the city’s long associa-tion with Sherman Fair-child and his Fairchild Air-craft Corporation that put Hagerstown on the aviation map. Since the Fairchild Cor-poration’s public informa-tion publication was the

“Pegasus”, the museum felt it appropriate to continue this tra-dition in the “ new” Pegasus. The museum dedicates “The New Pegasus” to the many members of our aviation commu-nity who played an active role in developing the aviation heri-tage we now honor. “The New Pegasus” is made possible through the generous support of its advertising sponsors.

July 1945

Cover Photo: Fairchild 24R9 in front of the old brick hangar at the Hagerstown Airport. 1939 See story on page 10

Dick Henson with the KR-31 Challanger he and Charlie Shue donated to the museum.

This, the Premier Issue of the New Pegasus, is in memory of Richard A.(Dick) Henson. For many years it was our privilege to work side by side with Dick in creating the Hagerstown Aviat ion Museum. Even though he is no longer with us, his dedication to the cause continues to inspire us.

Richard A. Henson 1911-2002

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Premier Theater Showing of

“Hagerstown: Remembering

Our Aviation Heritage”

The former Colonial Theater in downtown Hagerstown was the setting for the premier theater showing on November 6, 2004 of the 80 minute documentary “Hagerstown: Remember-ing Our Aviation Heritage”. The theater, which now serves as home for the Faith Chapel, hosted large viewing audiences dur-ing most of the years that aviation was a major contributor to life in and around Hagerstown. The theater retains much of its earlier ambiance and was a most appropriate setting for view-ing the documentary. Approximately 600 people, many of them former Fairchild employees, attended the showings. The theater lobby, which was filled with local aviation memorabilia, saw many old ac-quaintanceships renewed and heard many stories of the old days of Hagerstown aviation. A number of those attending ex-pressed their appreciation that their efforts and contributions had not been forgotten and that future generations would be able to look back at Hagerstown’s seventy years of aviation history. The producers of the documentary were pleased that the program was so well received by both those who lived the story and by those who wanted to learn about the story. It was clear that the Hagerstown community still has considerable interest in its aviation past.

The Hagerstown Aviation Museum, Inc. is a non-

profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the preser-

vation and promotion of the region’s more than 90

years of extraordinary aviation history.

Highlights of Hagerstown’s Aviation Past

1916-1920 Giuseppi Bellanca builds the “CD” and “ CE” biplanes for the Maryland Pressed Steel Company in the Pope Building located in south Hagerstown. 1921-1925 Lew & Henry Reisner operate an aircraft repair business and eventually partner with local shoe manufacturer Ammon Kreider to sell Waco Biplanes. 1926 The newly formed Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company designs and builds the KRA Midget to participate in the 1926 National Air Race in Philadelphia. 1927-1929 Kreider-Reisner develops and produces the C-2, C-4 & C-6 Challenger Biplanes that gain them much acclaim. 1929 Sherman Fairchild of Fairchild Aircraft Company, Long Island, NY purchases a majority stock interest in Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company of Hagerstown. 1930s Fairchild Aircraft Company produces the F22, F24, F45, F46 and F92 Amphibian. 1931 Richard (Dick) Henson purchases the Hagerstown Airport and founds Henson Flying Service. 1933 Richard (Dick) Henson becomes Test Pilot for Fairchild Aircraft. 1939-1943 Fairchild develops and produces over 5000 PT19 Primary trainers for the US Army and Navy as well as the AT-21 Gunnery Trainer and UC-61 Utility Cargo Aircraft. 1942-1948 Fairchild develops and produces over 200 of the first all metal cargo aircraft specifically designed for the task, the C82 Packet. 1949-1955 Fairchild develops and produces the C-119 Flying Boxcar of which over 1100 were produced. 1954-1958 Fairchild produces over 300 of the C123 Provider cargo aircraft. 1954-1966 Fairchild helps to develop the Fokker designed F-27 Friend-ship turbo-prop transport and produces over 200. 1962-1983 Richard (Dick) Henson begins the “Hagerstown Commuter” which eventually becomes the Allegheny Commuter and P iedmont Re-gional Airline. 1965 Fairchild purchases Republic Aviation of Farmingdale, L.I., NY. 1973-1983 Fairchild/Republic awarded A-10 Attack Aircraft contract and produces 713 for the United States Air Force. 1984 Aircraft production ends in Hagerstown.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Welcome to The New PEGASUS……………………. Page 2

