The Carolinas Aviation Museum is an aviation museum on the grounds of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.
It is one of a very few aviation museums located at an airport which serves as a major hub (Charlotte is the #2 hub for American Airlines). Its centerpiece attraction is the Airbus A320 used on US Airways Flight 1549.
Overview
The museum was founded in 1992 by Floyd and Lois Wilson, and has a collection of over 50 static aircraft and many smaller historic items related to aviation in North and South Carolina. Most of the collection consists of Cold War military aircraft, including several historic jet aircraft from the 1950s and 1960s. Several aircraft came from the closed Florence Air & Missile Museum, Florence, South Carolina. A significant number of aircraft have also come from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and Marine Corps Air Station New River. The museum also operates a number of flying aircraft, and with access to four runways, one over 10,000 feet (3,000Â m) in length, historic aircraft including the B-17, B-24, B-29 and Berlin Airlift C-54 have flown in to visit the museum from time to time.
Until April 2010, the museum was located in the airport's original 1932 hangar, built by the Works Progress Administration. In April 2010, the museum moved into a new facility at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport at 4672 First Flight Drive. The new facility has enabled the majority of the aircraft to be inside a climate-controlled facility along with new displays.
In addition to the main museum, the museum also operates a special collections library, and an offsite collections storage.
In October 2012, the museum became a Smithsonian affiliate.
Facilities
The museum operates two facilities, both located at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport:
- Main museum: This facility contains a wide array of aircraft and artifacts.
- Dolph Overton Aviation Library (Morris Field Drive): This research library contains over 9,000 volumes. This is the largest dedicated historical aviation research archive in North and South Carolina. It is named in honor of Dolphin D. Overton, III, an Air Force Korean War ace from North Carolina. Charles Wagner is the Chief Librarian.
Collections and aircraft
The museum's collections include:
- Major Dolph D. Overton III USAF Photographic Collection
- Piedmont Airlines Historical Society
- Preddy Memorial Foundation (World War II, Preddy Brothers artifacts)
Aircraft on display
- Airbus A320-214 c/n 1044 N106US â€" "Miracle on the Hudson" aircraft
- Beechcraft T-34 Mentor â€" On loan from the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
- Bell AH-1 Cobra â€" On loan from National Museum of the Marine Corps.
- Bell UH-1 Iroquois â€" Former NC National Guard Helicopter
- Bellanca 14-9L Crusair c/n 1037 / N1KQ (State Airlines) â€" Hanging in the D Concourse at the Airport (KCLT)
- Ercoupe 415-C c/n 3805 / N3180H
- Piper Cub (In storage)
- Long/Schweizer Midget Mustang c/n 100001 â€" Goodyear Air Racer
- Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter Serial 53-0335 â€" Texas Air National Guard (Cockpit Only)
- Boeing N2S Kaydet BuNo 15923 / N48272 â€" United States Navy
- Boeing Vertol CH-46D Sea Knight BuNo 153389 USMC â€" Medal of Honor Winner Vietnam War
- Cessna 150 L Serial 15074276 N19253 â€" On display in main museum
- Convair YF-102 Delta Dagger 53-1788 â€" USAF 2nd of 10 YF prototypes produced - SC Air Guard
- Douglas DC-3 N44V (Piedmont Airlines markings) â€" Flyable - Former C-47
- Douglas C-47 Dakota c/n 12907/ 43-49926 â€" Royal Canadian Air Force - Burma Veteran
- Douglas A-26C Invader Serial 44-35752 â€" Donated by Vern Reyburn as "Rude Invader" (Storage)
- Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak BuNo 37972 â€" This was third Skystreak of three, last flown by Scott Crossfield
- Douglas A4D-1 Skyhawk BuNo 142226 â€" US Marines 156th of 2960 built
- Douglas DC-7B N836D (Eastern Airlines) â€" Flyable
- Douglas DC-9-50 N779NC (Delta Air Lines) â€" Last Delta DC-9 to make a flight (from ATL to CLT 2014)
- Grumman Gulfstream II Serial 001 / N55RG (Arrived September 2012 - In storage)
- Grumman OV-1D Mohawk Serial 62-5890 / N1209P â€" United States Army - Vietnam Veteran - Flyable
- Grumman OV-1D Mohawk Serial 62-5874 / N1171Y â€" United States Army - Flyable - Vietnam, Korea, Honduras
- Grumman F-14D Super Tomcat BuNo 161166 of VF-213 â€" The Last F-14 Squadron to see combat
- Kaman HOK-1 BuNo 139990
- McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II BuNo 161397 â€" United States Marines, #3 U.S. Built Harrier / #2 Flight test aircraft - 5000+ hrs of test flight time.
