Fall 2014 - The Quonset Air Museum

Scout
The Official Publication of the Quonset Air Museum
November 11, 2014
www.quonsetairmuseum.com
Fall Edition
Before...
m
u
e
s
u
M
r
i
A
t
e
s
n
o
u
Q
Y
R
O
T
S
I
H
S
E
R
O
T
S
E
R
...After
Find out how you can help make history. Flip for details.
2
President’s Report
Although part of the Quonset Air Museum’s mission is to restore
artifacts from Rhode Island’s rich aviation history, sometimes
those artifacts are just too far gone. Unfortunately, the very
building that houses our museum, Hangar #488, built in 1945, is
just one of those artifacts that is beyond saving.
After a visit from the local and state fire marshals, in advance
of a Big Sisters event we were scheduled to host in September, it
was determined that the hangar is unsafe for occupancy. After a
series of meetings with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, it
was determined that repairing the hangar was not economically
feasible. Ultimately, the building will be torn down, despite being
one of the last in the country of its kind.
However, the QAM’s members and volunteers are a hearty
bunch and never back down from a challenge. While the old
hangar may be going away, there’s a good chance we will be
able to build a new sctructure in its place. There are a number
of factors that need to take place for this to happen, but we will
keep you posted along the way.
In the mean time, we will continue along as usual, except that
this year, we are temporarily closing for the winter months and
re-opening on March 1, 2015.
Something new to focus on for now though is the launching
of a new way to raise funds – with PayPal and ‘crowdfunding’
(see cover story). Judging from the constant state of aircraft
restoration, in all kinds of weather, we have the muscle. As for
the money, we need your help in spreading the word.
To kick things off, we have added a PayPal Donation button
to our website, which will allow visitors to donate whatever
they can to help fund various restoration projects and, when the
time comes, the new building, which is expected to be a 15,000
sq. ft. facility, with a cost of approximately $750,000. While this
cost may seem daunting, QAM has already gotten $60,000 in
committed donations, and will add $22,500 to that figure from
the General Fund, contingent upon the property owners agreeing
to both the construction of a new building and a substantial
lease extension. Provided we clear those hurdles, we’ve already
raised more than 10 percent of the total cost of the new hangar!
We believe that with a concerted effort by our members,
volunteers and visitors, that we will have no problem raising the
funds needed to continue our successful museum. So tell your
friends, tell your neighbors, we’ve got some money to raise!
Regards,
Dave Stecker
President
Quonset Air Museum
HOURS*
Summer (6/1 - 9/30)
Daily 10 am to 3 pm
Winter (Closed, re-opening
March 1, 2015)
Closed: New Year’s Day,
Easter, Thanksgiving Day
and Christmas Day
*
Hours subject to change
without notice.
OFFICERS
President
David Stecker
Vice President
John Kane
Secretary/Treasurer
Barbara Fahey
Executive Director
David Payne
CONTACT
www.quonsetairmuseum.com
PO Box 1571
North Kingstown, RI 02852
(401) 294-9540
(401) 294-9887 FAX
THE QUONSET SCOUT
Editor
Kris Gove
3
Help restore history, one click at a time
Since there’s always something that
needs restoration at the Quonset Air
Museum, there will always be a need
for a constant stream of funds to help
meet that end. Membership fees,
ticket sales, ammo box drops and brick
walk donations all benefit QAM, but
those donations usually only happen
when visitors are on site, absorbed in
the moment. Since
QAM is closed for
the winter, there
is another way to
keep that funding
stream open and
that’s online,
through QAM’s
website.
As luck would have it, the Museum
just established its first attempt
at crowdfunding, which MerriamWebster defines as: “The practice of
soliciting financial contributions from
a large number of people especially,
from the online community.” What’s
QAM’s version of this? The PayPal
Donate Button.
Question: Just what the heck is
PayPal and why do I have to bother
with this confounded technology?
Answer: Simply put, PayPal is an
online payment service that allows
consumers to pay for products and
services online using their credit/debit
cards, or their own PayPal account.
For example, let’s say Private Citizen
John Smith in Arizona has a rare B-17
propeller that Bob Jones thinks would
look neat in his living room. Bob can
go to paypal.com and use his credit
card to pay John for the prop online.
John gets an email that says “Bob
Smith sent you $300” in the subject
line. John can then sign on to PayPal
to retrieve his $300, less the PayPal
service fee of about 3 percent of the
total sale, or $9 in this case. Then
PayPal either sends John a check for
$291, or deposits the funds directly
into his PayPal account, which he
can then ‘download’ to his own bank
account for later withdrawal.
What does that mean for the
Quonset Air Museum? Well, PayPal
can also be used for non-profit
donations and crowdfunding. So let’s
say John above, feeling happy about
his recent sale,
wants to donate
$100 of his prop
money to QAM
to help pay for
paint or shop
supplies toward
the Banshee or
the Phantom
restoration. John can then click on
the “Donate Now” button on QAM’s
website to donate his $100 to the
museum. The good news is, because
QAM is a non-profit, it gets a break on
the service fee and only has to pay 2.2
percent of the total sale, or $2.20 in
this case. Once John donates the $100
through PayPal, the donation, minus
the fee, goes directly to QAM’s PayPal
account and stays there until QAM
transfers it to its own bank account.
