CAP display at Nat. Military History Center

[RiverAux]

According to a news article the National Military History Center in Auburn, Indiana opened up a CAP display today.

http://www.militaryhistorycenter.org/

[alamrcn]

Couldn't find the story on the website 

Todd Engelman, on the National Historian's staff and CAPTalker, is the primary driver and contributer to this display. I'm sure he'll be on here shortly to bring us all up to speed on the project!

[LTC Don]

This is the only thing that came up with a search of "patrol".  Searched on "civil" and "cap" also with no results.

http://www.militaryhistorycenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70:the-home-fronts&catid=52:exhibits&Itemid=71


Cheers,

[James Shaw]

There were about a dozen or so who contributed. Todd loaned a lot of pieces from his person collection for a few years. It is the largest CAP display in the US. Article being written now by an Indiana wing PAO.

[RiverAux]

Couldn't find the story on the website 

Todd Engelman, on the National Historian's staff and CAPTalker, is the primary driver and contributer to this display. I'm sure he'll be on here shortly to bring us all up to speed on the project!

There isn't a story on the web site.  I received a google news alert that mentioned it.  I did go through the website and it is mentioned in there, but there aren't any photos.

[PlaneFlyr]

Sorry for not getting on here sooner and updating everyone. 

The National Military History Center did an outstanding job with the display.  It was great that such a fine museum was willing to give us a voice. 

The exhibit has about 1000 sq ft of wall space, four display cases, and a Stinson 10A that flew from our coastal patrol base in Falmouth, MA during WWII (donated by Margie Sambold, fmr NHWG/CC, in memory of her husband Albert Sambold, also a former NHWG/CC). 

Several local news crews were there.  MGen Courter and myself were interviewed by channel 22.  Two newpapers had stories about the exhibit: http://www.fwdailynews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7921:Civil-Air-Patrol-exhibit-
unveiled&catid=174:features&Itemid=9
and http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/95265364.html. 

I hate trying to list names of those who helped make this happen for fear of leaving anyone out, but I'll give it a shot.  The Ft. Wayne Composite Squadron color guard performed at the museums Memorial Day service prior to the dedication ceremony, and again at the CAP dedication.  INWG/Asst. PAO Lindsay Shipps led us in singing the national anthem (and also helped me with a large amount of the planning... Thanks).  Speakers at the dedication included Chaplain David Harness (INWG/chaplain), Bob Krafft (Kruse Foundation executive director), Chauncey Spencer II (regional president of the Tuskegee Airmen), myself, Col. Richard Griffith (INWG/CC), MGen Amy Courter (CAP Nat'l CC), and Lt Col Ray Lyon (who also MC'd the dedication).  Richard Flowers brought a glider from OHWG for static display, but the weather made that unsafe. 

Maj. Jim Shaw loaned me a flag from his personal collection that flew over the Falmouth coastal patrol base, and we were able to reunite it with the plane that flew over it on the way out over the ocean to protect our shores, for the first time in 67 years.  Jim also did a lot of the original planning for this exhibit, along with Col Len Blascovich.  Their participation was instrumental. 

The Stinson was a big project that involved the Sambold family, Ralph and Kathy Bruns (INWG), LtCol Ray Lyons, and a bunch of other people (sadly, I don't know all the names).  They restored the plane, transported it halfway across the country, reassembled it at the museum, and suspended it from the ceiling at the museum. 

A few folks from the museum who were instrumental: Bob Krafft (exec director), Josh Conrad (curator), Jaime Boswell (PR and events), and Emily Disbro all made this exhibit and dedication ceremony happen.  Thanks.

I hope many of you get a chance to visit the NMHC if you're ever near Auburn, IN.

[James Shaw]

Indiana museum's Civil Air Patrol exhibit opens today
     
    A major display on the WW II Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is being dedicated at the National Military History Center in Auburn, Indiana, today at 1 p.m., local time.
    The centerpiece of the display is a restored Stinson 10-A that flew from Coastal Patrol Base 18 in Falmouth, Mass.
    The large display covers a few thousand square feet of exhibit space below the plane, and features approximately 600 vintage photos which CAP curator and interim executive director of the CAP Historical Foundation [CAPHF], Maj. Jim Shaw, worked hard to gather from many sources.
    CAP Lt. Col Todd Engelman loaned over 100 artifacts from his personal collection.
                                                                           
