SEATTLE, March 6th, 2015—Over the weekend of March 14th/15th, The Museum of Flight will host its second annual two-day symposium about aviation archaeology. The event will bring together a team of international experts on aircraft recovery and crash-site preservation. Their presentations will explore all aspects of aviation archaeology, with amazing stories of recovery operations from forests, frozen lakes and beneath the sea. The authors in the symposium will also be signing copies of their books. The programs will run from 10:00am to 3:30pm each day of the event, and are free with admission to the Museum.
Presenters:
John Sessions: Warbird pilot and CEO of Historic Flight Foundation in Everett, Wash. Sessions will compare the recovery and restoration of his World War II P-51B and Spitfire Mk. IX. Weather permitting, he will fly one of the planes to the Museum, where it will be on public display for the day.
Peter Merlin: Aviation author, renowned “X-Hunter” and Area 51 expert. Merlin will talk about the military experimental aircraft crashes in and around the Nevada desert.
Nick Veronico: Author of “Hidden Warbirds: The Epic Stories of Finding, Recovering & Rebuilding WWII’s Lost Aircraft.” Veronico will talk about his new book, “Hidden Warbirds II.”
Mark Allen: Underwater aviation and maritime recovery specialist with Kirkland-based Underwater Admiralty Sciences. Allen will discuss the search for a Boeing 314 airliner that sank in the Pacific Ocean over 70 years ago.
Derek Abbey: Abbey will talk about Bent Prop, a volunteer group focused on locating missing American airmen from World War II.
Dr. Adrian Hunt: Executive director of the Flying Heritage Collection in Everett, Wash. Hunt will offer a presentation about World War II air crashes on National Park Land.
Dave and Lindsey Goss: Founders of the aircraft restoration company, GossHawk Unlimited. Their presentation will be about restoring seriously deteriorated aircraft to as-new condition.
Megan Lickliter-Mundon: Underwater aviation archaeology expert. Lickliter-Mondon will give a presentation about 3D-mapping a submerged B-24 bomber.
David McCurry: Author of “Aircraft Wrecks of the Pacific Northwest, Volumes 1 and 2.” McCurry will talk about aviation artifact sites in the Northwest.
Peter Hunt: Scuba diver and former navy A-6 Intruder pilot. Hunt will tell the story of an attempt to unravel the mystery of an Intruder lost at the bottom of Puget Sound.
Richard Mallory Allnutt's aviation passion ignited at the 1974 Farnborough Airshow. Raised in 1970s Britain, he was immersed in WWII aviation lore. Moving to Washington DC, he frequented the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, meeting aviation legends.
After grad school, Richard worked for Lockheed-Martin but stayed devoted to aviation, volunteering at museums and honing his photography skills. In 2013, he became the founding editor of Warbirds News, now Vintage Aviation News. With around 800 articles written, he focuses on supporting grassroots aviation groups.
Richard values the connections made in the aviation community and is proud to help grow Vintage Aviation News.
Pete Wallingford was the final presenter and gave a descriptive narrative on salvaging the FD-1D Corsair, amongst some of his other other diving adventures, that now sits in the Personal Courage Wing in the Museum of Flight.