Our Silver Anniversary 1990 - 2015
The Glenn L. Martin
Maryland Aviation Museum
Summer 2015
The Maryland Flight Log
$2.50
Members take a tour of C Basement, where there are now two dedicated areas for engine restoration.
Members Go Where Few Have Gone Before
The Museum’s first membersonly event on May 23 was a success by any measure.
The weather was perfect for
the 51members, including volunteers who doubled as greeters, museum guides, static line
guides, and tour guides. The
Museum was closed to the public for the day, so members had
four hours to enjoy an Open
Cockpit experience without the
lines, and to see parts of the
Museum normally accessible by
special appointment.
Speaker Series
July 6: Robert Dorr on World
War II aircraft
Aug. 3: Tom Jones on “Martin’s
B-26B Flak-Bait: Resurrecting a
Magnificent Marauder”
Sept. 7: Jon Guttman on World
War II fighter planes
Oct. 5: Roger Miller on the
1943 raid on Ploesti
Ted Cooper led two groups
to the C Basement restoration
area. Part of the space is eclectic
display: models (not to scale, the
effect can be jarring) of aircraft
that have flown into Patuxent
River Naval Air Station (where
the display was once housed),
the Spirit of Maryland, a balloon
basket. Part of it is being transformed into a storage area for
some of the Museum’s archives
collection, where it can be partially climate-controlled. That
area will include a cedar closet
Other Events
June 27: Amy Nathan (author of
“Yankee Doodle Gals”) on women
pilots of World War II
June 27: Fill Shoes for Victory
Aug. 8: Open Cockpit
Sept. 19: Hangar Dance and Silent
Auction
for the Museum’s collection of
clothing and uniforms. Deep in
the bowels of C Basement, the
Aircraft Committee has made
two areas dedicated to engine
restoration, one for piston engines and the other for jet engines. John Steele was working
on a Pratt & Whitney 2800, and
was happy to answer questions
about the engine and engine restoration.
Stan Piet greeted visitors in
the Archives, and explained the
Museum’s collection of ephemera and how it (and the history it
represents) are being preserved.
Members got a couple of additional treats: a Museum mug,
and a chance to meet and chat
with other members over drinks
and munchies. The day ended
with a new member and two new
volunteers.
Walsh to be Honored
at Sept. Hangar Dance
Get ready to party like it’s
1945 on Saturday, September 19!
Hangar 1 at Martin State Airport will be transformed for the
Museum’s first hangar dance.
Brig. Gen. (ret.) Guy Walsh, a
member of the Museum’s Board
of Directors, will be honored
as a Friend of the Museum.
Guy served 31 years in the Air
Force and Maryland Air National Guard, commanding at the
squadron, group and wing levels and logged more than 4,500
flight hours. He is a life member
of the Museum, has loaned numerous items relating to his Air
Force service to the Museum
Continued on Page 3
© 2015 The Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum, Inc. P.O. Box 5024 Middle River, MD 21220
Letter from the Director
We’re Proud to Show Off to Our Members
On May 23, we thanked our members with
our first members-only day. The Museum
was closed to the public, and members got
a chance to see things that are normally unavailable.
We appreciate the faith you have placed
in us as stewards of Maryland’s aviation history, and this was our chance to show you
our best. And, from what we overheard, you
enjoyed yourselves.
Open Cockpit happens just five times
a year, and its increased popularity often
means long lines to sit in one of our planes.
No such problem when it was members-only. Plenty of time to sit, imagine, pose for a
photo (no selfie prohibition), and members
took full advantage.
No special appointment was needed to
visit Stan Piet in the Archives, and learn
about the treasure trove of Martin Company, Glenn L. Martin and Maryland aviation
ephemera.
