Growing Pains
It occurred to me recently that growth often comes at the expense of comfort. We need to step out of our zone of comfort to explore new possibilities, to seek out rewarding opportunities, and to meet new challenges.
This type of situation describes where we are now at the museum. We are currently facing one of our greatest challenges to date, a challenge that promises a huge return on our investment of time and money. It is the type of challenge which will define us in the years to come, and which will strengthen our connection to community and to history. But there is yet some heavy lifting to be done.
As is well known by now, we will be moving to a new museum by the end of 2024. This is a situation where much needed growth and expansion is driving us to seek out solutions to questions we have not been asked before. There is excitement in the air. The museum is buzzing with activity, as people meet to coordinate the move and all that comes with transferring our collection to the new facility.
Will we be creating a new exhibition in the New Museum? Yes! Will there be activities for school groups and children? Yes! Simulators and night vision room?? Yes and Yes! And so much more! You will be thrilled!
Observations From the Museum! Did you know…?
Barry Meldrum-Executive Director
A picture is worth a thousand words!
We all know this saying. It has become very much a cliché when describing the power of an image, or for advertising purposes as it was originally coined. However, photographs are essential in everyday operations of museums and galleries. They are used to maintain database records of objects within the collection. We use them as condition records, insurance records, proof of title, exhibition research, loan agreements, advertising, and so much more.
But one of the fun things about having a photographer around when documenting objects from the collection is the potential to learn more about that object. This time was no exception!
The photo shows photographer Ric Colgan handling a set of PBY beaching gear from our exhibition. The inscription on the wall indicates that this particular set – which includes the smaller set for the rear fuselage- was manufactured in Vancouver, British Columbia, for the Canadian Air Force.
Personally, I never doubted it. However, with the unbiased perspective of the photo lens, we were able to discover an error in that text panel notation. Nearly indistinguishable from the years of corrosion and handling, the affixed label clearly indicated it had been manufactured by Vickers Canada, for the RCAF, in 1943. I quickly became excited, because I knew the significance of that little serial number plate.
Vickers Canada, during WWII, was a Canadian plant very much implemented in the manufacture of aircraft, among other things, used for the war effort.1
Having grown up in Montreal, Quebec, and adding to the fact my grandfather retired from Canadair (which was formerly known as Vickers), I recognized that this set of beaching gear was made in Ville Saint-Laurent, Quebec, and not in B.C., as cited. Certainly, a small nuance for the casual observer, but an important point to understand, when discussing aircraft production in WWII.
Special thanks to Ric Colgan for his photography of our vast collections, and for his ongoing work with the interview
series “In Their Words”. Many people at the luncheon appreciated Ric’s work on the Fly-Thru for the new museum exhibition.
1Canadian Aviation and Space Museum; “Vickers to Bombardier” ville.montreal.qc.ca)
I am so excited about the coming months. Our new museum building is taking shape and we are in anticipation of the move by next Spring. It is going to be a big project to get all of the exhibits in the new building and also have much more useful space. We are advertising for people to contribute through an Impact 25 campaign for naming rights to the different rooms, a flag plaza with benches, blocks and bricks with names of beloved service members and units.
Coming up on May 11 will be the Celebration of Flight dinner and that is always a special event with many auction items and especially the desserts.
This year the Pacific Northwest Naval Air Museum will be sponsoring Oak Harbor’s Memorial Day Service of Remembrance ceremony on Monday, May 27.
