The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museumwar-eagles-air-museum.com/newsletters/weam_newsletter_2004-2.pdf · Europe called Operation Overlord. Build-Up to D-Day In the spring of

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Editorial

T he year 2003 marked one of the most important milestones of the modern age—the 100th anniver-sary of the Wright brothers’ first success-ful powered flight. The year 2004 marks another major anniversary. Sixty years ago, on June 6, 1944, Allied forces land-ed on the beaches of Normandy to con-tinue the liberation of Europe from Nazi domination that had begun with the inva-sion of Sicily the previous July.

In the four decades between the Wright brothers’ short hop and the D-Day land-ings, aviation made huge strides world-wide in both the civilian and military sec-tors. The primitive Wright Flyer spawned aircraft designs that the aviation pioneers could scarcely have imagined. High-per-formance fighters like the Supermarine Spitfire, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Focke-Wulf FW-190 dueled over Europe, while vast formations of Avro Lancasters and Boeing B-17 Flying Fort-ress four-engined bombers darkened the skies over the “Thousand-Year Reich.”

War Eagles Air Museum exhibits several aircraft from the D-Day time period. The military version of this issue’s featured aircraft, the Douglas DC-3, played a key role in the invasion. The Stinson AT-19 Reliant, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, North American P-51 Mustang and Fieseler Storch all were in service at the time. To honor our D-Day veterans, think about what it would have been like to fly these aircraft 60 years ago, when victory in the “good vs. evil” battle that is still going on in the world today seemed at hand.

Contents Editorial ................................... 1 Featured Aircraft...................... 1 Oral History Project ................. 4 Volunteer Profile...................... 4 Historical Perspectives ............ 5 Membership Application .......... 7 Corporate Youth Sponsors...... 7 Project Status .......................... 8

Featured Aircraft

O n April 26, 1944, Douglas Air-craft Company of Long Beach, California, delivered C-47A se-rial number 43-15679 to the U. S. Army Air Force. In May, she left the U. S. for the IX Troop Carrier Command of the 9th Air Force in England. Converted to a DC-3 and now on display at War Eagles Air Museum, that C-47A celebrates its 60th birthday this year. In its long career, it had many owners and color schemes. But none were more important or excit-ing than the war paint of its first owner, the USAAF.

Featured Aircraft (Continued on Page 2)

The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum

Second Quarter (Apr - Jun) 2004

Volume 17, Number 2

En route to a well-deserved retirement af-ter a long career in many roles worldwide, War Eagles Air Museum’s Douglas DC-3C (C-47A) flies over Doña Ana County Airport.


DC-3 Background

The DC-3 (“DC” standing for “Douglas Commercial”) exists largely because of C. R. Smith, the hard-driving president of American Airlines, and his demand for a “sleeper” aircraft for the airline’s trans-continental routes. In 1933, the all-metal, twin-engine Boeing Model 247 took the airline world by storm, obsolescing all other transports. American’s competitor United Airlines had dibs on the first 60 production 247s, so C. R. needed another airplane fast. The current DC-2 fuselage was too small. So, reluctantly, in late 1934, Donald Douglas let C. R. talk him into building an enlarged and improved DC-2 called the DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport). The prototype DST first flew on December 17, 1935. The first produc-tion models, called DC-3s, entered ser-vice with American Airlines on the New York-Chicago route on June 25, 1936.

Despite the DC-3s civilian credentials, the U. S. Army saw it as a good cargo and troop transport, and placed large or-ders. When Douglas ended production in 1947, some 10,654 DC-3s, in many civil and military versions, had rolled off the assembly lines. In addition, Japan’s Na-kajima and Showa had built 485, and Li-sunov in the Soviet Union had built about 2,000. The original U. S. Army contracts bought 10,047 aircraft; more than 9,500 were versions of the C-47 Skytrain, with

Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 1)

a reinforced floor and double doors, and 380 were C-53 Skytroopers. The U. S. Navy called their version the R4D. Some 1,900 went to Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF), which dubbed them Dakotas.

A list of DC-3/C-47 missions would be very long indeed. They “humped” sup-plies over the Himalayas from India to China in World War II, and carried air-borne troops on all major invasions. They took part in the Berlin Airlift, ferried sup-plies and troops into Korea and evacuat-ed the wounded. They fought as heavily armed gunships in Viet Nam. Many mili-tary DC-3s are still in service worldwide, and many developing nations’ airlines, especially in South America and the Car-ibbean, still fly them today for their origi-nal purpose—to carry passengers. But arguably the most important role the type ever played was on June 6, 1944, in the massive Allied sea-and-air invasion of Europe called Operation Overlord.

