Museum's planes have their day in
the spotlight
HAGERSTOWN - When Sandra Brown's husband died
in December, she decided that the PT-26 Fairchild aircraft he
flew for about 10 years should return to the area where it was
built.
Brown, of Woodbridge, Va., and her daughter
Lisa Brown, of Leesburg, Va., donated the 1943 aircraft to the
Hagerstown Aviation Museum, which displayed it along with nine
other museum planes during an event Sunday at the Hagerstown
Regional Airport, off Showalter Road.
On Saturday, cars and trucks were on display
during the first day of the Aviation Museum's Wings & Wheels
event that drew about 1,000 people, museum Treasurer John Seburn
said. He expected a similar crowd Sunday, to see nine museum
planes and five visiting aircraft.
Sandra and Lisa Brown said they attended the
event to see their father's aircraft again and to support the
museum. The event, which Seburn said marked the first Aviation
Heritage Day held at the airport, was a fundraiser for the
Hagerstown Aviation Museum.
Seburn said he hoped the event would become an
annual fundraiser.
Sam Venneri of Middletown, Md., a museum board
member and former director of flight for NASA, spoke during
Sunday's event. He gave a presentation chronicling the history
of flight, and also sharing some photographs, videos and other
items from his collection of flight memorabilia.
Sunday also marked the first time that the
engine of the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar was started since
the plane was flown to Hagerstown in November 2008, Seburn said.
Spectators also took in an air show later in
the afternoon, watching some of the planes on display take
flight.
Frankie and Missy Smith of Hagerstown attended
Sunday's event with Missy's son, Jacob Hoover, 11, and her
granddaughter, Makayla Hoover, 5.
Frankie Smith said they actually are "car
people" and were hoping to see some older cars Sunday. Although
they were a bit disappointed, he said the family also wanted to
see the planes, and Makayla was especially excited to watch them
land.
Carlo Cilliers and his girlfriend, Lin Caywood,
of Baltimore, flew to the Hagerstown Regional Airport in an Air
Cam they displayed Sunday.
Cilliers said the flight took just more than
an hour, and the Wings & Wheels event was the fourth fly-in they
had attended at the airport.
"This is just something we love to do," Cilliers said.
Terry Fields of Hagerstown said he attended
Sunday's event with his girlfriend, Joan Milligan, also of
Hagerstown, because he likes airplanes.
He served in the U.S. Navy from 1956 to 1962,
and spent much of that time working on aircraft. The couple also
said the weather was an incentive to attend the show.
"It's a beautiful day to be outdoors," Fields
said. |