Hagerstown’s Aviation Past…………………………..Page 3

Premier Theater Showing of “Hagerstown: Remembering Our Aviation Heritage”……………….Page 3

The Museum is Born!………………………………….Page 4

The Ribbon Is Cut! - Museum Opens………………...Page 5

Documentary Broadcast on MD Public TV………….Page 5

The Annual Fly-In & Fairchild Reunion...…………..Page 6

Four Generations Honor Their Aviation Ancestor….Page 8

Finding the Fairchild UC-61C…………………….....Page 10

Saving the “Little Green Shed”……………………...Page 14

The Museum Builds a Float…………………..……...Page 16

For Pilots to Be- Developing Interactive Aviation Exhibits……...……Page 17

The Last Flying Fairchild C-82………...……………Page 18

What’s in The Museum’s Future?…..………………Page 20

Museum Visitor Information...………………………Page 22

Museum Membership/Donations……..……………..Page 23

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The Museum is Born! The number of people attending the November, 2004 premier showing of the documentary “Hagerstown: Remembering Our Aviation History”, their interest in local aviation topics and the desire to preserve local aviation history encouraged members of the group working to establish a local aviation museum to work even harder to make such a museum a reality. The search for a suitable facility for the museum was con-

tinuing when, in Febru-ary, 2005, museum direc-tor John Seburn received a phone call from Marie Byers, Director of the Discovery Station sched-uled to open in a few months in downtown Hagerstown. Mrs. Byers asked if the museum

group would be interested in utilizing a large area of the second floor to set up a museum display consistent with the Discovery Station concept. Discovery Station states that one of its primary goals “is to create a hands-on center with interactive exhibits on science, technology, and local history”. Museum members visited the Discovery Station site, a large

marble and glass former bank building in downtown Hagers-town, and studied the area offered by Mrs. Byers. Since the 2,000 square foot museum area was available im-mediately, and since the goals of Discovery Station and the goals of the Hagerstown Aviation Museum were very similar, the decision was made to accept Mrs. Byers’ generous offer.

Work began immedi-ately on the museum area. Mrs. Byers hoped that the museum would be progressing suffi-ciently by the April grand opening of Discov-ery Station to be included in the opening activities. Museum members Joe Boyle, Kurtis Myers,

Tracey Potter, John Seburn, and Jack Seburn, along with some helpers from Hagerstown Air-craft Services, worked many long hours on repainting ceiling and walls prior to new carpet installation. At the same time facility renovation was in progress, mu-seum members were selecting

arti facts, organiz-ing memorabilia and developing exhibits. Our ef-forts were greatly aided by Cathy Allen, Director of the College Park Aviation Museum, who not only do-nated items for exhibits but also

provided excellent advice, gained from her College Park experi-ence, on museum organization and display. Prior to the mu-seum’s grand opening, Cathy came to Hagerstown and spent a

long day with mu-seum members arranging and completing exhib-its. Thanks also go to Dave Friedrich and staff at Na-tional Airviews for photo enl arge-ments and mount-ing. Much of the

museum would not have been possible without Dave’s generous donation of time , talent and material. All of this effort came together by the evening of July 13, 2005, and not a moment too soon! On the morning of July 14, the Hagerstown Aviation Museum officially opened its doors to the public. The museum was born!

Joe Boyle spray paints ceiling.

Cathy Allen assembles display panels.

John Seburn paints wall.

Jack Seburn, Kurtis Meyers and Joe Boyle repair ceiling.

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The Ribbon Is Cut! Hagerstown Aviation Museum Opens On July 14, 2005 a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony offi cially launched the new Hagerstown Aviation Museum! Wielding the grand opening scissors were Allen Clopper, former Fairchild engineer; Kurtis Meyers, President of Hagerstown Avia-tion Museum; Dori Nipps, County Commissioner; Donald Trump, Mayor of Hagerstown and Marie Byers of Discovery Station. Also in attendance were other local dignitaries, former Fairchild em-ployees, museum members and interested citizens.

Hagerstown Aviation Museum President Kurtis Meyers said, “The museum’s collection came from dedicated people through-out the community who have a strong desire to display memora-bilia from Hagerstown’s aviation past. Our county was home to significant manufacturers including Bellanca, Kreider-Reisner, and Fairchild. Hagerstown was known for making world famous airplanes, and the new museum is a collection that will help sus-tain interest in the part that Hagerstown played in this industry. We welcome people to visit the Hagerstown Aviation Museum and experience the pioneering achievements that for over seventy years made Hagerstown one of the nation’s leading centers of air-craft manufacturing”. Sharing the spotlight with the museum opening during this July week was the broadcast on Maryland Public Television of the Vintage Video produced documentary “Hagerstown: Remember-

ing Our Aviation History” and also the big annual fly-in and Fair-child Reunion hosted by Hagerstown Aircraft Servi ces, Inc.