Why the fuss of PayPal and not just
send in a check? Checks and cash will
always be accepted at QAM, but the
PayPal Donate feature allows donors
to just ‘click’ their donation without
having to go through the bother of
addressing envelopes and paying 50
cents for a stamp. It’s quick and easy.
And for better or worse, people like
quick and easy nowadays.
This new feature will be helpful
to send to other aircraft enthusiasts
who might not know much about our
Museum, or to those as a reminder
that they can still be involved even if
they can’t visit the museum as often
as they’d like. So tell your friends, tell
your neighbors, QAM has entered the
digital funding age!
ON THE COVER: Above, the A-4 in its ‘before’ state. Below, the A-4 ‘after’ the father/son
team of Rick and Nick St. Pierre got their hands on it. The fresh paint was pretty much
still drying when they dragged it over to the Air Show for display.
Who needs what?
A list of ongoing projects that
need funding from the crowd...
• The Banshee needs technical
drawings from McDonnell
Douglas, a significant expense,
to finish its restoration.
• The Phantom needs paint
and raw materials to fabricate
missing parts.
• The Tomcat needs a nose spray
and a reliable canopy opener.
• The Huey needs all of its insides.
• The Skyknight needs everything.
4
Phancon Phanatics descend on Phlorida
But the F-4 Phantom takes center stage
QAM’s AL Guay
treks to FLA to check
out some still-flying
Phantoms...
By AL Guay Lots of people that come to the Museum to visit, ask
me what my connection is to the F-4 Phantom. I always
reply, “I was in the first Air Force squadron to get the
‘brand-new’ Phantoms in 1963, at MacDill Air Force
Base, in Tampa, Florida.”
My A.F.S.C. was parachute rigger, and the Phantom
had a specialized personnel parachute that stayed on the
ejection seat, which the pilots would strap into, and not
attached to the pilot, as were other personnel chutes
from other types of aircraft. This meant that the riggers
would go out to the aircraft and do “ten day” inspections
on the chute connections. I loved doing that, just to have
the opportunity to climb into the cockpit of these jets. I
always had a passion for aircraft, ever since my Dad took
me to the local airport in the 1950s, to watch the Eastern
Airlines DC-3s take off and land. I was hooked.
This was my second Phantom convention, the first
one being in 2013, at the Air Force Museum in Dayton,
Ohio. I had a great time meeting new “Phantom
Phanatics”, as we sometimes call ourselves, and sharing
old war stories about our time in the Service during the
Vietnam War era, or whenever.
At right, top: QAM’s own AL Guay mugs up for the camera at Phancon
‘14. Is that an iPad in his bag, or a stash of stolen F-4 parts for his own
restoration? Middle: Former Phantom Pilot Joe Latham checks out the
cockpit. Latham, while flying an F-4C Phantom, shot down a Mig during
the Vietnam war. Bottom: A QF-4 is readied for (possibly) its final flight.
Most of the paint is stripped off before final drone flights are finished.
Photos: Buck Seibert
Photo: Buck Seibert
Above, at Phancon (Phantom Conference) 2014, a QF-4 Phantom fly-by with an F-16
chase plane following. The ‘Q’ designation means that it will soon be converted to
a target drone. “The noise was loud, and lovely!” said AL Guay, who is currently
restoring Quonset Air Museum’s F-4.
5
Photo: Buck Seibert
The Phanatics take a breather at the convention banquet on the final night of the Phancon, after a busy
day with their favorite aircraft. From left, Grady Broxton, AL Guay, Monroe Smith, Mike Solon, George
Podmore and Ed Kapalka. Mike Solon was instrumental in helping QAM acquire its F-4 afterburners.
This year the Phancon was
at Tyndall Air Force Base near
Panama City in Florida, and
again, it was a fun time, plus
we had the extra special treat
of witnessing Phantom flights
again. It brought back lots
of memories. A sad moment
was when the Phantom taxied
up to us, and shut down. I
came to realize that unless
I go to the 2016 Phancon at
Holloman Air Force Base in
New Mexico, this would be
the last Phantom I would
witness flying. It was like
saying goodbye to an old
friend. The F-4A Phantom at QAM
About six years ago, I
started doing searches on
the computer for anything
and everything about F-4
Phantoms. I found a website
called “FastBuck’s”, and found
Buck Seibert, who was at
MacDill in Florida, during the
same time I was stationed
there. In fact, we were in the
same squadron together for
a short period of time. He
introduced me to a few guys
that he knew that were either
at MacDill, or had anything
to do with Phantoms during
their lifetime, and we started
an e-mail group, called “The
Macdill Group”. Anyone
else who loved Phantoms
could join, also. We have 19
members in our group at this
time.