Members also got a too-rare chance to
see all the historic items stored in Lockheed
Martin’s C Building basement. Volunteers
got to show all the work that they have been
doing over the years in restoration, includ-
Your Museum
Board Chairman: Jane Michael
Executive Director: Bob Byrnes
Archivist: Stan Piet
Aircraft Committee: Ted Cooper,
Jeff Michael
Administrative Coordinator: Jane Michael
Education/Special Events/PR: Debi Wynn
Treasurer: John DiPietro
Volunteer Coordinator: Theresa Brinkerhoff
Visit Us:
701 Wilson Point Road
Hangar 5, Suite 531
Middle River, MD 21220
www.MdAirMuseum.org
w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / g l m .
marylandaviationmuseum
twitter.com/
MdAirMuseum
Contact Us:
(410) 682-6122
[email protected]
Page 2
Al Hintenach, left, chats with Gene Regester about people they knew at the
Martin Company. Al, 99, worked at Martin until he joined the Army Air Corps
in World War II. He stopped by the say hello and get a ride in the CAF B-24.
He piloted a B-24 on 50 missions.
ing a WWII glider that is being reborn. and
other unfinished projects that still beckon.
People were impressed by the area set aside
to restore the historic aircraft engines. What
could be more impressive than a 27-cylinder
Triple Wasp engine? And the Museum has
two!
We had 51 attendees, including organizers. Lots of positive feedback. At least one
new member and two new volunteers. The
Museum is looking at the possibility of more
member-only days to make membership
even more valuable to our supporters. What
do you think?
This spring has been nonstop at the Museum. Besides the usual scheduled speakers
and Open Cockpit days, the Museum sponsored a bus trip to the Smithsonian’s UdvarHazy Center where we were given a special
Highlights from
March Board Meeting
At our quarterly board meeting in March,
the Board of Directors welcomed a new
member, Mike Simons. Mike is currently
the director of the National Electronics Museum in Linthicum (near BWI). He brings a
wealth of experience, and we are pleased to
have him join us. Welcome, Mike.
The Volunteer Committee has welcomed
several new volunteers, and two training sessions were held to help the newcomers learn
the procedures in the gift shop. Also, in the
gift shop, we have instituted a scanning system for sales, admissions, etc., which helps to
keep track of all the transactions.
The Grant Committee meets monthly to
review current grants and to look for new
opportunities.
behind-the-scenes tour of the Restoration
Center, where the B-26 Flak Bait has center
stage.
The airport hosted the Commemorative Air Force AirPower History Tour that
brought in the B-29 Fifi, B-24 Liberator
Diamond Lil, P-51 Mustang Gunfighter and
C-45 Expeditor Bucket of Bolts for a long
weekend. We got a chance to meet a lot of
people and make new friends. Several World
War II veterans showed up, including some
who manned bombers during the war.
That same weekend, several Rosie the Riveters were honored for their contributions to
winning the war, which ended 70 years ago.
A special commemorative pin was issued by
the Museum and given to the Rosies and the
high school students from Notre Dame Prep
and others who dressed up to show their appreciation.
As we catch our breath, more activities lie
ahead, including more Open Cockpit days
and Monday speakers. And crowning our
celebration of the end of World War II will
be the Museum’s first hangar dance! Dust
off your dancing shoes and get ready to enjoy what promises to be the biggest fundraiser ever.
Thank You
The museum thanks the following
funders for their support:
Baltimore County Executive, County
Council, Baltimore County Commission
on Arts and Sciences, Dresher Foundation, Lockheed Martin, Middle River
Aircraft Systems (MRAS).
The maryland Flight Log/Summer 2015
Scholarship Winner
Eyes Aerospace Major
Board Chair Jane Michael presented Gabriel Wach with
the Museum’s third $1,000 scholarship at the Chesapeake
High School Awards Ceremony in May.
Gabriel will attend the University of Maryland College
Park and plans to become an aerospace engineer.
During high school, Gabriel was active on the Robotics
Team, traveling to Kentucky and California to participate
in national competitions. He was also active in Boy Scouts,
Chess Club and the National Honor Society. He is currently
working on his Eagle Scout project, which he hopes to finish
by October.
Gabriel is the youngest of five children. His parents Pam
and Roman are very proud of his accomplishments.
