Hangar Talk

By Al LaPorte

As most of our Baltimore area members know, the GM plant at Broening Highway has been closed down. Through an arrangement with GM and the UAW a number of GM employees have been made available to the Museum on a full time basis to assist as volunteers. They will be contributing in the areas of facilities maintenance and upkeep, aircraft restoration, exhibit fabrication, marketing, and docent duties. The Museum welcomes Gordon Bosse, Winston Waldon, Kermit Mowery, John Tipton and Joseph Single. Through the efforts of these volunteers we have made substantial progress in improving the appearance of the archives area including new lighting, patching and painting, and clearing the area of excess materials. Further improvement plans include the painting of the Museum exhibit areas, fabrication of new display materials, improved lighting and ceiling replacement. They will also help with the preservation and maintenance of our aircraft.

Harris Boone, our regular long time docent, has decided to “retire”. Those of you who have visited the Museum will remember Harris as the man who answered all your questions and accompanied you on your tour of our static aircraft display at Strawberry Point. We at the Museum will remember him as the man who was always able to manage the many duties of a docent with an easy going attitude and who took pride in the job and kept the exhibit area in a clean and presentable condition. Harris, you will be missed.

Recent visitors will have noticed the removal of one of the Museum’s signature displays. Present since the early years of the Museum, our wall wide display of copies of the colorful “Martin Star” covers has been removed to make room for new exhibit material. The changeover is part of a plan to tell the history of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation from its inception, through its merger with Martin Marietta, and on to the present day Lockheed Martin Corporation. This is a tall order to fill but through the cooperation of Lockheed Martin, the photographic talents of Stan Piet and the artistic skills of Fred Fahdt, the story is unfolding. The new exhibit will be completed by early autumn and, with the abundance of material available, is planned to be an exhibit that will explore the many facets of Lockheed Martin.

The Museum is in the early stages of acquiring two new aircraft. One, a surplus Northrop F-5, is under evaluation. It could become part of our restoration program as we proceed in our plans to grow the Museum operations and facilities space. The other possibility is a Martin Matador missile which may become available but is in need of much restoration. Matadors were built at Middle River in the late 1940’s and into the ‘50’s.

As we wrap up this issue’s column the Museum would like to offer a special note of thanks to the Airport Facilities Department for the major improvements they have made to the climate control system throughout the building. Thanks to these improvements the archives and exhibit areas are far more comfortable on these hot and humid summer days and, even more importantly, conditions in the storage areas for films and other artifacts are far more conducive to the preservation of the Museum’s collection.