Well, one day, Jeff Smith
comes up on a site that some
of these guys frequent, and
asked if he could “move a
Phantom with a flat tire”,
without damaging the strut or
airframe. When I enlarged the
Photo: Buck Seibert
Above, a QF-4 Phantom sits stripped down to bare metal. The ‘Q’
designation means that it will soon be converted to a target drone.
have a small machine shop
in the hangar, and with my
machining background, I am
able to make new panels
that are missing, and reframe
sections and repair damaged
ones. There was only Jeff
Smith and myself that
started on the restore, and in
2011 we picked up another
volunteer, Denis Levitre,
who would drive down here
once a week from Billerica,
Massachusetts, way above
Boston, a two-hour ride each
way, just to have the honor
of working on the Phantom
with us. He was a Marine
mechanic on Phantoms in
Vietnam in the 60s. Jeff was a
weapons loader on Phantoms
in the 80s, and was stationed
at Spangdahlem Air Base, in
Germany.
We also get help from
new volunteers, and other
volunteers from time to time
who work on other aircraft at
icon picture of the Phantom
that accompanied his post,
I discovered that it looked
exactly like a photo I took of
my granddaughter standing in
front of this Phantom at the
Quonset Air Museum (QAM)
five years earlier, but that my
granddaughter
wasn’t in the
picture. So I
sent an email
to Jeff, and
asked him if that
Phantom was at
Quonset Point,
Rhode Island,
and he said
yes. He needed
to tow the
Phantom into
Photo: Buck Seibert
the hangar to
Above, Phantom Phanatics swoop in for the kill,
start restoring taking perfect shots with their cameras. “The
it. I then asked if noise was loud, and lovely!” said AL Guay, who is
he was looking currently restoring Quonset Air Museum’s F-4.
for volunteers,
and he said yes,
the Museum. In turn, we help
so I said, “I will see you next
them out with their projects
weekend”. This was in June
when needed. It’s a team
2010 – and I’ve been there,
effort, and we are a great
ever since.
team here at the Quonset
After leaving the Air
Air Museum. We are always
Force in 1966, I trained as a
looking for new volunteers to
machinist. Now retired, this
help with the various projects
was a perfect “hobby” for
here at QAM.
me to keep me busy. They do
6
We’ve got Planes
on our Brains
– and we need your help.
The Quonset Air Museum is a living, working museum that actively
participates in the restoration of historic aircraft and educates the
public about Rhode Island’s unique aviation history. But that takes a
lot of money. The only way we can do it is one dollar (or twenty) at
a time from generous supporters like you!
To find out more about our mission to keep restoring historic
aircraft, please visit our website and click the ‘Donate Now’ button:
www.quonsetairmuseum.com
HELP US MAKE HISTORY!
7
Thank You...
Quite simply, Quonset Air Museum wouldn’t exist
without its volunteers. And for that, we thank
you. Our volunteer restoration experts work in all
sorts of conditions, even the deep freeze of winter!
Below are the current Plane Captains and their
assigned planes.
A Phantastic Thank You
Hangar Boss – D.H. Payne
Plane Captain
Plane
Don Nagle
Rob Lindberg
Mark Maynard
Sam Lepore
Sam Lepore
Claude Laflamme
H. Bristow
J. Smith, A. Guay
R. Bundy
T. Palmer & Family
P. Richiell
J. Namake
Katheryn Palmer
R. & Florence Rossi
L. Farmer
Sam Lepore
R. & N. St. Pierre
P. Richiell
D. Nagle
F-14 Tomcat
A-6 Intruder
F6F-5 Hellcat
T.B.M. Avenger
F6F 3/4-scale Hellcat
XF-15-C
F3D-2 Skyknight
F-4A Phantom
SH-3 Sea King
UH-1M Iroquois
UH-1H Slick
OH-58 Kiowa
Pitts
Abbot FV433, 105 gun
Linc Trainer
F2H-3 Banshee
A4-E & A4 M Skyhawks
PX Mgr.
P2V Neptune
Rhode Island Youth
Groups to assist all Plane
Captains when needed.
Unassigned:
C-1A Trader
A-7 Corsair
M.I.G. 17 Fresco
OH-6 “Loach”
AH-1 Cobra
Photos: Buck Seibert
AL Guay, right, shakes hands with Mike Solon to thank
him on behalf of Dave Stecker, and all the Phantom crew
at Quonset Air Museum, for the afterburner assembly
and connection to acquire the other nozzle. Mike is also
attempting to source a boarding ladder for the F-4 at QAM!
Below, a Phantom slows down with the aid of a drag chute at
at Phancon 2014 in Florida.
8
Ready to Raid –
Photo: Courtesy of the U.S. Navy, via Wikimedia Commons
Lined up like a car dealership, these seven U.S. Navy Douglas
AD-3W Skyraider early warning planes sit ready for duty. The
Skyraiders are from composite squadron VC-12 at Naval Air
Station Quonset Point, circa 1950.
488 Eccleston Avenue
North Kingstown, RI 02852
www.quonsetairmuseum.com
Sponsor Spotlight