    The display is the main focus of the museum's interpretation of the home front in WW II. It is also the only display known to cover  the CAP's wartime service nationwide. Historically, more attention has been focused on the U-boat chasing activities of the CAP's Coastal Patrol on the East and Gulf coasts while ignoring other less dramatic, but equally important, inland missions.
    The museum opened in 2003. It attracts 70,000 visitors a year - a number that increases annually. The founders and staff of the museum are especially patriotic people with a deep sense of gratitude to America's military.
    CAP Lt. Col . Ray Lyon initiated and took the lead on the project, but is quick to say that it took lots of people to make this happen. "I was the vice commander of the New Hampshire Wing when CAP Col. Margie Sambold, the wing commander, asked me if I had any suggestions for what she could do with a Stinson 10-A left in the estate of her late husband, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Al Sambold, a Strategic Air Command (SAC) navigator and former CAP New Hampshire wing commander." She donated the plane and the bomb mounted on its underbelly. The propeller was donated by Col. Mary Feik, of Annapolis, Md. The plane was restored by volunteers from Keyson Aviation, in Nashua, N.H., assisted by other members of the CAP's New Hampshire Wing.             
    Keyson Aviation was brought to the project by the CAP's present New Hampshire Wing commander, Col. Don Davidson. "CAP Lt. Col. Ralph and CAP Maj. Kathy Bruns, of Indianapolis, met me and the plane when it arrived in Indiana and helped me to re-assemble it, along with 1st Lt. Anita Bocan, of the CAP's Pennsylvania Wing, and the museum staff," he said.
    Lyon received the Exceptional Service Award from the CAP last year for his work to advance CAP history.
    Lyon also thanked the museum staff. The museum has been especially welcoming to this exhibit and was patient through some of the tribulations. Bob Krafft,  the museum's executive director, has stood behind this project through thick and thin - and there were some very thin times.
    No one has been more enthusiastically persistent than Josh Conrad, the museum's curator, who researched, designed and hung the exhibit with other staff members. Along the way, he had to go through three coats of red paint before the staff decided the color didn't work and abandoned it for olive drab.
    Jaime Boswell, who works in public relations for the museum, assisted with publicity and catering plans.
    "A lot of friendships have been forged through this work," Lyon stated.
    A dedication ceremony and reception for about 60 people was planned by CAP Lt. Col. Todd Engelman, of Ohio, and his assistant, Lt. Lindsey Shipps, of the CAP's Indiana Wing.
    Maj. Gen. Amy S. Courter, the CAP's national commander spoke at the dedication, which was also attended by ranking officers from the CAP's Illinois and Indiana wings. Courter mentioned that, for 70 years, one major mission for the CAP has been search and rescue. "This is a rescue of little-known history which has been accomplished by the same sort of teamwork," she said.
    A color guard from the CAP's Ft. Wayne, Indiana, squadron that won the color guard competition for Indiana, opened and closed the ceremony.
    There were some special guests at the dedication. Stacy Letton, the niece of Willa Beatrice Brown, was one. Willa Brown was raised in Indiana and taught in the Gary, Indiana, public schools before she decided she needed more adventure. She went to Chicago, where she met up with two African-American men, Cornelius Coffey and John Robinson, who had established a flight school. She learned to fly. To promote the school, she would stride into the offices of The Chicago Defender in her white aviator's outfit. She was so striking that "all the typewriters stopped clacking." The Chicago Defender is a major African-American newspaper that has had a readership and historic significance way beyond Chicago. And Willa Brown was the first African-American to lead a CAP squadron.
    Because many states had no integrated schools of aviation, African-Americans interested in aviation migrated to the Coffey School - some of them finding their way there through The Defender. Many of the Tuskegee Airmen were trained at the Coffey School - or their trainers were.   
    The crew from this flight school was also instrumental in working through the Civilian Pilots Training program to integrate the military. Chauncy Spencer and Dale L. White made a challenging flight to Washington, D.C., where they met with Sen. Harry S. Truman, of Missouri, and Sen. Everett Dirksen, of Illinois, to ask for Congressional funding to train the Tuskegee Airmen. Taking a look at the small battered plane Spencer and White flew from Chicago, Truman said, "Well, I guess if you could fly this plane here, we can help you out."
    Chauncy Spencer's son, Chauncy E. Spencer, who attended the school, has spent a lifetime promoting an awareness of the contributions of African-Americans to this history.  The CAP was honored to have him participate in the ceremony.
    This exhibit is a milestone accomplishment for the CAP Historical Society. Two smaller, localized exhibits are being prepared at the Icehouse Museum in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and the Cape Cod Military History Museum, in Bourne, Mass. And there are very preliminary talks about installing a display, with plane, in the Portland, Maine, airport which handles just under two million passengers a year.
    The Civil Air Patrol is a private, congressionally-chartered corporations that acts as the Auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force when requested by the secretary of the Air Force. Head-
quartered at Maxwell AFB, Ala., its Web site is at www.gocivilairpatrol.com .

[alamrcn]

Maybe someone (with Firefox and a Flash capture program?) can grab the video here...
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/95265364.html?video=pop&t=a

A FANTASTIC JOB done by everyone who had a hand in the display and related festivities. Auburn is now on my long list of "must visit before dying" places )

If photos were taken of the individual parts of the display, I'd love to see them!