Carolinas Aviation Museum

Carolinas Aviation Museum
Established 1992 (1992)
Location Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Type Aviation museum
Visitors 70,000+
Director Wally Coppinger
President Shawn Dorsch
Curator Dean Demmery
Website carolinasaviation.org
Main Display Hangar. June 2010.
Main Display Hangar August 2012

The Carolinas Aviation Museum is an aviation museum on the grounds of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The museum was founded in 1992 by Floyd and Lois Wilson, and has a collection of over 50 static aircraft and many smaller historic items related to aviation in North and South Carolina. Most of the collection consists of Cold War military aircraft, including several historic jet aircraft from the 1950s and 1960s. Several aircraft came from the closed Florence Air & Missile Museum, Florence, South Carolina. A significant number of aircraft have also come from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and Marine Corps Air Station New River. The museum also operates a number of flying aircraft, and with access to four runways, one over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in length, historic aircraft including the B-17, B-24, B-29 and Berlin Airlift C-54 have flown in to visit the museum from time to time.

Until April 2010, the museum was located in the airport's original 1932 hangar, built by the Works Progress Administration. In April 2010, the museum moved into a new facility at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport at 4672 First Flight Drive.[1] The new facility has enabled the majority of the aircraft to be inside a climate-controlled facility along with new displays.

In addition to the main museum, the museum also operates an aviation library, and a storage and restoration facility.

Facilities

Aircraft engines in storage at the Bat Cave. Dec 2009.

The museum operates three facilities, all located at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport:

Collections and aircraft

The museum's collections include:

Flying aircraft

Piedmont DC-3 at 2007 Andrews AFB Airshow

The museum also operates a small group of flying historic aircraft. These include a DC-3 in airline configuration in the representative markings of Piedmont Airlines, and two Grumman OV-1D Mohawks.

Non-flying aircraft

N106US on display in the museum
N106US with tail reinstalled
Bellanca 1940 14-9L Crusair Serial # 1037 / N1KQ (State Airlines)
Kaman 1953 HOK-1 BuNo 139990 / OH-58 in restoration

The Aircraft Collection includes:

Museum's F-14D and AV-8B Harrier

US Airways Heritage Collection

1549 Exhibit Entrance
Overhead panel in cockpit of N106US

The museum has possibly the largest collection of artifacts and memorabilia from the various legacy airlines which have merged over the years to form the current US Airways. The largest and most visible artifact is the 'Miracle on the Hudson' Airbus A320. The museum also has a Piedmont Airlines DC-3, with an original airline interior, which still flies to air shows. The airplane sports the US Airways heritage logo just like mainline US Airways jets next to the passenger door.

The collection includes artifacts from:

Artifacts include, but are not limited to: dishes, uniforms, manuals, airport signs, old baggage carts, an early de-icing truck, airline models, and a significant amount of documents.

Many of the volunteers at the museum are active and former US Airways employees, including the pilots of the DC-3.

Acquisition of US Airways Flight 1549 Airbus

Case contains Capt. Sullenberger's and First Officer Skiles's uniforms
Pilot's headset from Flight 1549
Hudson River silt found in the right wing of N106US

On 15 January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport for a flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, when multiple bird strikes a few minutes after takeoff forced a ditching in the Hudson River. The ditching and subsequent rescue operations were accomplished without loss of life.[2] The aircraft was eventually recovered from the river.

In January 2011, the Carolinas Aviation Museum acquired the entire airframe from Chartis Insurance.[3][4] The airframe was transported by road from its storage location at J Supor & Son Trucking & Rigging Co. Inc. in Kearny, New Jersey to the display facility at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte. The transportation started on June 4 and arrived on June 10, 2011. The road trip took 7 days, and covered 788 miles in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia & North Carolina.[5] J Supor & Son transported the aircraft to the museum. Because the fuselage was transported in one piece, as it was when it was recovered from the river, the truck was 190 feet long. Virtually everything except the passengers' personal effects are still in the airplane. The landing gear pins, fire axe, and the manuals were still in the cockpit, and the Coke cans were still in the food carts.[6]

The airframe has been reassembled and is now on display, in the same configuration as it was when it was pulled out of the Hudson River in January 2009. The airframe is being conserved, as opposed to restored, with dents from the birds and tugboat.[7] In addition to the airframe, Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles have contributed their uniforms to the museum's 1549 exhibit.

The aircraft arrived in June 2011, and reassembly of the main components took about one year. The engines arrived in May 2012 and were planned to be reassembled in time for the fourth anniversary of the landing in the Hudson (January 15, 2013). The museum opened a major new exhibit about flight 1549, with artifacts such as Captain Sullenberger's uniform in August 2012.[1]

The museum, in conjunction with the North Carolina School of the Arts Film School, is producing a movie about the project to save, move, reassemble, and display the aircraft. The movie should be completed sometime in the middle of 2013.[8]

The aircraft is an A320-214.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Karen Campbell (January 23, 2014). "'Miracle on the Hudson' aircraft on exhibit at Carolinas Aviation Museum". The Boston Globe. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  2. ↑ Robert D. McFadden (January 15, 2009). "All Safe as US Airways Plane Crashes Into Hudson River in New York". The New York Times. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Charlotte Museum to Display Flight 1549 Airbus". January 6, 2011. Archived from the original on January 10, 2011. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  4. ↑ Patrick McGeehan (January 5, 2011). "Flight 1549 May Be Headed to Carolinas Aviation Museum". The New York Times. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Flight 1549 plane arrives in Charlotte after long voyage". WECT TV6-WECT.com. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  6. ↑ Karen Rouse (February 26, 2011). "'Miracle on the Hudson' plane stored in N.J. ready to take final journey". Northjersey.com. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  7. ↑ "US Airways Flight 1549, Known For The 'Miracle On The Hudson' Headed To Charlotte Museum For Display". Newyork.cbslocal.com. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  8. ↑ "From 'Miracle on the Hudson,' to Highland County's Hangar 6". Highlandcountypress.com. June 15, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
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