Documentary Broadcast on MPT The July 14, 2005, grand opening of the Hagerstown Aviation Museum coincided with Maryland Public Television’s broadcast premier of the documentary, “Hagerstown: Remembering Our Aviation Heritage”. The program was shown on Maryland Public Television on July 12 at 10:00PM and again on July 15 at 11PM. The documentary was produced by Vintage Video Productions and the special broadcasts were sponsored by the Richard A. Henson Foundation, Inc. and the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Maryland Public Television said in a news rel ease: “ The unique and un-told story of Hagerstown’s aviation past unfolds in this new documentary

film by Vintage Video Productions. With many never before re-leased images and an extensive collection of rare local film foot-age, this documentary is sure to pique the interest of Fairchild and Hagerstown aviation enthusiasts everywhere!” Tom Riford, President of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, stated, “We are very pleased to partner with the Henson Foundation to help bring this positive story to the television screen. To have this documentary shown on prime-time TV is a wonderful testament to the hard work of the movie’s production team who are also behind the new Hagers-town Aviation Museum.” Riford also said that thousands of peo-ple will learn about Hagerstown’s aviation history, right before the weekend of the big annual Fly-In and Fairchild Reunion set for July 15-17. “ It’s an exciting event, the ribbon cutting, the movie’s TV premier and the fly-in, all happening in the same week!”

See page 22 to purchase this documentary

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The Annual Fly-In and Fairchild

Reunion

The seventh annual Hagerstown Aircraft Services/EAA Fly-In and Fairchild Reunion took place in Hagerstown on July 16 and 17, 2005. Hagerstown Aircraft Services, Inc. was host for the fly-in with the local Experimental Aircraft Association chap-ter 36 and the Hagerstown Aviation Museum supporting the event. Mother Nature did not smile on us that weekend and fog, clouds and low ceiling prevented the participation of a number of aircraft. Some pilots did not want to miss the event so they drove, rather than flew, to Hagerstown.

In spite of the weather, participants were busy meeting old friends, dining at the EAA food-stand , shopping at the vendors’ booths, viewing the documentary “Hagerstown: Remembering Our Aviation Heritage” and inspecting the museum’s 1928 Krei-

der-Reisner KR-31 biplane, as well as Fairchild and other air-craft on display. The weather improved during the afternoon of the last day of the fly-in, permitting EAA members to conduct free flights for young people through their Young Eagles pro-gram. Using a bus provided by Tom Riford, President of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bu-reau, Kurtis Meyers conduct ed tours of aviation relat ed sites in and around Hagerstown, including a stop at the new museum facility in downtown Hagerstown. Aviation enthusiasts com-mented on how interesting the tours were and local citizens were surprised that so much history had occurred in and around their neighborhoods. One tour participant stated that he had driven by “that old building many times but had no idea that so much his-tory had occurred there!’ Museum directors are discussing the possibility of placing descriptive signs at stops along the tour route and developing a map to make available for sel f-guided tours. The 2006 Fly-In and Fairchild Reunion and will be scheduled in late summer or early fall. Go to the museum website at www.HagerstownAviationMuseum.org for more information.

Volunteers Bill and Betty Rinn greet visitors.

Matthew, Andrew and Nicholas Potter check out the KR-31

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Hagerstown Aviation Museum’s 1928 KR-31 Challenger

1940 Fairchild F-24W owned by Frank Gochenauer of Chambersburg, PA

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Four Generations Honor

Their Aviation Ancestor

On August 14, 2005, Stonebraker family members gathered at the Hagerstown Aviation Museum for a family reunion to honor their aviation ancestor, Hagerstown native William Paul Stonebraker. Stonebraker, an Army Air Corps test pilot during the World War I era, became test pilot for pl anes designed by

Giuseppi Bellanca and built by Mary-land Pressed Steel Co. of Hagerstown. In 1921, shortly before Stonebraker planned to end his test pilot career, he was killed in a plane crash in Ohio. Grandson W. Paul Stonebraker III, of Queens town, Maryl and, while watching the Vintage Video Production “Hagerstown: Remembering Our Avia-tion Heritage” on Maryland Public Television, learned that his test pilot

grandfather was featured in the new Hagerstown Aviation Mu-seum. Stonebraker came to Hagerstown for the museum opening

and his presence added a real life touch to the museum’s exhibit. Stonebraker contacted family members and a reunion at the museum was planned. On August 14 seventeen members of four generations of Stonebrakers gathered to honor their ancestor and learn more about his involvement in early aviation. Members of the family donated flying goggles, altimeter and other items used by Stonebraker. These items were placed on display with his uniform, donated by the College Park Aviation Museum, and other memorabilia from his aviation career.