Build-Up to D-Day

In the spring of 1944, while the U. S. 8th Air Force and Britain’s Bomber Com-mand pounded the Third Reich around-the-clock, the 9th Air Force prepared for the invasion of Normandy. Its mission was to support ground troops during their amphibious landings on the French coast, and during their ensuing sweep into the heart of Germany. Like ten of the 14 9th Air Force Groups, the IX Troop Carrier Command (TCC) had seen no combat before D-Day, and depended on training to master the complexities of large-scale airborne operations. For example, TCC Groups jointly trained with both Ameri-can and British airborne troops in April and May. They also practiced at night, since D-Day paratroopers would land in the pre-dawn hours, and flew supply and medical missions in England. Unlike the “green” TCC Groups, the 9th Air Force Fighter and Bomber commands did en-gage in combat operations before D-Day.

The buildup of aircraft, men and materiel in southern England hit a frantic pace as D-Day neared. Some assembly depots were merely open fields where crews as-sembled gliders to be towed by C-47s and released behind the beachhead. Ima-

gine how the glider pilots must have felt about the prospect of landing unpowered aircraft in darkness on unprepared farm fields behind enemy lines! By D-Day, the IX TCC had 1,200 C-47s and more than 1,400 gliders ready to fly, mainly Ameri-can 15-place WACO CG-4A Hadrians, built by the Weaver Aircraft Company in Troy, Ohio, and British 30-place Horsas from the Airspeed Company factory in Hampshire. While the aircraft, ships and weapons of the D-Day force were read-ied, and while supplies were stockpiled, the nine U. S., British and Canadian divi-sions slated to participate in the invasion trained and honed their skills.

D-Day C-47 Operations

The first wave of the D-Day assault, an armada of troop transport aircraft, mainly C-47s, left airfields in southern England late on June 5 and crossed the Channel at

Featured Aircraft (Continued on page 3)

Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum Second Quarter 2004

Plane Talk Published by War Eagles Air Museum 8012 Airport Road Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008 (505) 589-2000

Newsletter Editor: Terry Sunday Other contributors as noted.

E-mail address: [email protected]

The cockpit of War Eagles Air Museum’s DC-3 is meticulously restored.

Douglas DC-3C Characteristics

Powerplant Various

Maximum Speed 207 mph

Range 1,025 miles

Service Ceiling 23,200 feet

Weight (empty) 16,865 pounds

Weight (max.) 28,000 pounds

Length 64' 5"

Wingspan 95' 0"

Cruising Speed 170 mph

Due to space limitations, Skip Tram-mell’s “From the Director” column does not appear in this issue.


the ground. “Scattered” is the word most often used to describe the drops. Troops from the two divisions landed on each others drop zones, often miles from their planned location, and assembled as best they could while they tried to find each other in the dark. Most of these ad hoc groups of paratroopers consisted of men from different squads, platoons, compa-nies—even different divisions. To com-pound the problem, the pre-mission intel-ligence briefings about conditions in the drop zones were wrong. Instead of the expected flat, smooth pastures, the para-troopers found swamps that the Germans had flooded to deter landings.

The Germans soon caught on and opened fire on the low-flying transports with every weapon they had, shooting many down. Those that survived without too much da-mage flew back to England and returned with gliders. The gli-der pilots were also in for an unpleasant sur-prise, courtesy of bad intelligence. The hed-ges around their land-ing fields, rather than being “easy” to break through, were any-thing but. Most of the gliders wrecked on landing, with many casualties. Glider sor-ties continued all day, bringing in jeeps, ar-tillery and other ma-teriel too large for the C-47s to airdrop.

low altitude. Their mission was to drop “pathfinder” paratroopers in Normandy with equipment to guide the later waves of aircraft to their drop zones. Some were to drop dummy soldiers away from the main beaches, hopefully to confuse the Germans about where the invasion was taking place. Things started to go wrong as soon as they made landfall, when the lead C-47 vanished into a coastal fog bank. Some of the following pilots climbed above the fog. Others descended below it, while still others continued straight-and-level. As a result, the tight formation broke up. Soon German flak batteries opened fire, adding more confu-sion. In the end, very few pathfinders dropped where they were supposed to.

