Back in 1989 a group of volunteers formed a non-profit corporation
dedicated to the preservation of Rhode Island’s storied military and
civil aviation history. The Quonset Air Museum was born.
By 1992, the museum found itself a home — Building 488 at Quonset
Point in North Kingstown. Building 488 was a mess. Extensive cleaning
and renovation was needed at the aging hangar.
But things are looking up. Now, five years later, the spirit of those
volunteers is stronger than ever. They have grown in number — ranging
between 250 and 350 — and purpose.
Today the Quonset Air Museum is on the verge of taking off. Chester
Browning, chairman of the museum’s board of directors and president of
the Rhode Island Aviation Heritage Association, is turning to the
business community to make sure it is heading in the right direction.
Simply put, Browning has room to add to the organization’s board of
directors. He would also like to add a part-time executive director. The
museum is growing faster each year, with grants coming in consistently
and attendance on the rise. This year, the museum welcomed nearly 7,000
visitors.
Browning expects those numbers to climb. He is looking to capitalize
on — and become a bigger part of — Rhode Island’s $2 billion tourist
industry.
“We’re looking for retirees who may have an interest in aviation or
working business people with an expertise in finance and management,”
said Browning. “We’re snowballing and we’re looking for guidance from
the business community. We need expertise to carry us forward. Our
emphasis now is on creating a good business environment.”
Tapping into the business community is not a foreign approach for the
Quonset Air Museum. This fall, the Hasbro Charitable Trust approved a
$7,764 grant to the museum to help it purchase a F-14 Grumman Tom Cat.
The Quonset Air Museum is one of only a few museums of its kind in the
area. There is one in Connecticut and another in New York. It has
quickly earned itself a national reputation, Browning said.
“We’re probably better known outside of Rhode Island than inside,” he
said.
Rhode Island, said Browning, has a very rich and diverse aviation
history.
In fact, Rhode Island’s aviation accomplishments include: the first
purpose-built aircraft factory in the United States; the first
amphibious aircraft (the Navy’s SN-4) to make a trans-Atlantic flight;
the first aerial torpedo drop tests in the country and the development
of Night Fighter Equipment and Tactics in World War II.
Currently, the museum houses 26 aircraft, some of which it owns and
others on loan from the U.S. Navy. Among the aircraft currently on
display at the museum are:
- Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat: Highest kill ratio of any fighter aircraft in
history. - Eastern TBM-3E Avenger Torpedo Bomber: Same type as flown by former
President George Bush out of Charlestown, Rhode Island and in the
Pacific during World War II. - Douglas A-4C Skyhawk: The “Mighty Midget.” This aircraft flew many
attack missions over North Vietnam. - Antonov AN-2 Colt: Largest biplane cargo aircraft. Nickname “Anushka.”
- SILKWORM Missile: Chinese-built surface to surface missile; captured
in Iraq during the Gulf War. - F3D-2 Skylight: United States Marine Corps Night Fighter, served
combat tours in Korea and Vietnam.
During World War II, the Naval Air Station at Quonset Point outfitted,
trained, operated and supported more than half of the Carrier Air Groups
that brought the war to a close in 1945. The facility, according to
museum literature, “was also supportive of more than a dozen sub killing
VC Composite Squadrons and two Fleet Air Wings that both protected the
eastern Seaboard and helped sweep Nazi U-boats from the seas.”
For Stanley Essex, volunteering at the Quonset Air Museum is “like old
home week.”
Essex is vice president of the Rhode Island Aviation Heritage
Association and a member of the museum’s board of directors. From 1950
through 1954, he was stationed at Quonset Point. Helping the museum
reach new levels of success is a labor of love for Essex.
And preserving history, he said, is critical to our heritage, especially
at a time when technology is ushering in the new so quickly — often at
the expense of the past.
“People are forgetting what kinds of things had to be done, like putting
fabric on airplanes,” he said. “When we restore our history, these are
the kinds of things we have to do again. And the information that
veterans of World War II have within them — we need to garner and pass
on. “
Essex, who can be found at the museum most weekends, sees first-hand its
growth.
“We have things donated every week,” said Essex. “We have archives that
need to be sorted and protected. It’s growing like wildfire.”
Browning suspects that the recent growth at the museum may pale in
comparison to the growth it could see in the coming years. The state is
moving forward with a plan to develop a shipping port at Quonset
Point/Davisville, and to increase the industrial core of the former Navy
base. Such projects are expected to lure thousands of jobs back to the
area that lost them in the 1970s.
And currently on the drawing board is an ambitious project that would be
welcome company for the Quonset Air Museum — in the form of an
Air/Land/Sea Historic Park and Technology Center, the crown jewel of
which would be the USS Saratoga. The project — estimated to cost about
$15 million — would occupy 30 acres of land on the southwest corner of
Quonset Point.
The most critical element of the proposal would be to move the USS
Saratoga, a decommissioned aircraft carrier that now sits in Coddington
Cove in Middletown.
Frank Lennon of Providence is the executive director of the USS
Saratoga Museum Foundation, Inc. A West Point graduate and former Green
Beret who served in Vietnam, Lennon is convinced that Quonset Point is
an ideal home for the USS Saratoga, and a tourist center that revolves
around her history.
Coupled with the Quonset Air Museum, the potential for such a park is
limitless, Lennon said.
“You would have a synergy that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world,”
Lennon said. “If this is properly built, it will attract half a million
visitors a year and will have an economic impact of $35 million a year.”
Lennon should know. He has 20 years experience in the business of
marketing, promotions and special events and for two years, he ran an
aviation museum in western New York.
“I have become fascinated with the whole thing,” Lennon said. “Museums
have found over the past few years that they have to run themselves as
businesses,” he said. “At the very least, they are competing for
grants.”
The Quonset Air Museum is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. or by appointment. The phone number is 294-9540 and e-
mail address is:
http://users.ids.net/~qam/qam/.