W. Paul Stonebraker in rear seat of Bellanca CD. 1919

W. Paul Stonebraker (left)with Giuseppi Bellanca. 1919

W. Paul Stonebraker, III

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Our Georgia Peach Finding the Fairchild UC-61C By

Kurtis Meyers

My yearly trip to the American Antique Car Associa-

tion (AACA) swap meet held in Hershey, Pennsylvania every October always gets my blood flowing! Upon the sight of it I feel both the joy of living in a country that originally built and now allows such hordes of industrial junk to be accumulated, as well as an overall inadequacy in my ability to traverse the acres upon acres of them. Although the meet lasts three days, I nor-mally have only one to devote and thus I find mysel f running through isle after isle scanning only the most obvious and, I’m sure, missing much in the process. For us junk hounds, the search for the nugget of worth beneath the piles of oddly shaped, rusted, otherwise dejected and for the most part unidentified car pieces beckons us back year after year, but seldom to any avail. But, much like this year has been different in many ways, so to was it different for me this year at the swap meet at Hershey. To call it destiny would perhaps be overdoing it, but whatever it was that had me look harder at that one particular booth with its rusted drive shafts, transmission casings and miscellaneous automotive hoo-ha, I’ll perhaps never know. But what I saw that day was not the normal and surely nothing that I had seen there before. In front of me stood a rickety, four-legged card table that dated from the early 1950s and looked as i f it had survived both the rigors of a well used poker-playing home li fe as well as at least a decade of exposure to the rain and mud of this central Pennsylvania swap meet. Standing there precariously in all its bow-legged glory it held perhaps the greatest treasures to be had in this 10’x 15’ booth. Obviously weighted beyond its intended capacity, it held gears and casings, chrome pieces, car trim, speedometers and fuel gauges; all the great stuff for the individ-ual who possessed the varied knowledge to know what it was and where it went. Positioned not so strategically, and camou-fl aging itself among the similarly colored rusted pieces of auto-motive history, stood a 10”x 14” piece of roughly-torn light-brown colored corrugated cardboard that read “ child 1939, $7000”. At first I found mysel f puzzled by this and for a few

seconds testing my skill at automotive trivia, but with no conclu-sion. Suddenly it clicked! It couldn’t be anything else…it just had to be! I walked over, moved back the grimy housing-type-thing, standing upright, so perfectly hiding the left side of the sign and to my jubilation I was right! The sign, now extracted from the pile, read, “Fairchild 1939 $7000”. In an instant my day was both made and ended because for me, the guy who has been collecting anything “Fairchild” for fi ft een years and trying with others to start a museum for t en, there was now no thinking of anything else! Aft er talking for about fi fteen minutes with Mr. Simmons, whose booth it was, I found out that the airplane had been sitting in a shed in Georgia since the middle to late 1950s and it was a model 24. He was not the owner, but he was trying to sell it for an elderly lady whose