Lacking guidance to the landing sites, the next wave of the invasion faced a huge problem. Thousands of paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions dropped from their C-47s without know-ing where they were or what to expect on

Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 2)

Second Quarter 2004 Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum

War Eagles Air Museum

On The Web

C heck War Eagles’ website for more information on the Mu-seum’s aircraft and automo-bile collections, special event sched-ules, “fun and games” and more, as well as downloadable versions of this newsletter in full color. Our thanks to Bruce Quackenbush and Joe Jones of Artwork Studios in Denver for de-signing and maintaining our highly acclaimed website.

While all this was going on, 130,000 troops stormed ashore from landing craft on “Gold,” “Juno,” “Omaha,” “Sword” and “Utah” beaches along 50 miles of the Normandy coast. As the American, Brit-ish and Canadian assault troops fought their way ashore, they took a long step on the road to victory against the Nazis.

Our records are unclear, but we think the Museum’s C-47 flew 82nd or 101st Air-borne paratroopers on D-Day. We be-lieve it also towed a glider. Postwar, after being modified to a DC-3C (lacking the big cargo door), it flew for 27 years with Phillips Petroleum. Then it carried pas-sengers for at least seven different air-lines from 1973 to 1986. Discredited Or-egon “guru” Rajneesh owned it in 1984.

Regardless of its D-Day mission, the Mu-seum’s C-47/DC-3 is one of the aircraft that made such an important contribution to the U. S. war effort that General of the Armies Dwight D. Eisenhower called the C-47 “one of the four most significant weapons of World War II.”

Welcome to Our New Newsletter Contributor

New War Eagles Air Museum volunteer Jim C. Parker authored the “Featured Aircraft” and “Volunteer Profile” articles in this newslet-ter. A retired Army aviator and a member of the Viet Nam Helicopter Pilots Association, Jim attended the Universidad Nacional de Mexico, in Mexico City and earned B.A. and M.S.S.W degrees from the Uni-versity of Texas in Austin. He published his first novel, The Guevara Legacy, in June 2001, and he’s planning a sequel to the action/adven-ture story. It’s a pleasure to welcome Jim to the ranks of War Eagles’ volunteers. Look for much more of his work in future newsletters.



Volunteer Profile

E mmet E. Cook was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on March 5, 1918. After studying Mechanical Engi-neering at Texas A&M University from 1936 to 1939, he joined the U. S. Army in 1940 and went for pilot training to the Allen Hancock School of Aeronautics in Santa Maria, California. Eliminated from that class, he returned to Texas and got his commercial pilot’s license in 1941. Before the U. S. entered the war, a con-tractor called the Clayton Knight Com-mittee was recruiting pilots for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Emmet took a flight test and passed. The R.C.A.F. extended him an invitation to come fly with them, and sent him a railway ticket to Canada. On December 7, 1941, he was on his way north. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army somehow found him. Recalled to the service, he reported for Bombar-dier School at Houston’s Ellington Field on December 10.

Oral History Project

Ready to Roll

M any of the men and women who volunteer at War Eagles Air Museum served as pilots, aircrew or in other capacities in the U. S. Army Air Corps, the Air Force, the Na-vy, the Marines or the Coast Guard dur-ing World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War or in more recent conflicts. Others are former civilian aviators, test pilots, aircraft mechanics, weather fore-casters or mapmakers. These people rep-resent a priceless store of historical anec-dotes, knowledge and experience.

The War Eagles staff has long wanted to record and preserve our volunteers’ and members’ experiences for posterity. For several reasons, nothing ever came of the desire. But the effort recently progressed from the planning stage to reality, thanks to the U. S. Library of Congress’ Veter-an’s History Project (VHP), and Museum volunteer Bill Messersmith.

The VHP is intended to collect reminis-cences from veterans nationwide. Its au-thorizing legislation, sponsored by Rep-resentatives Ron Kind, Amo Houghton and Steny Hoyer, and Senators Max Cle-land and Chuck Hagel, received unani-mous bipartisan Congressional support. President Clinton signed it into law on October 27, 2000. Under Public Law 106-380, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress is required to collect and preserve audio- and video-

taped oral histories of America’s war vet-erans and those who supported them, as well as related letters, diaries, maps, pho-tographs and home movies. For more in-formation on the VHP, go to:

http://www.loc.gov/folklife/vets/.