- McDonnell Douglas F-4S Phantom II BuNo 155872 â€" USMC VMFA-235 Barbers Point / MCAS Cherry Point
- McDonnell Douglas F-4S Phantom II BuNo 158353 â€" USMC VMFA-235 Barbers Point / (Cockpit Only)
- McDonnell Douglas F-101B Voodoo Serial 56-0243 â€" Flew with Nevada Air National Guard
- North American T-28B Trojan BuNo 138258 â€" United States Army
- North American T-2A Buckeye BuNo 148239 â€" United States Navy - Last Single Engine Airframe built
- North American F-86L Sabre Serial 52-4159 â€" United States Air Force - (In Storage)
- North American F-100D Super Sabre Serial ?? â€" United States Air Force (In Storage)
- North American F-100D Super Sabre Serial ?? â€" Two seater aircraft - acquired from Evergreen Aviation Museum (Storage)
- LTV A-7E Corsair II BuNo 159971 of VA-72, Desert Storm, USS John F. Kennedy
- Lockheed EC-130E Hercules 62-1857, United States Air Force, Vietnam, Operation Eagle Claw, Grenada, Desert Shield, Desert Storm & Bosnia
- Lockheed TV-1/P-80 (#1) Shooting Star BuNo 33866 â€" United States Marines
- Lockheed P-80 (#2) United States Navy â€" (In Storage)
- Lockheed TV-2/T-33 (#3) Shooting Star Ser ?? United States Navy â€" (In Storage)
- Lockheed TV-2/T-33 (#4) Shooting Star Ser ?? United States Navy â€" (#2 In Storage)
- Republic P-47D Thunderbolt 42-22331 â€" Wreckage from WWII Training Mission Crash - Ocean Isle, NC (In Storage)
- Republic F-84G Thunderjet Serial 53-3253 â€" United States Air Force Korean War Jet Fighter - Donated by Charlotte Aircraft Corporation
- Savoia-Marchetti S.56 Serial 07 â€" On Loan from the Reynolda House Museum of American Art
- Sikorsky HH-3 USAF Jolly Green Giant â€" On Loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force
- Sikorsky S-51 Dragon Fly â€" On Loan from the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
- Sikorsky CH-53A Sea Stallion â€" Loan from the National Museum of the Marine Corps - came from Pax River and Quantico
- Sopwith Camel â€" Replica
- Wright brothers 1902 Wright Glider (Reproduction) â€" On Display at Charlotte-Douglas Airport
- Wright brothers 1903 Wright Flyer (Reproduction) â€" On display in main museum
- Waco CG-15 â€" United States Army Air Forces - In Storage recovered from South Carolina
US Airways Heritage Collection
The museum has possibly the largest collection of artifacts and memorabilia from the various legacy airlines which have merged over the years to form the current US Airways. The largest and most visible artifact is the 'Miracle on the Hudson' Airbus A320. The museum also has a Piedmont Airlines DC-3, with an original airline interior, which still flies to air shows. The airplane sports the US Airways heritage logo just like mainline US Airways jets next to the passenger door.
The collection includes artifacts from:
- Allegheny Airlines
- America West
- Mohawk Airlines
- Piedmont Airlines
- Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA)
- Other legacy carriers
Artifacts include, but are not limited to: dishes, uniforms, manuals, airport signs, old baggage carts, an early de-icing truck, airline models, and a significant amount of documents.
Many of the volunteers at the museum are active and former US Airways employees, including the pilots of the DC-3.
Acquisition of US Airways Flight 1549 Airbus
On 15 January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport for a flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, when multiple bird strikes a few minutes after takeoff forced a ditching in the Hudson River. The ditching and subsequent rescue operations were accomplished without loss of life. The aircraft, an A320-214, was eventually recovered from the river.
In January 2011, the Carolinas Aviation Museum acquired the entire airframe from Chartis Insurance. The airframe was transported by road from its storage location at J Supor & Son Trucking & Rigging Co. Inc. in Kearny, New Jersey to the display facility at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte. The transportation started on June 4 and arrived on June 10, 2011. The road trip took 7 days, and covered 788 miles in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia & North Carolina. J Supor & Son transported the aircraft to the museum. Because the fuselage was transported in one piece, as it was when it was recovered from the river, the truck was 190 feet long. Virtually everything except the passengers' personal effects are still in the airplane. The landing gear pins, fire axe, and the manuals were still in the cockpit, and the Coke cans were still in the food carts.
The airframe has been reassembled and is now on display, in the same configuration as it was when it was pulled out of the Hudson River in January 2009. The airframe is being conserved, as opposed to restored, with dents from the birds and tugboat. In addition to the airframe, Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles have contributed their uniforms to the museum's 1549 exhibit.
The aircraft arrived in June 2011, and reassembly of the main components took about one year. The engines arrived in May 2012 and were planned to be reassembled in time for the fourth anniversary of the landing in the Hudson (January 15, 2013). The museum opened a major new exhibit about flight 1549, with artifacts such as Captain Sullenberger's uniform in August 2012.
See also
- List of aerospace museums
- Myrtle Beach Air Force Base
References
External links
- Video about the move of the airplane (June 2011)