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husband had bought the airplane. All this stuff and the stories the lady had told him only added to my excitement and anticipa-tion to find out more. I acquired the phone number of the owner’s daughter, who was overseeing the selling of the air-plane, and arranged for Mr. Simmons to call in two days to in-troduce me and to noti fy her of my interest. I called later that same day and she quickly told me many of the same stories and history that Mr. Simmons had already relayed to me. With little more information to give, she invited me down to take a look at the airplane which I was immediately persuaded to do. To look at an airplane that few people knew about and that had been in hibernation for nearly fi fty years in an old shed….well, that just doesn’t happen anymore…..yeeha!!! A few weeks later John Seburn, who, I must say, was as equally excited about the prospect, and I started out on the twelve hour trip to Oxford, Georgia, just east of Atlanta. As you can well imagine, by putting two airplane loving dreamers in a car together for twelve hours, the conversation was filled with all kinds of hypothetical possibilities for what the airplane was going to be and its prospective meaning for the museum. A lengthy discussion of various restoration possibilities consumed at least four of the twelve hours and due to lack of information took us right back to where we had started….not knowing!! Oh well, twelve hours is a long time for just idle chit-chat, so we had to talk about something…why not that! We arrived on Saturday evening and went scouting immedi-ately for the place we were to meet Lynn the next day at 2:00pm. The anticipation was of course gnawing on us and our biggest worry was how we were going to use up those idle hours in the morning and early afternoon before our scheduled meet-ing. We decided to do some sight seeing around the area and found the near-by town of Covington to be very beauti ful and restored in the antebellum fashion. The last two hours were the worst, but they eventually passed and we were finally on our way to Lynn’s house. We pulled in the drive and found a nice, large pre-Civil War white house to our left and a rather imposing looking black and white horse-size Great Dane to our right. Our hesitation quickly subsided when Lynn walked out of the house and told us that “Dog” or whatever his name was, was harmless; although both John and I would eventually find the land mines he left in the yard quite destructive to footwear. Lynn led us through a small yard, to a line of brush and low trees. On the other side of them was a shed that was about sixty feet long and thirty feet deep. It was open on one side and had steel panels on three sides and on the roof. It was packed with nearly everything known to man including piles of old furniture, engines, machine shop tools, old suitcases filled with papers,

shoe molds and much more….a pack-rats dream! Along the far wall we caught a glimpse of what we had come for; there stand-ing idle for fi fty-years was the 1939 F-24. The wings were off and the engine had been taken out and put on a stand that sat up close to the back wall. The fuselage was sitting on tires that

hadn’t held air for some time. The nose was pushed back in the corner with one side of the fuselage pushed up against the wall. The airplane had been protected from most of the direct ele-ments of nature, but it still had sat through fifty humid Georgia summers. At first sight it was not much to behold. The fabric covering

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had rotted and was rolling up like scrolls exposing the wooden slats that made up the airplane’s structural skeleton. The inside still had its original seats and there were pieces of the headliner still attached, but it quickly became obvious that many of the area’s native varmints called it home. Amazingly, however, upon closer inspection the wooden structure still looked good and the metal tubing that made up the frame did not appear to be overly corroded or damaged. It had surely fallen far from its for-mer glory, but it would be a great project for restoration of what-ever kind! There were signs of the airplane being painted sev-eral di fferent colors and one color instantly got John’s attention. A military enthusiast from way back, with his very first vehicle

of any kind being a WWII military jeep, John is an expert in spotting olive drab. After looking over the airplane for a good two hours, I began the process of negotiation with Lynn. The initial offer was made and Lynn informed me that she needed to talk it over with her family and that she would contact me within a week, so John and I started the arduous twelve hour journey home. We had come with great expectations and were not disappointed. We left thinking that it was a rather unusual combination of a 1939 F-24 that had in some way been in the military for a while. Our trip home was filled with the speculation of the dreamers that we are and that little airplane in the shed gave us mile after mile of fan-tastic speculative fodder. Arriving home, we began scouring the museum archives and library for tidbits of information. In look-ing over the photographs of our trip and upon close examination of the instrument panel, a friend, Charlie Gallagher, noticed a rusty metal tag showing the military call number 70862, a num-ber that also doubled as the airplane’s serial number. Finding a book called “C Planes”, that covered all the ai rplanes given a military cargo designation, we opened the book to the page de-scribing the UC-61 and found our baby! Much to our surprise, the very same serial/call numbers of the airplane we had just looked at were listed, and it was described as being a 1939 Fair-child 24 with a Ranger engine. The airplane had been impressed by the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942 and was given the designa-tion UC-61C, the one and only airplane ever to be given that designation. Over the next few weeks the process of negotiation continued and a price was finally arrived at. A former Fairchild employee and most generous donor committed to donate the funds for the airplane’s purchase. I’m very happy to say that after sixty-six years the one and only Fairchild UC-61C is coming home to Hagerstown!!

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Fairchild UC-86 in WWII U.S. Army olive drab color and markings similar to the UC-61C during the war.