Our Las Cruces neighbor, the New Mexi-co Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum (NMF&RHM), did an award-winning or-al history project two years ago on World War II enemy Prisoners of War (POWs) held in local camps, and who worked in the southern New Mexico agricultural fields. Last year, War Eagles volunteer Bill Messersmith, who also volunteers at NMF&RHM, learned about their POW project and saw that it dovetailed nicely with what War Eagles had wanted to do for a long time. Thanks to Bill’s interest and dedication, and with the generous as-sistance of NMF&RHM and the Institute of Historical Survey Foundation in Me-silla Park, War Eagles now has a full set of professional tape recording equipment. More importantly, Bill, as the project lead, has a good understanding of the fundamental principles of conducting or-al history programs, including how to re-solve security or privacy issues.

To provide an appropriate place for Bill to conduct the interviews, we converted the former “apartment” on the first floor of the Museum into a “pilot’s lounge.” Filled with comfortable chairs, a table, good lighting and other amenities, the lounge offers a homey, low-key atmos-phere in which both the interviewer and the interviewee should feel very much at ease. With only a very few more details remaining to be settled, Bill will be ready to begin interviewing by June 15.

If you are a veteran, or if you have “war stories” or experiences that you would not mind sharing with others, regardless of how uninteresting or mundane they may seem to you, please call Bill Mess-ersmith at the Museum (505-589-2000) or at his home (915-833-0367) to sched-ule an interview. Also, if you would like to help out on this project by transcribing the tape recordings, please let Bill know. Thanks to all in advance for helping to record and preserve some of our Nation’s precious heritage.

Frank Harrison (l) reminisces with Bill Messersmith (r), Oral History Project Lead, in the War Eagles pilot’s lounge.

Emmet Cook works on one of his highly acclaimed P-51 Mustang piston bookends.

In 1942, after finishing his bombardier training in Albuquerque at what is now Kirtland AFB, 2nd Lieutenant Cook went to England with the 301st Bomb Group, a B-17 unit that was one of the first to ar-rive. Along with the 97th Bomb Group, it was also the first to fly bombing missions over Europe. In November 1942, both Groups went to 12th Air Force in North Africa, which was commanded by Major General James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle. Emmet and his unit took part in Opera-tion Torch and supported General George S. Patton in his battles with Feldmar-schall Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps.

Volunteer Profile (Continued on page 6)


A lthough June 4, 2004 is the 60th anniversary of D�Day, I de-cided to focus this issue’s col-umn on a later conflict in which U.S. armed forces employed much of the same equipment they used for the Normandy invasion in a completely different envi-ronment. Called by some the “forgotten war,” the 1950–1953 “conflict” in Korea offered some valuable lessons, to those who choose to learn them, that also apply in today’s war on terror. The Korean War taught us not to underestimate the capa-bilities of a determined adversary whom we perceive to be at a disadvantage. This lesson is clear in the story of the MiG-15.

Founded in Moscow in December 1939 by aviation designer Artem Mikoyan, the A. I. Mikoyan OKB (Opytno Konstrukci-jonnoje Bjuro, or Experimental Design Bureau) gained importance in 1942 when accomplished aeronautical engineer Mik-hail Gurevich joined the company. Re-named the Mikoyan and Gurevich OKB (“MiG”—the small “i” indicates the Rus-sian word for “and”), or OKB-155, the company went on to produce some of the world’s most significant aircraft.

Production of the MiG-15 began in 1948, only three years after the Soviet Army, at the Führerbunker in the heart of Berlin,

had finally gained a measure of revenge on the brutal Nazi regime that had oc-cupied and destroyed the industrial heart of the Motherland west of the Ural Moun-tains. Ironically, the MiG-15 owes a lot to

the Focke-Wulf Ta.183, an advanced German jet fighter designed by famed en-gineer Kurt Tank (hence the “Ta” desig-nation) but not built in time for the War. Soviet forces shipped the jigs and plans for the Ta.183 to OKB-155, which built several of the aircraft by 1946.