Thanks to Joe Manhardt for allowing us to host the Exclusive Book Launch for his TWO (!) new, expanded and revised editions of his photographic inventory of NASWI Squadrons and Operations at OLF! If you missed the Book Signing Launch Event, please stop by the Gift Shop to check them out! We are super proud to be participating with Mr. Manhardt as the exclusive retailer! Pictured above on the left, Board President Judy Lewis greets Mr. Manhardt at the Launch Kick
off and on the right, Museum Member Martha Yount and Mr. Manhardt give a thumbs up with Museum Patron Dave Klanica, who was stopping by on his way back to Blaine after having spent the weekend at Museum of Flight’s NorthWest Scale Modelers Show. A fan of Black Cats, Mr. Klanica (with his son and friend in tow) spent 2 hours checking out the mu seum; he completed the Scavenger Hunt, rubbed elbows with Mr. Manhardt and Ms. Yount, and then bought oodles of T -shirts to take home! Great! Once home, Mr. Klanica emailed and said, “Thanks for the great tour of your museum today! I’ve been meaning to come over there for awhile now and glad we made the trip. And thanks for the guidance on the scavenger hunt. I might have been there a few more hours if not for the tour… Looking forward to our next trip over and I’m pulling out one of my Black Cat kits to get in line for the workbench.” Thanks to everyone who helped make Book Launch Day a tremendous success!
Kelly M Davidson
Manager, Visitor Services and Public Programs
Submitted by Gregg Nebel, PNWNAM Collections Manager
Lots going on in the world of PNWNAM Collections these days! Maybe it’s the approach of Spring but there’s a busy bustle and buzz in the Collections warehouse and Library these days. Great to see, to hear, and to be a part of! There’s a ramp up to organize and prepare the Collections for relocation later this year, a solid start organizing and inventorying airplane parts in the warehouse and Outside Display Area, increased onboarding of new Collections team volunteers, the rollout of new policies and the associated strategic implementation, and the close to completed repair and upgrade of the Night Vision Goggle exhibit.
Notable projects to call out are the implementation of policies and processes which more closely align PNWNAM Collections practices to recognized and desired Museum practices. The new accessions and de-accessions process has been adjusted to meet the Collections Policy and is now driven by the Collections team’s presentation of recommendations about artifacts and objects to the Museum Foundation’s Board of Trustees Accessions Committee. This Committee reviews and then presents the recommendations for a vote by the Board of Trustees. The subsequent decisions about accessioning, de-accessioning, and other disposition of objects and artifacts are then communicated back to the Collections team for execution and follow through. The first exchange in this new process happens in late February.
A second and supporting process implementation is meant to centralize and standardize Past Perfect data input and management. Current practice enables several people in Collections with access to Past Perfect whilst that mitigates workload and backlogs, it means an uneven quality of data during input, i.e. application of an object’s lexicon, nomenclature, or description. This in turn impacts the ability to efficiently search and research the Museum’s Collections. The recently designated post of Museum Collections Registar now becomes the central point of Past Perfect data management including data input. Additional responsibilities of the Registar are to support the Museum’s preservation, restoration, and education programs. The first exchanges for this new process happen in late February and early March.
The focus of the Collections team in 2024 is moving towards operation in more of a ‘Museum Format’ and with clearer accountability. Coming out fo January, the collections team has almost doubled in size to 9 active members. The Collections team leadership includes Gregg Nebel, Collections Manager; Steppe Willford, Collections Librarian; and Bruce Roberts, Move Planning/IT ? Finance Committee Representative.
The Collections team welcomed several new joiners recently. Jane Cuthbertson joined the team as the Collections Assistant Librarian in late January and has been working closely with Steppe Williford preparing the Library to relocate later this year. Andy Cummings, a retired Navy CPO and AM(S), signed up with us in early February and is leading our Aircraft Preservation and Restoration activities. And about that same time, Erica Ray joined us as the Collections Registrar bringing a strong background in database management, inventory management, and a Medieval History degree.
On February 12, Executive Director Barry Meldrum and Collections Manager Gregg Nebel visited the Puget Sound Navy Museum and the Naval Undersea Museum, two US Navy museums in Kitsap County. They met with the respective Museums’ Managing Directors and Collections Managers who generously shared information about management practices, overseeing medium sized collections, and preparing for AAM accreditations. They led informative tours of the Museums’ public exhibits as well as behind the scenes views in their Collections departments. Barry and Gregg came back with several ideas for best practice handling of artifacts and objects, compelling presentations of more informative public exhibits, and the roles and purpose of props and facsimiles in public exhibits. As well as a broader network of engagement and colleagues in the PNW regional Museum world.