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1928 Kreider-Reisner Aircraft advertisment

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In the Nick of Time Saving the “Little Green Shed” Driving along the 800 block of Pennsylvania Ave. in Hagers -town, Maryland and looking across the railroad tracks to the rear of a vacant lot, one sees a weathered, neglected, decaying little building. Its roof is rusty, its siding is warped and its doors are sagging. Buildings in far better shape have come and gone, but, for some reason, this little shed won’t give up. Is there some rea-

son this little build-ing has survived? Or is it simply a stroke of luck that the shed, out of w h i c h g r ew Hagerstown’s air-craft manufacturing industry, has with-stood the ravages of time, waiting to be rescued? The shed, which

measures 16 by 30 feet, is actually two buildings moved to the site and joined. The 1940 photograph clearly shows the deterio-

rating con-dition of the build-ing sixty-five years ago. Be-hind the shed can be seen the 1929 Fair-

child factory which replaced the collection of buildings used by

Kreider-Reisner to produce over 100 Challenger bi-pl anes in the late 1920’s. In the “ Little Green Shed” workers covered and doped wings, tails and fuselages of Kreider-Reisner aircraft. The museum’s KR-31 was built in this shed.

Richard Hughes of the Maryland Historic Trust, Josh Phillips of Preservation Maryland and Mindy Marsden of the Washing-ton County Historical Society realize the importance of this piece of Maryland’s industrial heritage and have provided advice and support for the project. Christopher Marston, a National Park Service architect, has done an extensive documentation of the building for the Historic American Building Survey. Doug Reed of Preservation Associates, Inc. is supervising and assist-ing in the dismantling of the building. Some of the structure has rotted away but Doug believes much can be saved. After examining the building and consider-ing the dismantling options, Doug feels we should stabilize and

move sections rather than taking the build-ing apart a board at a time. Our goal is to preserve as much of the “ Little Green Shed” as possible. Vincent Groh, owner of the Fairchild fac-tory which replaced the shed, has donated space in the factory

building to saftely store the shed until it becomes an exhibit in the Hagerstown Aviation Museum. The rescue began on a cold, snowy December day when three members of the Hagerstown Aviation Museum and Doug Reed of Preservation Associates, Inc. began the dismantling of the Kreider-Reisner “ Little Green Shed”. The first task was to re-move the large metal sheets covering one side of the building. These sheets were used to close up the side when the add-on sheds were removed many decades ago. From inside the build-ing we could see that the sheets contained drawings which ap-peared to be patterns. As the sheets came off they began to re-veal another significant event in Hagerstown’s aviation history! The story of the “ Little Green Shed”, its metal panels and the treasures in its loft will be continued.

L to R: Richard Hughes, Josh Phillips, Mindy Marsden, Jack Seburn, Doug Reed, Kurtis Meyers

Views of the Green Shed in the late 1920’s

Condition of the shed around 1940

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The Museum Builds a Float

7:00 PM, Oct. 29, Tracey Potter releases the brake, steps on the gas and the Hagerstown Aviation Museum float begins its journey through the streets of Hagerstown Several months before the local Alsatia Mummers Halloween parade, museum members decided to build and enter a float in the parade. Since tens of thousands of people view the parade, members felt this would be another good way to get the museum name and mission before the public. Tracey Potter, museum board member and owner of Hagers-town Aircraft Services, Inc., offered his truck to pull the float

and his 30 foot trailer on which to construct the float displays. Since the float was to contain an aircraft and aircraft parts, Tracey’s expertise and equipment were invaluable. The experimental homebuilt aircraft designed and built by Dean Truax, local Experimental Aircraft Association member, was featured at the front of the float, piloted by Nicholas Potter and serviced by Matthew Potter. Depicting the role of women in the history of local aircraft manufacturing were Laura Seburn and Gena Rodriguez, two “Rosie the Riveters”, constructing an airplane wing. Background for the riveters was a huge photograph of the Fairchild C-82 as-sembly line. The rear of the float contained another large photo-graph showing the initial roll-out of the first Fairchild C-82. Each side of the float displayed photographs of many of the air-craft built in Hagerstown between 1916 and 1984. The float brought back memories for some former “Rosie the Riveters” along the parade route as well as garnering some offers of volunteer help in the museum effort.

