Eagle3
04-09-03, 09:28 PM
Midway exhibit readies for takeoff Group restores aircraft for proposed museum
By Ronald W. Powell
STAFF WRITER
July 16, 2002
NORTH ISLAND NAVAL AIR STATION – Some of the workhorses of Navy aviation – from World War II to the present day – are being sanded, repainted and otherwise spruced up to become showpieces on a floating museum supporters hope will make a star-spangled debut July 4. The refurbishing is being done in an old aircraft hangar at North Island by volunteers for the nonprofit San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum group.
The organization plans to permanently dock the aircraft carrier Midway at the North Embarcadero as a historical attraction. Del Mar businessman Alan Uke, the organization's founder, said exhibits and naval hardware planned for the carrier museum will be particularly instructive to young people."They think that war is easy; they've never seen struggles like those in Vietnam, World War II or Korea," said Uke, who began the quest for a floating naval museum in 1993. "It's dangerous that they don't know how we got here and what it takes to keep our freedom."
Uke's group still needs a series of approvals before it can take control of the 53,000-ton Midway, which was decommissioned in 1992. The key endorsement must come from the secretary of the Navy. If all approvals fall into place, the Midway, which was commissioned in 1945, will be towed early next year from Bremerton, Wash., to Alameda for renovations before being brought to San Diego.
Volunteers are working hard to make sure naval planes and helicopters from the years the Midway was in service are ready to take their place on its flight deck. The group has 18 aircraft, with ambitious plans to eventually park 40 on the Midway.Included in the stable are a radar surveillance plane; five jet fighters; a photo reconnaissance plane; two attack bombers; an anti-submarine plane; two ferry and supply planes; and two helicopters, including the Marine Corps presidential helicopter used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The helicopter, like most of the museum group's other aircraft, is disassembled, faded and corroded. The serious disrepair keeps retired Cmdr. J.W. "Jim" Redfield's phone line humming. He searches among a national network of aircraft collectors and salvage operators for spare parts to make the broken flying machines whole.Redfield and his partners in aircraft restoration call the hunt for parts "cannibalizing."
Recently, the group hit pay dirt in Santa Rosa and Stockton on some tough to find parts."I like to do this," Redfield said. "It's my way to give back a little bit."Last year, retired Capt. Morris "Mo" Peelle was granted permission by Navy officials to use the spare hangar at the air base for the restoration work. Peelle, a former skipper of the aircraft carrier Constellation, and retired Capt. Walt Lester beat the bushes for aircraft suitable for the museum.
Aircraft are sometimes found in the oddest places. One that is nearly ready for painting was salvaged from an Arizona prison yard.The work of bringing a shine back to the aircraft is time-consuming and costly. It took about four months and nearly $30,000 to reassemble, prep and paint an E-2C radar surveillance plane. A special paint is required that costs more than $40 a gallon.The project would be vastly more expensive without the work of volunteers.
At the peak, the museum group had 40 volunteers. But that number was cut in half after Sept. 11. After the terrorist attacks, the Navy tightened access to the base for security reasons. Volunteers now must be veterans with base-access passes.Navy veteran Michael Schwartz is supervising much of the restoration work. He said the group needs volunteers with the required access passes with a background in metalsmithing and electronics and experience repairing aircraft frames.Volunteers will still be needed after the museum opens.
Aircraft on the flight deck could corrode in the salty air, so maintenance will be a continuing process."Once we have the carrier and people can see it, I think the number of volunteers will flow," Schwartz said.
Gaining approval for the carrier museum has been like sailing into a stiff wind.It gained approvals by the San Diego Unified Port District and the North Embarcadero Alliance – a partnership that includes the city of San Diego, the county, the Port District and the Centre City Development Corp., the city of San Diego's downtown redevelopment arm.After that, it received an endorsement from the California Coastal Commission.At each point, the museum group overcame criticism that the Midway should not be a fixture on the San Diego waterfront because it is out of scale with the surroundings. Others questioned its financial viability.
The group is now waiting for permission to dock the Midway at Navy Pier. The Port District recently was awarded an $8 million grant from the state Department of Boating and Waterways to make repairs on the pier. Rita Wilks, a spokeswoman for the Navy's Inactive Ship Program Office in Washington, D.C., said her office is waiting for the museum group to complete its application for the Midway. She said the Navy sent the group a letter in February with 37 questions. It has not yet responded."They will not be getting the vessel any time soon; it depends on how satisfactory the answers on the application are," Wilks said by telephone. "The process will take as long as it takes."
After the application is in order, it will be forwarded to the secretary of the Navy.Uke said his group is almost ready to submit the application. Some of the questions related to financial viability, and Uke said the organization is solid in that regard.He said the group has a continuous fund-raising campaign that has brought in nearly $6 million in cash, pledges and lines of credit. Uke said the Navy is requiring the group to have $2 million in cash reserves to meet costs if attendance projections are not met. Uke said his organization has a broad donor base of local business people and military veterans."If you look at museums that make it, it's because they have a large number of donors," Uke said. "The ones that fail have one or two rich guys (supporting them). When those guys die, the whole thing falls apart."