To appreciate this achievement, imagine the U. S. having to rebuild nearly every home and factory in the Northeast while still producing tanks and aircraft with which to deter a perceived mortal enemy. Also, realize that the largely agrarian So-viet Union had barely entered the indus-trial age in the 1930s. The Nazis virtually destroyed that fledgling industry in 1941. Is it any surprise that the Communist Par-ty leadership took whatever steps were necessary to advance Soviet technology, even to the extent of copying Western or Nazi designs, and plundering captured in-dustrial areas in Eastern Europe?

An evolution of the original Ta.183 de-sign, the MiG-15 used a license-built ver-sion of a modern British centrifugal-flow turbojet engine, the 5,100-pound-thrust Rolls Royce RB.41 Nene. Well suited to unique Soviet operational conditions, the diminutive fighter rolled off newly re-built assembly lines by the thousands. Its designers soon resolved some early teeth-ing troubles, and the aircraft’s simplicity, reliability and ruggedness proved to be real virtues in service. American pilots soon learned just how good the MiG-15 was when they encountered it in combat in the skies over Korea.

To say that the United States was unpre-pared for war in Korea would be an un-derstatement. Early on, the Air Force’s jet aircraft were too few, too slow and too far away. Most of the aircraft initially used in Korea were World-War-II-vin-tage piston-engined “prop jobs” like the venerable Vought F4U Corsair. All but


Historical Perspectives by Robert Haynes

The first production MiG-15 poses on the OKB-155 factory ramp, probably in 1948.

A MiG-15bis of the 351st Fighter Aviation Regiment at Andun airbase, North Korea, in the fall of 1952.

North Korea and China were not the only Communist nations to fly the MiG-15. Nearly every Soviet client state in East-ern Europe also had the aircraft, which NATO dutifully code-named Fagot, by 1960. Modifications such as radar sys-tems, avionics upgrades and missiles

Historical Perspectives (Continued on page 6)

one of the early U. S. jets were straight-wing, underpowered designs. Only North American Aviation’s swept-wing F-86 Sabre would be able to successfully take on the MiG-15. Even so, this most ad-vanced fighter did not reach Korea until after many pilots had died in aircraft far inferior to the MiG-15.

As American pilots got better equipment and gained combat experience, they be-gan to prevail in the air war above Korea. Perhaps the greatest reason why they did so was the rigidity of the Soviet strategy and tactics that governed their aerial ad-versaries. U. S. field commanders had considerable authority to modify their tactics; the Communist commanders did not. This is not to say that restrictions im-posed from above did not decrease the combat effectiveness of U.S. forces. For example, to reduce the risk of increased Chinese involvement in Korea, the U. S. placed military bases in the Chinese terri-tory of Manchuria “off limits” to attack. Predictably, Manchuria soon had many airfields at which MiG-15s sat out in the open—armed, combat-ready and com-pletely immune from attack. This absurd-ity was too much for some U. S. pilots, who occasionally “accidentally” bombed and strafed these airfields.



eventually transformed the ubiquitous MiG-15 from a superb air combat fighter into an excellent ground-attack aircraft. Marking another aviation milestone, in 1952 a MiG-15 was the first jet aircraft to successfully refuel in mid-air. It took on fuel via a hose-and-drogue system from a Tupolev Tu-4 Bull tanker. Ironically, the Tu-4 was a direct copy of Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress, of which the Soviets had obtained several that force-landed in Si-beria after bombing Japan.

The MiG-15 was a phenomenal achieve-ment. When it first appeared in combat, it completely shocked Western observers. No one imagined that the Soviet Union could produce such an advanced aircraft that was also so rugged and dependable. The “backward” Soviet Union went on to surprise the West for many years, with the R-7 Semyorka (the world’s first inter-continental ballistic missile), Sputnik (the world’s first artificial earth satellite) and Yuri Gagarin (the first human in space). Today’s military planners should not for-get this lesson: never underestimate the capabilities of a determined foe.

War Eagles Air Museum has two of the many variants of the MiG-15—a stand-ard Korean-era fighter and a MiG-15UTi Midget two-seat trainer. When you visit the museum, spend a few moments with these aircraft, especially the fighter. Im-agine what a horrifying surprise it must have been to those American pilots who first met it in combat over Korea, diving down on them from out of the sun with guns blazing. Compare it with the F-86, with which it was well-matched in the air. Then you may understand that two completely different and incompatible national ideologies once converged to create aircraft designs of similar beauty, grace and lasting significance.

