Wings Quarterly – November 2024

The 2024 Wings of the North Sweepstakes is in the books. Another successful sweepstakes with great prizes awarded.
The PJ2+ COM radio went to Atilio Medina from Provo, Utah. The Yaesu FTA-850L transceiver with GPS went home with Hans Mueller from Eagan, MN while the Clarity Aloft headset also stayed local with Greg Bode from Chanhassen, MN. The Garmin Aera 660 GPS navigated to Matthew Clark from Greenwood, South Carolina. The Bose A-30 headset was awarded to Sharon Albert from Clayton, NC.

The grand prize winner of the Cessna 140 is Howard Legan from Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a newly minted private pilot! Works as a fire fighter and is approaching retirement. He’s looking forward to having wings to explore the southwestern US. Plans are currently in the works for delivery, providing museum patrons with an opportunity to admire the airplane, stoking demand for next year’s sweepstakes.

Congratulations to Howard and all our winners!

We sincerely thank everyone who made contributions to the Wings of the North sweepstakes. Your support helps preserve the history of aviation and introduces aviation to the next generation.

Stay tuned for Sweepstakes 2025! We hope to introduce next year’s aircraft after the holidays.

WOTN Air Museum – Let’s Party

We are very pleased to have the WOTN Cessna Bird Dog/L-19/O-1 on display in the museum hangar. FlyWise Aviation gave it a fresh annual inspection and it passed with flying colors. Even the smoke generator works! It may not be another Sierra Sue II, but it is a great addition to our collection and has been well received by our guests. The George H. W. Bush Stearman, which we do not own but has been on-loan to us, has returned and should be on display over the winter. The owners of the airplane decided to spend some time flying it around in our great fall weather. Who can blame them? We look forward to its return.

The past three months have been busy at the museum. September was a record-setter due in large part to four private events that we hosted. Then, just as suddenly, October returned to normal with no private events being held. These hosted parties help the museums income.  A vital way for us to continue our mission.  How do we keep moving forward?  The solution is obvious! We need to attract more private tours and parties! Right now we are actively seeking bookings for corporate, family, and group holiday parties of 15 to 50 people. Nonprofit groups and local families can get reduced rates. If you know anyone looking for a unique venue for a party, reception, dinner, or other event please have them contact us at [email protected] or 952-746-6100.

And then there’s Mae West! She was a rather buxom actress/singer in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in movies. During World War II the first inflatable lift vest was known as the Mae West vest because, when inflated, it made the wearer also look quite buxom. This lifesaving piece of equipment was invented by a Minnesota fishing outfitter named Peter Markus! The US government saw it and realized the potential it had for saving the lives of our servicemen. Markus could have become wealthy from production royalties, but he waived them all as his contribution to the war effort. Our Mae West life vest had been in our archives storage area for several years until we found out about its Minnesota connection. It is now our newest museum display!

HELP WANTED: The museum is looking for a graphic artist to help design new displays, update existing ones, and create posters, logos and ads. If you have previous experience and would like to volunteer your time and talent please let us know.

BT-15

We are currently waiting for the return of the flight controls from the individual who is replacing the fabric covering. Once these are back, we will get all the flight controls painted, at which time they will be readied for final installation. We are beginning a new phase in our restoration process. It is preparing the for actual flight. This includes verifying the completion of all applicable technical orders and service bulletins that were issued by the war department or the Vultee Aircraft Corporation as well as any AD notes that were issued by the FAA. We are also beginning the process of completing or validating the completion of older maintenance tasks which were documented. The flap drive system has been restored to better than it was from the factory. Several sheet metal projects are still in the works with several more to come. We are also looking over the tubing and wiring to confirm they are secure and meet safety standards.

AirExpo

The last AirExpo has been in the books for a while.  AirExpo is retired.  This new event will be held next year.  It will be a smaller one-day event.  With the ever-growing activity on the field and new hangars, the space to hold a large show is disappearing.  The need to show off the airport and keep interest in aviation is still present. 

We require volunteer participation to be successful.  We hold meetings every third Thursday of the month at 6:30PM.  The volunteer meeting is before the event meeting.  We expect to celebrate the Navy and Marines 250^th birthday this year.  We are planning now and would like as much input to make this year a success.

The latest meetings we have been talking about parking and a name for the event.  Last meeting we settled on a name.  We are still looking into the ability to handle parking and our event’s footprint. 

Our next meeting is December 19^th.  Please join us.  And don’t miss our volunteer holiday party on January 11, 2025.  We are still looking for help from a chief organizer.  Are you up for the task?

Upcoming Dates