For additional information, log on to http://www.midway.org
Ronald W. Powell: (619) 718-5070; ron.powell@uniontrib.com
By Ronald W. Powell
STAFF WRITER
July 16, 2002
NORTH ISLAND NAVAL AIR STATION – Some of the workhorses of Navy aviation – from World War II to the present day – are being sanded, repainted and otherwise spruced up to become showpieces on a floating museum supporters hope will make a star-spangled debut July 4. The refurbishing is being done in an old aircraft hangar at North Island by volunteers for the nonprofit San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum group.
The organization plans to permanently dock the aircraft carrier Midway at the North Embarcadero as a historical attraction. Del Mar businessman Alan Uke, the organization's founder, said exhibits and naval hardware planned for the carrier museum will be particularly instructive to young people."They think that war is easy; they've never seen struggles like those in Vietnam, World War II or Korea," said Uke, who began the quest for a floating naval museum in 1993. "It's dangerous that they don't know how we got here and what it takes to keep our freedom."
Uke's group still needs a series of approvals before it can take control of the 53,000-ton Midway, which was decommissioned in 1992. The key endorsement must come from the secretary of the Navy. If all approvals fall into place, the Midway, which was commissioned in 1945, will be towed early next year from Bremerton, Wash., to Alameda for renovations before being brought to San Diego.
Volunteers are working hard to make sure naval planes and helicopters from the years the Midway was in service are ready to take their place on its flight deck. The group has 18 aircraft, with ambitious plans to eventually park 40 on the Midway.Included in the stable are a radar surveillance plane; five jet fighters; a photo reconnaissance plane; two attack bombers; an anti-submarine plane; two ferry and supply planes; and two helicopters, including the Marine Corps presidential helicopter used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The helicopter, like most of the museum group's other aircraft, is disassembled, faded and corroded. The serious disrepair keeps retired Cmdr. J.W. "Jim" Redfield's phone line humming. He searches among a national network of aircraft collectors and salvage operators for spare parts to make the broken flying machines whole.Redfield and his partners in aircraft restoration call the hunt for parts "cannibalizing."
Recently, the group hit pay dirt in Santa Rosa and Stockton on some tough to find parts."I like to do this," Redfield said. "It's my way to give back a little bit."Last year, retired Capt. Morris "Mo" Peelle was granted permission by Navy officials to use the spare hangar at the air base for the restoration work. Peelle, a former skipper of the aircraft carrier Constellation, and retired Capt. Walt Lester beat the bushes for aircraft suitable for the museum.
Aircraft are sometimes found in the oddest places. One that is nearly ready for painting was salvaged from an Arizona prison yard.The work of bringing a shine back to the aircraft is time-consuming and costly. It took about four months and nearly $30,000 to reassemble, prep and paint an E-2C radar surveillance plane. A special paint is required that costs more than $40 a gallon.The project would be vastly more expensive without the work of volunteers.
At the peak, the museum group had 40 volunteers. But that number was cut in half after Sept. 11. After the terrorist attacks, the Navy tightened access to the base for security reasons. Volunteers now must be veterans with base-access passes.Navy veteran Michael Schwartz is supervising much of the restoration work. He said the group needs volunteers with the required access passes with a background in metalsmithing and electronics and experience repairing aircraft frames.Volunteers will still be needed after the museum opens.
Aircraft on the flight deck could corrode in the salty air, so maintenance will be a continuing process."Once we have the carrier and people can see it, I think the number of volunteers will flow," Schwartz said.
Gaining approval for the carrier museum has been like sailing into a stiff wind.It gained approvals by the San Diego Unified Port District and the North Embarcadero Alliance – a partnership that includes the city of San Diego, the county, the Port District and the Centre City Development Corp., the city of San Diego's downtown redevelopment arm.After that, it received an endorsement from the California Coastal Commission.At each point, the museum group overcame criticism that the Midway should not be a fixture on the San Diego waterfront because it is out of scale with the surroundings. Others questioned its financial viability.
The group is now waiting for permission to dock the Midway at Navy Pier. The Port District recently was awarded an $8 million grant from the state Department of Boating and Waterways to make repairs on the pier. Rita Wilks, a spokeswoman for the Navy's Inactive Ship Program Office in Washington, D.C., said her office is waiting for the museum group to complete its application for the Midway. She said the Navy sent the group a letter in February with 37 questions. It has not yet responded."They will not be getting the vessel any time soon; it depends on how satisfactory the answers on the application are," Wilks said by telephone. "The process will take as long as it takes."
After the application is in order, it will be forwarded to the secretary of the Navy.Uke said his group is almost ready to submit the application. Some of the questions related to financial viability, and Uke said the organization is solid in that regard.He said the group has a continuous fund-raising campaign that has brought in nearly $6 million in cash, pledges and lines of credit. Uke said the Navy is requiring the group to have $2 million in cash reserves to meet costs if attendance projections are not met. Uke said his organization has a broad donor base of local business people and military veterans."If you look at museums that make it, it's because they have a large number of donors," Uke said. "The ones that fail have one or two rich guys (supporting them). When those guys die, the whole thing falls apart."
For additional information, log on to http://www.midway.org
Ronald W. Powell: (619) 718-5070; ron.powell@uniontrib.com