Gabriel and his family will be attending the Wings over
Maryland Hangar Dance and Silent Auction in September as
guests of the Museum.
Photo by Karen Armacost
Gabriel Wach, shown here with Board Chair Jane
Michael, was active on the Chesapeake High Robotics
Team and traveled to national competitions.
Hangar Dance Will Land at Martin State Airport
From Page 1
and has served on the Wings over Maryland
committee, helped develop a risk assessment
plan for the Museum and can often be spotted helping out on Open Cockpit Day.
The action begins at 6:30 p.m. and runs
until 10:30 p.m. with a buffet dinner, cash
bar and music from the ’30s and ’40s by the
20-piece Ain’t Misbehavin’ Big Band. There
will be a dance floor for those who want to
dance like it’s 1945. Ken Jackson, host of the
WYPR big-band show “In the Mood,” will
be the night’s emcee.
If you want to dress like it’s 1945, it’s encouraged but not required. However, there
will be prizes for some of the top outfits.
Dress like Rosie the Riveter, a member of the
armed forces (allied countries only, please) or
a famous person from the World War II era.
Let your imagination be your guide.
Emeritus Board member Jack Breihan will
receive a Purple Martin award for his contributions to the Museum over the years;
the Purple Martin was the highest employee
award given by the Martin Company, and has
been adopted by the Museum to honor volunteers for their outstanding service.
This is the Museum’s major fund-raising
activity and helps support the scholarship
fund and other Museum activities and operations. The guaranteed $500 cash prize raffle
is back, and the winner will be drawn on September 19. Tickets are $2 each or three for
$5. There will also be a silent auction, with
a variety of items to bid on; cash, check and
credit card will be accepted for payment.
Members have received an invitation by
mail, along with six raffle tickets. Dinner
tickets are $50 for Museum members, veterans, active-duty military and members of
the Maryland National Guard, and $60 for
non-members. Those with individual memberships can purchase two tickets at the
member price, and those with family memberships can purchase four. Tickets can be
purchased by mail, in the museum or online
at wingsovermaryland.org.
The night’s program book will also have
a World War II theme. In keeping with the
70th anniversary of the end of the war, there
will be an opportunity to pay tribute to those
in uniform or on the homefront who made
victory possible. You can honor one or two
people for $25, three or four for $50, etc. Instructions are on the ticket order form that
was mailed to members and are online at
wingsovermaryland.org.
New Members Since Last Newsletter
Craig and Gayle Adams
Anne Arundel County Historical
Society
Dorsey Boyle
By the Docks Restaurant
Madeline Burriss
Robert Dorr
John Dougherty
Jane Fetter
Carroll Finegan
Lee Furches
Bernard Hackett
Ann Hoffa
Thomas Johns
James and Regina Kotowski
Marty Levin
Robert and Angela Magruder
Chris and Christine Minnich
John O’Brien Family
Matthew Ogorzalek
Edward J. O’Neill
Karen Palumbo
Mary Ann Pomerleau
Paul Pullen
Becky Reich
Ben Rosenberg
Nathan Rosenblum
Richard Russell
Corky Smith
Roland E. Smith
Gabriel Wach
Ken and Nancy Waters
Walter Weiss
New donors Kent de Jong
Joe Bryce (in-kind) IPMS Baltimore Chapter
THE GLENN L. MARTIN MARYLAND AVIATION MUSEUM, INC.
Page 3
Aircraft Committee Report
Huey gets Primed for a Summer Painting
By Ted Cooper
We had a cool spring and did not get as
much done outside as we had hoped. And as
we start the summer we are hoping for lots
of good weather, especially on Wednesdays.
The team has made progress on many projects this spring, but never quite as many as
we hope as each quarter begins. The UH1M Huey U.S. Army helicopter s/n 66-15238
(many call it “238”) is in very good condition
now, but we are still fixing a few things and
getting ready to paint it later this summer. By
this time next year, “238” will be on display
at LZ Pimlico (see their website http://vietnam.mpt.org/lzpimlico/) June 11-12, 2016.
