Located at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport, the Texas Air and Space Museum (TASM) has been seeking for over ten years now to re-establish for itself a new, dedicated space for exhibits to highlight the aerospace achievements of Texans of the past 110+ years, and to inspire future generations of aerospace professionals from the Lone Star State. (See our previous article from 2013 HERE.) Now a fundraiser aims to bring the final goal closer. Currently, the musuem is located in a maintenance hangar, which houses the Douglas DC-3, Erco Ercoupe, and home-built Speed-Johnson Bearcat Reno racer, while the museum’s modified Yak-11 Reno racer Mr. Awesome, Gulfstream II Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA), de Havilland Canada C-7 Caribou, Beech King Air, and Bell AH-1 Cobra all sit outside due to lack of hangar space. Additionally, the museum’s collection of memorabilia is displayed in the hangar, but is nearing capacity for additional items to be displayed. There are also other aircraft in the museum’s collection that are currently held in storage due to the lack of space at the present site.
A focus of the museum’s collection is their DC-3 (registration number N43), which had served in the US Navy as an R4D transport before being used by the FAA as an airborne radar and radio navigation calibration aircraft, which would inspect airports across the US and was later flown by the FAA to airshows during the commemoration of the centenary of the Wright Brothers’ flights at Kittyhawk in 1903 and later to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the FAA. The aircraft is also unique for on May 29, 1997, N34 was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of the few aircraft to have ever been added to the NRHP’s registry. The campaign for the TASM’s expansion is also closely tied to their DC-3, as it has been marketed as the Help Build the DC-3 a Home campaign.
As reported in our earlier article, the museum has acquired 20 acres of the former Attebury Grain Company granary just off Airport Blvd, which will place the museum closer to the off ramps for Interstate 40, one of the nation’s busiest thoroughfares. The site has no less than eight warehouses and a grain elevator, and according to museum board president Ron Fernuik, it has the potential to hold hundreds of aircraft. The warehouses will be reconfigured to house the museum’s collection, with one of the warehouses being rebuilt for this purpose. There has even been some discussion of reusing the grain elevator as part of the TASM, being modified to become a viewing platform to observe the daily air traffic arriving and departing from Rick Husband Airport. This new location will also provide access to runway 04, and with the addition of a taxiway to the new museum site, it will allow aircraft from groups such as the Commemorative Air Force to fly aircraft to visit the TASM, ranging from T-6 Texans and C-45 Expeditors to the CAF’s B-24 Liberator Diamond Lil and B-29 Fifi, long-time residents of Texas in their own right.
The TASM has also made the following statement regarding their expansion, “By renovating these former grain storage buildings into an educational center and museum hangars, the Texas Air and Space Museum will move toward becoming a world-class tribute to aviation…past, present, and future…and to the aviators, aviatrixes and flight crews who help us slip “the surly bonds of earth” and strive for the stars. We invite you to join us in our expansive mission of inspiring future generations! Volunteer with us. Your time, technical/mechanical skills, educational support and financial resources are greatly needed and truly appreciated.” To support the Texas Air and Space museum on their expansion, visit their website HERE. To directly contribute to their campaign, visit the museum’s Donorbox page HERE.
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Raised in Fullerton, California, Adam is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in History. Fascinated by aviation history from a young age, he has visited numerous air museums across the United States, including the National Air and Space Museum and the San Diego Air and Space Museum. He volunteers at the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino as a docent and researcher, gaining hands-on experience with aircraft maintenance. Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of aviation history, he is particularly interested in the stories of individual aircraft and their postwar journeys. Active in online aviation communities, he shares his work widely and seeks further opportunities in the field.
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