Matthew and Nicholas Potter Laura Seburn and Gena Rodriguez

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For Pilots to Be Developing Interactive Aviation Exhibits The Hagerstown Aviation Museum shares an impressive downtown Hagerstown building with Discovery Station at Hagerstown, Inc. A primary goal of Discovery Station is to cre-ate a hands-on center with interactive exhibits on science, tech-nology and local history. In keeping with this goal, the Hagers-town Aviation Museum is developing aviation related hands-on activities aimed at the young people who visit the museum. One such interactive activity is a flight simulator which takes would-be pilots through the real procedures of flying an air-plane. The simulator, donated through the College Park Aviation Museum by Mr. Volker Zinser, is a big hit with young aspiring pilots. A much anticipated interactive exhibit is the museum’s Cessna 150. Tracey Potter, museum member and President of Hagerstown Aircraft servi ces, Inc., donated a Cessna 150 air-

craft and is providing the labor and materials to convert it to a museum ready, child friendly interactive exhibit. The plane was partially disassembled and then reassembled making sure that all aspects of the plane would be safe for young people to explore. The cabin is carpeted and any sharp or protruding edges have

been covered or removed. The young pilots will take their turns at working the controls, checking the instruments and tuning the radio while listening to information and instructions from airport flight controllers. The complete Cessna aircraft, minus its tail because of space limitations, will be positioned in front of a large aerial view of the Hagerstown Regional Airport. Getting the completed Cessna into the museum will require considerabl e effort since there are no doors large enough to ac-commodate the airpl ane. Our plan is to remove the wings and landing gear and bring the fusel age through a large second floor window. If we measured everything correctly, and i f Lady Luck smiles on us, we’ll get the Cessna into the museum without scratching the paint or damaging the window. To keep informed on this special project you are invited to become a museum member. See page 23 for details.

Tracey Potter demonstrates knobs and buttons for children to use.

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Fairchild C-82 information sheet. 1945

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The Last Flying

Fairchild C-82 “Packet” Flying Boxcar 1945 Fairchild C-82A “Packet” N9701F Serial Number: 10184 USAF Serial number 45-57814

Above: After military service, this C-82A was used by TWA to fly aircraft engines to airports around the world to maintain its fleet . The Fairchild J44 jet engine installed on this C-82 gave TWA the distinction of being the first U.S. airline to operate a jet powered aircraft. It was owned by TWA from 1956 to 1972.

Below: C-82A N9701F has been restored and preserved by Haw-kins & Powers aviation of Grey Bull, WY. It is now available and the Hagerstown Aviation Museum is seeking your financial assis-tance to acquire this aircraft and return it to Hagerstown, MD for display. Contact the museum to make a donation.

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What’s in the Museum’s Future? The Hagerstown Aviation Museum’s goal of preserving local aviation history is well under way. The downtown Hagerstown facility contains not only exhibits that chronicle the development of Hagerstown aviation but also serves as the collection site for research materials and local aviation memorabilia. While mu-seum members continue to develop exhibits, conduct research and collect memorabilia, they are also planning to identify and document aviation sites in and around Hagerstown. The museum will seek funding to develop and install interpretive signs at these sites and to design and print a self-guided tour map of the sites. The museum is actively involved in locating aircraft, with the goal of acquiring at least one aircraft representative of each ma-jor development in local aviation history. This ongoing task will require much time, effort, funding and volunteer assistance.

Members of the museum are in contact with the owner of a Bellanca CE replica. The building of the plane was a l abor of love, and the story of its construction adds immensely to the sig-nificance of the plane.

The museum owns a restored 1928 Kreider-Reisner Model 31. This aircraft was donated by Dick Henson, Hagerstown aviation pioneer, and Charles Shue, former owner and restorer of the aircraft. A former Fairchild employee donated a 1939 Fairchild F-24. This aircraft was impressed by the US Army Air Corps in 1942, militarized and given the military designation UC-61C. The mu-seum plans to restore this aircraft to its military configuration and will be looking for volunteers to assist. The museum is seeking the donation of a Fairchild PT-19 and

is also asking for your donations of PT-19 parts that can be used to assemble a static display PT-19. Some parts have already been offered and several period vehicles are availabl e to enhance a WWII era display. If you know that you can donate an aircraft, parts or funds, contact the museum.

And now to the BIG planes! The museum is currently in contact with owners of Fairchild’s largest aircraft: the C-82, C-119,

C-123, and the F-27. While a few of these planes are still flying, most are not airworthy. An A-10 Thunderbolt II is available when the museum has a facility large enough to house it. Donated aircraft are, of course, a major boost to the effort, but considerable cost is still involved in transporting the planes

The last flying Fairchild C-82 Packet is available.

Fairchild PT-19

Fairchild UC-61C will look like this when restored.

The museum’s 1928 KR-31 and restorer Charlie Shue.