Maryland Public Television is sponsoring the
weekend event that will honor Vietnam veterans (LZ stands for “landing zone,” a term
common in that war).
Jacobs L-4 engine
The team has finished restoring the historic
Jacobs L-4 (US Air Corp R-755) 225 hp, 4
cycle, air-cooled, seven-cylinder radial engine
built in the 1930s that was donated to the Museum last spring. It is now on display in the
Gallery next to the main Museum (ask to see
it if the room is not open) with a piston that
shows before and after restoration.
Beech 18 update
The wings are now on the Beech 18. We’ll
add the wing tips, parts of the tail and a few
other things before we move it onto the flight
line. A team is also working on the inside-
Photo by Ted Cooper
Repairs continue on the Huey, which will be ready to be repainted sometime
later this summer. Next June ‘238’ will be on display at LZ Pimlico, a salute to
Vietnam veterans.
-floor and seats are done, but carpet, walls
and cockpit still need work. Then we can
open it for folks to see. It will be painted as
a C-45H that was flown by the Maryland Air
National Guard in the 1950s.
Strawberry Point
When you visit Strawberry Point you will
see that the paint team has started to paint
the A-7 and do some cockpit restoration. It
should be done by early summer.
And you will see that we put the tail back
on the F9F-8T (the engine is in the dome),
and it will probably be put back in storage
next fall. We are also working on the F-4
cockpit and hope to have it open to view by
the end of the summer. The team is always
fixing our ground equipment.
The stairs, the Tugs, the generators and
other tools always need work. We clean the
bird droppings off the planes and get them
ready for Open Cockpit (the last two will be
July 11 and August 8).
Open Cockpit has been much easier this
year, as we are now using a bus to take people
to Strawberry Point. This solves the waiting,
car convoy, gate and parking problems of
past years. The bus circles from the museum
to Strawberry Point about every 20 minutes.
C Basement
Work continues in our C Basement storage
area and restoration area. We are continuing work on a new room about 12 feet by
20 feet in one corner that the archives team
will use for print and photo storage. When
finished it will have good temperature and
humidity control and a cedar closet to store
our uniform collection. We work inside only
on hot, cold or rainy days, so these projects
go slowly.
Engine work
Photo by Ted Cooper
The archives team is getting a room in C Basement with temperature control
and a cedar closet for the Museum’s uniform collection.
Page 4
The engine team (which usually works
on Saturdays and is always looking for new
volunteers) has sorted and rearranged the
stuff in C Basement storage and has cleared
three bays. One bay now has two Pratt &
The maryland Flight Log/Summer 2015
Photo by Ted Cooper
The wings are back on the Beech 18, but the wing tips need to be re-attached, as well as parts of the tail, before it can
be moved back to the flight line at Strawberry Point.
Whitney R-4360 and two Pratt & Whitney
R-2800 engines in storage waiting for restoration, another bay has a Martin 2-0-2 P&W
R-2800 that the team is starting to dissemble
and restore, and the third bay will be used to
restore jet engines like our P&W J48 (which
is now on its improved and strengthened cart
in the dome at Strawberry Point).
We have had new volunteers join us for
our Wednesday and Saturday work sessions
as we try to keep the planes looking good
and getting other projects ready for display.
The Saturday group meets almost every Saturday for four or five hours. So come out
and join us if you can.
We’re Looking
for B-57 Memories
Did you, or a relative, work on or fly the
B-57?
We’re looking for any memories you’d
like to share, or just what your relationship
was to the aircraft, for a future issue of the
newsletter.
Choose email (martinmuseum@gmail.
com) or snail mail (701 Wilson Point Rd.,
Hangar 5, Suite 531, Middle River MD
21220).
Did you know?
Photo by Ted Cooper
You never know who (or what) will visit on Open Cockpit Days. In May, a fire
rescue vehicle from Martin State Airport temporarily joined the static display
at Strawberry Point. Using a bus to take visitors to the airplanes has made for
a smoother time and shorter waiting period.
During World War II, only two factories in
Maryland manufactured airplanes, Fairchild
in Hagerstown and Martin in Middle River.