Sources:

1. Crimson Sky: The Air Battle for Ko-rea, John R. Bruning, 1999, Brassey’s

2. MiG-15 in Action, Hans-Heiri Stapfer, 1991, Squadron/Signal Publications

Historical Perspectives (Continued from page 5) “I was shot down on my 32nd mission,

over Palermo, Sicily,” Emmet said. “We were hit by flak between the number 2 engine and the fuselage…the fuel tank caught fire. I pulled the emergency re-lease cable that was supposed to pull out the lower hatch door’s hinge pins, but it wouldn’t budge. I then released the regu-lar latch and stood on the door, trying to use my weight to push it open…I got it open, but because of the force of the slip-stream, it didn’t open far enough for me to get out. At that moment, the wing burned off and the plane went into a spin. I was pinned against the deck…the plane exploded and I found myself out in the air. Five of the crew didn’t make it out.”

He parachuted to a landing in a patch of cactus, and an Italian goat herder with a rifle detained him. After the Italians in-terrogated him, 1st Lieutenant Cook end-ed up in Stalag Luft 3, a Prisoner of War (POW) camp in German Silesia (now Po-land). Everyone familiar with the “Great Escape” should recognize that name.

When his fellow POWs learned that Em-met had studied Mechanical Engineering and knew “a little bit” of civil engineer-ing, he was asked to help a Flight Lieu-tenant Brian Evans map the camp. Using a transit made from a protractor and a homemade sight, they set baselines and triangulated to measure distances accur-ately. The POWs needed good maps so they could dig escape tunnels. Thanks to Emmet and Brian’s painstaking surveys, the men knew their tunnels would have to be at least 280 feet long to reach the tree line of the surrounding forest.

Improvising everything, the tunnel-dig-gers were amazingly ingenious. They used empty milk tins and a homemade bellows to blow air into the tunnels. With scrounged wiring, they installed electric lights. To get rid of the mine tailings, they sewed drawstring bags into their trouser legs. According to Emmet, “The ‘penguins’ would walk around the camp letting out the tailings a little at a time. We had tons of that dirt to dispense.”

Emmet once tailed a German guard for days, covertly measuring the guard’s ri-

Volunteer Profile (Continued from page 4) fle. A British officer made a German uni-form and carved a fake rifle out of scrap lumber. “Every day the guard escorted prisoners out of camp for work details,” Emmet related. “One day, while the pris-oners distracted the guard…the British officer, in his German uniform and carry-ing his wooden rifle, marched some pris-oners out the front gates! Unfortunately, they were all soon caught…”

In January 1944, Emmet and many other American prisoners were transferred to a new part of the Stalag Luft 3 compound. Just two months later, on March 24, the “Great Escape” took place from the origi-nal compound. “Except for an Allied air raid on Berlin on the night of the escape, which shut down all electricity including the lights in the tunnels, they would have emptied that compound,” Emmet said. Flight Lieutenant Brian Evans was one of 76 POWs who escaped from Stalag Luft 3 on that dark night. All but three were soon recaptured. The infuriated Gestapo later murdered him and 49 others.

Freed in April 1945, after two years, one month and 7 days as a POW, Emmet re-turned to Fort Worth and took a job with Globe Aircraft as a production test pilot for Swifts. His is the first signature in the Airframe Log of War Eagles’ Swift, but that’s no surprise, he said. “As with most all Swifts built in 1946 and 1947, that was all I did, every day. I flew this one again with Jack Bell, the museum’s Chief Pilot, 50 years after I first flew it.” After Globe folded in 1947, Emmet de-livered airplanes for Temco-Vought for a while. Then, figuring there were “too many pilots,” he left flying for the heavy equipment business. In 1950, he took a sales job in El Paso with Hobbs Trailer Company.

A War Eagles volunteer from day one, Emmet specializes in crafting exquisite bookends from P-51 Mustang pistons, which sell in the Museum’s gift shop for about $35.00 per set. All proceeds, of course, directly benefit the Museum.

We salute Emmet E. Cook for his distin-guished service to our country and for his many years of loyal and dedicated volun-teer work. Thanks, Emmet!



W ar Eagles Air Museum sin-cerely thanks the follow-ing organizations for their 2003 support of the Corporate Youth Sponsors Program. Because of their support, student groups in the El Paso/Juarez area can learn about the contri-butions of military aviation to Ameri-ca’s history. For many students, visits to the Museum made possible by do-nations from these sponsors kindle in-terest in aviation and related fields as possible career choices.