Original Bellanca CE of 1918

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to Hagerstown. The museum’s goal is to have one of each of these aircraft on display at the Hagerstown Regional Airport. This is a huge undertaking, but the story of Hagerstown’s aviation heritage is not complete without these aircraft. These aircraft will be permanent monuments to the thousands of men and women who designed, built, flew and maintained them. With your assistance the museum can bring these aircraft home to Hagerstown to be preserved for generations to come! Contact the museum for more information on how you can help make this goal a reality.

Fairchild C-119 “Flying Boxcar” outdoor static display.

The Vision for the Museum’s Outdoor

Static Display Aircraft Park

Fairchild C-123 “Provider” outdoor walk-through static display.

Fairchild C-82 “Packet” outdoor static display.

Fairchild F27

Fairchild Republic A10

Flying Fairchild C-119 used in the new “The Flight of the Phoenix” movie is available.

Fairchild C-123 is available.

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Hours of Operation Tuesday - Saturday 10:00am - 4:00pm

Sunday 1:00pm - 4:00pm (except July and August) Closed: Mondays, Sundays during July and August, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Independence Day.

Admission Individuals Children under 2 • Free Ages 2-17 • $6.00 Adults • $7.00 Seniors (55 and over) and Military • $5.00 Visa, Mastercard, Discover Card accepted. Group Tours (minimum 10) School Children and Youth group members, 17 and under (each) • $2.00 Teachers and youth group leaders, no charge. Adult Group (each) • $4.00 Discovery Station at Hagerstown, Inc. 101 West Washington Street Hagerstown, MD 21740

Your admission to Discovery Station contributes to the operating expenses of the facility which helps provide a space for the Hagers-town Aviation Museum display.

For further information Phone: 301-790-0076 Toll Free: 877-790-0076 Fax: 301-790-0045

Collectors Cap, Fairchild Aircraft logo. $10.00

To order: Call 717-597-9695 or order online at www.vintagevideo.com (A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the museum)

DVD 3 disk set. The docu-mentary, a DVD collection of original Fairchild films and a Photo CD. $29.95

Companion book to the documen-tary. 164 pages. $21.95

Contact Information: Museum Display at Discovery Station:

Hagerstown Aviation Museum 101 West Washington St Hagerstown MD 21740 Discovery Station phone: 301-790-0076 Mailing address:

Hagerstown Aviation Museum, Inc. 14235 Oak Springs Rd Hagerstown MD 21742 Phone: 301-733-8717 please leave message if no answer Fax: 717-597-1958 Website:

www.HagerstownAviationMuseum.org

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DONATIONS You are invited to become a supporter of the Hagerstown Aviation Museum, an IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt, non-profit or-ganization, by making a financial donation to the museum. Since the museum is staffed entirely by volunteers, your donation di-rectly supports the operation and continuing activities of the mu-seum. Your financial donation will contribute to the preservation of Hagerstown’s aviation heritage and ensure that future genera-tions will learn of the men and women who created that heritage.

VOLUNTEERS A small group of dedicated volunteers has achieved much in the past year and will continue its efforts in the future. As the museum grows and activities expand, the museum will need to increase its volunteer staff. Whether you can donate an hour a week or can completely restore an antique aircraft, no contribu-tion of time and effort is too small. It is the sum total of these contributions that will permit the museum to achieve its goals. Check the box on the membership form to receive volunteer in-formation.

Hagerstown Aviation Museum Membership Form

Name:______________________ Company:_____________________

Street:______________________

City:_________________________ State:_____ Zip:________

Phone:___________________ Email:___________________________

Make Check Payable to: HAGERSTOWN AVIATION MUSEUM 14235 Oak Springs Rd Hagerstown MD 21742

Request “The New Pegasus” for a friend:

Name___________________________________ Street___________________________________ City__________________ State___Zip________

My interest in Hagerstown’s aviation history is:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________ Please send me information on becoming a

museum volunteer.

___ Student $15.00 (per year)

___ Individual $30.00 (per year)

___ Contributing $50.00 (per year)

___ Supporting $100.00 (per year)

___ Patron $200.00 (per year)

___ Corporate $500.00 (per year)

___ Lifetime $1000.00 (lifetime)

Membership Levels

The Museum Needs Your Help!

Museum Membership! Support the Hagerstown Aviation Museum by becoming a member!

Add your name to the membership list and gain the satisfaction of knowing that your

commitment and support is helping to preserve Hagerstown’s aviation heritage.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - cut here or make a copy of this page, fill out form and mail - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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