Fairchild mainly produced PT-19 and
PT-26 trainers, and Martin mostly the B-26
and A-30 bombers and PBM Mariner patrol
bomber flying boat.
Engineering and Research Corp. (ERCO)
in Riverside suspended aircraft production
for the duration and made mostly gun turrets under contract for the Navy and propeller blade cutting machines (98% of aluminum alloy prop blades used by the Allies
were made with its machinery).
THE GLENN L. MARTIN MARYLAND AVIATION MUSEUM, INC.
Page 5
A Visit with ‘Flak Bait’ and a Space Shuttle
Grace Henninger tells members and Pat Robinson (right) and Jeremy Kinney
(second from right) about working on B-26s. She did not work on Flak Bait.
Pat Robinson shows where a bullet
was found in the floorboard of Flak
Bait during restoration.
The Air and Space Museum’s
Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia
was the destination of the
Museum’s annual bus trip
in April for a behind-thescenes look at the Flak Bait
restoration/conservation and
a Space Shuttle “tour” led by
veteran astronaut Tom Jones.
Curator Jeremy Kinney and
Flak Bait restoration expert Pat
Robinson led the group of 54
through the restoration center.
The Museum group’s experts,
Grace Henninger who built
B-26s and Bud Gahs who built
their gun turrets, added their
insights.
Damage to Flak Bait is visible on this wing, as are faded D-Day stripes.
Page 6
Curator Jeremy Kinney (right) talks
with Bud Gahs, who built B-26 gun
turrets at Martin before serving in the
Air Corps.
Tom Jones talks Space Shuttle with
Museum members in the shadow of
Space Shuttle Discovery. Tom flew
on four Shuttle missions, but none on
Discovery.
The maryland Flight Log/Summer 2015
May Came Up Rosies -- and Other Friends
Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot reads a proclamation in the Gallery
as part of the Museum’s Rosie the Riveter/Armed Forces Day celebration on
May 16. His mother was a Rosie, working at a Sikorsky factory in Connecticut,
and his father shared some of her stories.
Photo by Stan Piet
Martin Eichelman, a -B-29 blister
gunner, sits in the CAF’s B-29 at the
gunner’s station.
Mid-May at the Museum had
a World War II flavor, with a
visit from the Commemorative Air Force and a Rosie
the Riveter celebration. The
CAF brought its B-24 Diamond
Lil, B-29 Fifi, P-51 and C-45.
Nearly two dozen Rosies, as
well as family and friends, including Maryland Comptroller
Peter Franchot, whose mother
was a Rosie, turned out. The
Museum gave each Rosie a
special pin (right). The pins are
$5 in the gift shop.
Photo by Stan Piet
Leo Wojciechowski, a -B-24 nose
gunner with the 15th Air Force,
checks out the CAF’s B-24.
There was a full house in the Gallery for the Museum’s Rosie the Riveter
celebration.
THE GLENN L. MARTIN MARYLAND AVIATION MUSEUM, INC.
Page 7
Members Benefit
Your museum membership card is
more valuable than ever.
Now that the Museum charges per
visit, you’ll always get in free, so you’ll
be saving at least $3 every time. You still
enjoy a 10% discount on all purchases
in the museum shop, and members
save on the cost of special events. A
member who took the bus to the the
Intrepid Museum and purchased two
tickets to the Fall dinner/silent auction
saved $40. The Museum newsletter,
The Maryland Flight Log, a member
exclusive, is worth another $10.
The savings can really add up as
we work with other organizations to
increase the value of your membership.
Stay tuned for updates on the power of
your membership.
And don’t forget to sign up for the
digital edition of the newsletter, which
has bonus material.
The Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum Inc.
P.O. Box 5024 Middle River, MD 21220
410-682-6122
Rosies Show
Their Muscle
Almost two dozen original Rosie the Riveters gatthered at the CAF’s B-24
during their special day, May 16. Joining them were others dressed as
Rosies, including students from Notre Dame Prep.
Photo by Stan Piet