Membership Application War Eagles Air Museum

The War Eagles Air Museum collects, restores and displays historic aircraft, mainly from the World War II and Korean War time periods, to encourage awareness and appreciation of military aviation history through exhibits, educational programs and special events. The Museum is a nonprofit organization as defined by the United States Internal Revenue Code. Operated by staff and volunteers, the Museum is supported by funds obtained from admissions, memberships and contributions. All dues and contributions are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

War Eagles Air Museum memberships are available in six categories. All memberships include the following privileges:

Free admission to the Museum and all exhibits. Free admission to all special events. 10% general admission discounts for all guests of a current Member. 10% discount on all Member purchases in the Gift Shop.

In addition, a Family Membership includes free admission for spouses and all children under 18 living at home. To become a Member of the War Eagles Air Museum, please fill in the information requested below and note the category of mem-bership you desire. Mail this form, along with a check payable to “War Eagles Air Museum” for the annual fee shown, to:

War Eagles Air Museum 8012 Airport Road Santa Teresa, NM 88008

NAME (Please print)___________________________________________________ STREET ____________________________________________________________ CITY ______________________________ STATE _____ ZIP _________—______ TELEPHONE (Optional) _____—_____—____________ E-MAIL ADDRESS (Optional) ___________________________________________ Will be kept private and used only for War Eagles Air Museum mailings.

Membership Categories

Individual $15

Family $25

Participating $50

Supporting $100

Benefactor $1,000

Life $5,000

Bronze Silver Gold Platinum

Alamo Industries, Inc. Advanced Aircraft Services West, Inc. Jobe Concrete Products El Paso Aero, Inc.

Frank Borman Jon T. Hansen Robert F. Foster, Inc. El Paso Electric Co.

Coronado Cleaners & Laundry Hussman Ventures, Inc. C. F. Jordan, L.P. William Gardner

Swifco Southwest Aircraft Sales Hunt Building Corp.

J. Cesar Viramontes Jonathan Rogers

War Eagles Air Museum Corporate Youth Sponsors


War Eagles Air Museum

Santa Teresa Airport 8012 Airport Road Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008 (505) 589-2000

Project Status

W ith last year’s all-consuming celebration of the Centennial of Flight, we had to tempor-arily suspend most other Museum activi-ties. Now that we can take a breather, we again call for volunteers to help work off our 30-item project list. Tasks range from researching and documenting Museum artifacts to assembling and restoring air-craft and other displays. Volunteer Frank Harrison has graciously agreed to be the “interim” volunteer coordinator. As such, he tries to match interested volunteers with projects appropriate to their skills and desires. If you’d like to see the list and sign up to help, give Frank a call.

One of the projects we have been plan-ning for a while is to improve our histori-cal artifact displays. Our current display cases are simply folding-leg tables with Plexiglas covers, and some of the signs are inconsistent in style, size and content.

For more information, visit: www.war-eagles-air-museum.com

Fishbed F. We have put a lot of effort into documenting the many markings, warning notices and instructions that are plastered all over the aircraft before we sand it down and prepare it for painting. Most of the stenciling is in German, but some is in Russian. Thanks to volunteers Herman and Seiko Häberling for helping out in translating some of the faded Ger-man words. Also, Museum visitor Lieu-tenant Colonel Thomas Hullena of the Deutsches Luftwaffenkommando at Fort Bliss was kind enough to loan us a book with great photos of East German MiGs that was very helpful in interpreting some of the more obscure markings.

As usual, we can use help on these and all of the other ongoing projects. If you have the desire, inclination, ability and time to help, come on out to the Museum and get involved.

The New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heri-tage Museum donated one of their excel-lent display cases. We will use it as a model to build new cases in our new, fully equipped wood shop. Thanks to volunteer and woodworker Manny Papa-dakis for identifying the power tools and equipment needed for this project. We will also upgrade the exhibit signs on an “as-time-permits” basis.

Another big project, as reported last is-sue, is repainting our Soviet MiG-21PFM

The new Wood Shop has everything nec-essary to do quality woodworking projects.

Documents

The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museumwar-eagles-air-museum.com/newsletters/weam_newsletter_2004-2.pdf · Europe called Operation Overlord. Build-Up to D-Day In the spring of