by Jack Lee
When former Republican Lt. Governor, Abe Maldonado, contacted the local Butte County Republican Party and said he wanted to set up a visit to the Chico Air Museum, the response was, we have an air museum? Despite our best efforts as docents and members of the Board of Directors speaking to local civic organizations, Chico’s air museum still remains one our town’s best kept secrets. This was one of the topics at last night’s C.A.M. meeting and of course, what we can do about increasing our visibility. Your thoughts would be welcome here on PS and we’ll pass along to the C.A.M. board.
The museum is a great deal for Chico because it’s free, the kids love it and we’ve already had thousands of visitors. But, the best part is, the history. There are some valuable artifacts that can’t be seen anywhere else. Many visitors were surprised to learn that Chico played a significant role in aviation history. For example, did you know the first air hijacking occured here? Or how about the Thadius Kerns story. He’s known as Chico’s boy aviator who hand built and flew his own version of the famous Wright flier not long after the first flight at Kittyhawk? Did you know Jimmy Doolittle’s office desk is on display here, along with other WWII items?
In about 60 days the museum will be expanding to roughly three times it’s current size and many exhibits previously warehoused will be on display for the very first time. And this brings up the next big issue: The museum will need more volunteers, a lot more volunteers! The move alone will be labor intensive and help is needed, but staffing the museum with docents (guides) for the public and to protect exhibits is also desperately needed on a long term basis. You need not know anything about aircraft, just a desire to learn. Docent training is provided by staff.
The new facilities will be at the Ryan hanger located at the northwest end of airport. The hanger is massive, but it won’t take long to fill up, especially with a modern F-15 fighter among the inside displays. Positioning aircraft to make maximum use of the space and to be best viewed is going to be a challenge too. My thought is a CAD computer program might be a big help for creating a visualization of how it might look. Know anyone who could help us with a CAD program?
If you are willing to give a little of your time, your Chico Air Museum needs you!
We need to get a list of able-bodied movers and docent prospects in the next 4 weeks. If you are interested or know someone who might be, give them this article.
VOLUNTEER’S PLEASE CONTACT US: The number to call first is the Chico Air Museum 345-6468, 9am -4 pm, Friday, Saturday or Sunday or call either 896- 1004 or 345-0757 or 828-7298 from 9 am until 6 pm on any other day.
Have an artifac to donate? Call us. We are seeking military uniforms, old photos, weapons of any sort ( we deactivate), collectable aircraft parts, and most any item related to WWI, WWII, Korean, Viet Nam, Gulf and Afghanistan. Almost all military items or any other collectables related to the Chico airport.