Throttle Up!
A letter from your president
Winter 2019
This has been a busy and productive quarter at VAHS!
In September, in conjunction with the Shannon Air Museum, we hosted representatives of the Fredericksburg Regional Hospitality Council. These events help us share with community members, our work here at the VAHS and to encourage tourists to visit us at the Shannon Airport Campus. On September 27, the Warrenton Chapter invited me to present The History of Aviation session at their monthly meeting. Thank you, Dave Darrah, Chapter president! The month ended with an exciting visit to our campus from the Spirit of Freedom C-54 from the Berlin Airlift Foundation, which many of our members stopped by to tour.
The month of October brought several trips to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum with Fredericksburg Chapter sustaining members Butch Cover and Tom Doran. Our mission was to retrieve numerous donated display cases and rail mounts for the Shannon Air Museum. Special thanks go to Pete Stern and the Smithsonian crews for their assistance and generosity.
The Society’s Strategic Planning Committee met twice this quarter. Recommendations are expected to be delivered to the board early in 2020. The fifth annual Shannon Harvest Festival, sponsored by the Shannon Air Museum and Shannon Airport, was held on October 26th. . Both Fredericksburg and Warrenton Chapter members contributed to ground and air operations to help make the event a huge success. On November 20, I delivered an overview of the Shannon Air Museum collection to the Virginia Aerospace Business Association in Hampton. Also presenting at that meeting was Society board member Jerod Hoogland of the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach.
Your president attended a workshop conducted by the Virginia Association of Museums entitled Serving the Differently-Abled: Neurodiversity in Museums held in Newport News. Also, in December, your VAHS office administrator, Sue Baker, celebrated her two-year anniversary with the Society. Thanks, Sue, for all you do!
Finally, the third meeting of the newly forming Richmond Chapter was held at Chesterfield Airport on December 17. Thanks go out to members Tim Donnellan and Van Crosby for helping to coordinate this meeting. The speaker was Bud Southall who discussed his role in developing and testing the lunar landing module for the Apollo 11 project.
It’s through the generous support of our members that our important projects are made possible. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society!
A Joyous Holiday Season to all and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!
Ray Gill
President, Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society