The state of Washington—home to Boeing Company and multiple Airforce and Naval installments—is an inspiring environment for future aviators to grow up in. Local museums often plant these seeds of aspiration for the youth. One of these organizations, the Pacific Northwest Naval Air Museum—also abbreviated to PNWNAM—is located in Oak Harbor and offers many inter active exhibits that introduce new traditions in their mission to bring their love for planes to many Washingtonians, young and old.
Oak Harbor has a strong connection with the navy, after all they are home to the largest naval base in the Pacific North west and one of the biggest in the United states. The museum is a waystation for people related to aviation. Many of the docents that volunteer at the museum have either served in the Armed Forces or are actively serving at NAS Whidbey. Because of these connections, the museum has acquired a multitude of navy related artifacts and equipment. Most notably of these historical relics is the museum’s prized PBY-5A Catalina, known for its search and rescue operations. Additionally, they have a night vision training station that the Navy donated, which was previously used to train pilots to hunt for targets or runways with. “Our technology, our museum technology right now is traditional, we’ll call it,” says Barry Meldrum, the PNWNAM Executive Director when asked about the use of technology—specifically, digital screens. “It’s basically looking at [and] seeing artifacts. It’s the kind of thing we say in museums: You really can’t google the stories”.
Even with all these, the PNWNAM looks to expand its connections and exhibits with the construction of a new building six times larger than the current building, with the goal of moving to it at the end of the summer 2024. “We have kind of limited space here,” says Mr. Meldrum, “Our focus is to bring more attention, create a larger footprint, and increase the knowledge of our branding outside of this area.” In the new building there will be new exhibits to help commemorate other parts of the rich history of Ault Field. While most of the plans are not set in stone yet, some potential future plans include adding other planes like the P3, the P8, and the EA6 to highlight the importance of electronic warfare in modern times and the evolution of aircraft, from plane to plane, past to present. “We’re gonna have a lot more space, and we can show the progression of the engineering that it took to grow from this bird to this bird to this bird.” says Kelly Davidson, Program Manager at the PNWNAM, “And that’s really fascinating…” The Naval Air Station is on Whidbey island because of the need to track submarines after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which is why the museum prizes its main attraction, the PBY-5A plane. “They were deploying that project from this base and back in the Cold War, we were really hunting submarines. And so the SOSUS project was hunting the submarines from underneath and the PBYs were hunting submarines from on top of the water” says Kelly Davidson, when explaining the museum’s focus was on surveillance aircraft. All of these new exhibits are fascinating, and hopefully many of them make it into the final iteration of the new museum building.
Another important piece of the PNWNAM is the events they put on and the partnerships they have. For one, the PNWNAM is partnered with the Museum of Flight. If you have a membership at the MoF, you can get free admission to the PNWNAM and vice versa, along with many other museums. Looking to the future, one of the main events the PNWNAM is preparing for is the 100th anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the world by plane. This event is happening at Magnuson Park, where the round the world flight ended, on September 26-29th, 2024. Both the PNWNAM and the Museum of Flight will be pre sent there. The PNWNAM plans to bring the model Nimitz aircraft carrier that they tow in parades to one of the hangars for people to see at the event, with other museums and corporations bringing planes and other exhibitions. “If you love airplanes, [you] gotta be there.” advises Kelly. The PNWNAM is a museum that seeks to educate and guide people to the Navy and it will only get better as the museum puts into motion the plans for growth. The PNWNAM is an educational, inspirational, and accommodating environment, suitable for all ages that want to learn more about the Navy, Planes, and the future of aviation.
