Museum News & Views - 2003/03

March 2003 159
THE END of the year is nearly here, and
while many might think this is a slow time
for the National Model Aviation Museum, it
is quite the opposite. Behind the scenes, the
museum staff utilizes the off-season to work
on a variety of projects that they are unable
to complete during the spring and summer
months.
Following several months of work, the
Lee Renaud Memorial Library has been
enlarged, taking over the room previously
occupied by the theater. The new space
allows us to increase the number of
bookshelves available while also providing
visitors better access to the collection.
Librarian Rich LaGrange (R), and
volunteers O.C. Stewart and Scott
Cheslik finish the shelving in the
renovated library.
If you cannot visit the library, do not
forget to contact us if you need information
on your next aeromodeling project. We
might have a three-view or key bit of
information that could assist you.
At the same time, if you have aviation
books from a past project collecting dust,
keep the library and your fellow modelers in
mind. We are always interested in adding to
the collection and happily accept donations.
However, as we try to limit duplicates,
please contact the library staff first so that
we might compare your collection to ours.
As is nearly every aviation museum
worldwide, we are busy preparing a special
exhibit about the Wright Brothers. Our
exhibit, entitled “Spinning Tops to Whirling
Props: The Wright Brothers Progress in
Aviation,” will focus primarily on the years
1878-1905.
In 1878 the brothers were introduced to
flight when, as Orville stated in a 1930
deposition for the court case Regina C.
Montgomery et al vs. the United States,
“Father brought home to us a small toy
actuated by a rubber spring which would lift
itself into the air.”
By 1905 they had succeeded, with their
Wright Flyer III, in creating the world’s first
practical airplane.
Highlights of the exhibit will include a
drawing of the flying toy done by Orville in
1920, and an interactive, full-scale, 1905
wing section combined with a Wright Flyer
model. This hands-on portion will enable
visitors to actually lie down on the wing and
see how the various control inputs affected
the 1905 Wright Flyer.
Other staff and volunteer projects in the
works include building an RCAD (Remotely
Controlled Airplane Demonstrator) for
permanent display in the museum, and
creating and constricting a helicopter
version of an RCAD.
Currently, the museum’s only RCADs are
the ones taken to tradeshows and Education
Outreach programs. Permanent RCADs will
ensure that museum visitors will always have
the oportunity to experience the basics of
Radio Control flight.
Museum Curator Michael Smith is working
on the helicopter RCAD.
We are making progress in our goal to
make the museum an interactive experience
for visitors. Rather than trying to compete
with the plethora of readily available
computer flight simulation games, we want
to create three-dimensional displays, unique
to our museum.
The new “hands-on” gallery with the two
traveling RCADs and three computer
simulators.
Along with the RCAD projects, we have
planned a hands-on display that will allow
visitors to fly an airplane in a wind tunnel.
A new theater is being constructed in the
back of the museum. Much larger than the
previous theater, it will double as a
classroom with tables and chairs that will
enable instruction to groups of 20-30. The
tables will fold into the perimeter walls
when not in use.
An exhibit on balsa wood and
reorganizing the museum’s model airplane
engine display are also planned. Of course,
there is the never-ending process of
inventory ...
Museum News & Views
Michael Smith
National Model
Aviation Museum
Curator
Tel.: (765) 287-1256
Ext. 500
[email protected]
Build and Fly.com
The Academy of Model Aeronautics Education Web site, www.buildandfly.com, is
the work of the Education Committee. Our mission is to promote model aviation as an
educational tool, in formal classroom and non-formal, after-school settings.
We seek to assist classroom teachers to integrate aerospace education concepts into
math, science, social studies, language arts, and technology education programs.
Curriculum support and materials for science classroom programs may be found in
the Inventing Flight Schools curriculum, written to celebrate the centennial of flight of
the Wright brothers.
Support for non-formal after-school programs such as Science Olympiad or
Technology Student Association competitions may be found in program search.
If you are seeking mentor assistance with any of these initiatives, you may find the
details about how to locate one in your area in the modeling educator listing.
Scott Cheslik sorts through various
engines as part of the redesign of the
engine exhibit.
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