PRESS RELEASE
In the midst of subdivisions and recreation parks in an area of Bowling Green, KY lies a growing education display to aviators of the area. The Aviation Heritage Park was born in 2008 when the first aircraft on display, an F-4D Phantom II flown by Brigadier General Dan Cherry (USAF Ret’d) during Vietnam, arrived at the park and was reassembled for display. The park has since grown to feature several additional military aircraft, each of which honors a different aviator from Kentucky. Continuing that growth, they broke ground on the addition of a museum building in 2018. This building will house additional education displays and provide an extension to the aircraft on display externally.
With the completion of the museum building, Aviation Heritage Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky has announced the appointment of Bob Bubnis as the park and museum’s Executive Director. Bubnis is the former Curator of Collections and Exhibits Manager for the National Corvette Museum. With a proven leader at the helm of the development of the collection inside the recently completed 12,470 square-foot Aviation Heritage Park Museum things are moving forward at full throttle.
The museum will formally open to the public on Saturday, September 23. The event begins with a flyover by the Tennessee Pterodactyls, a team of highly skilled Swift pilots. The pilots are Don Abbott (Air Force C-130, Special Ops and retired American Airlines 777 pilot), Jerry Kirby (GA and Aerobatic pilot for over 59 years who is in the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame), Jim Roberts (Air Force U2 pilot, retired American Airlines and retired operations manager at McGhee-Tyson Knoxville airport), and Paul Mercandetti (highly decorated Vietnam medevac pilot and retired US Air Pilot) These guys have over 68,000 flight hours and 212 years of experience amongst them.
The flyover will be followed by the ribbon cutting, program, and museum tours. Special guests for this event will be astronaut Col. Terry Wilcutt (ret) and RADM James Finney (ret) on behalf of his brother CMDR David Finney. Finney’s and Wilcutt’s stories connected at NASA and are memorialized in the circle of honor with a historic T-38 in Aviation Heritage Park.
Related Articles
Angela Decker, from McPherson, Kansas, discovered her passion for aviation after earning a Master’s in Military History from Norwich University in 2011. Since 2012, she has volunteered with vintage aviation groups, excelling as a social media content creator and coordinator. Angela has coordinated aviation and WWII events, appeared as Rosie the Riveter, and is restoring a Stearman aircraft. She is the Operations Logistics Coordinator at CAF Airbase Georgia and an accountant with a degree in Economics from the University of Georgia. Her son, Caden, shares her love for aviation and history and is studying Digital Media Arts.
BG Dan Cherry came to Marietta, Ga. where Dobbins ARB is located to present what may have been the first printing of his book and to talk about his experiences. Is he still traveling making presentations?