Start of the 2011 race

There were 1,244 runners and walkers from around the United States and the world that participated in last year’s event, which was made even more meaningful with the addition of a shadow Marathon and Half Marathon at Kandahar, Afghanistan. Around 300 ran the race there.  The neatest part however was a live Skype session with race organizer U.S. Navy Master Chief “Lee” True in Afghanistan at the opening ceremony.  Brigadier General Lee Levy, 402nd Maintenance Wing Commander at the time, interviewed Master Chief True who said runners there came from 34 different U.S. states and several foreign countries.

Skype session with troops in Afghanistan before the 2011 races.

The fastest runner in last year’s Marathon was first-place finisher Sammy Nyamongo from Atlanta with a time of 2 hours, 40 minutes and 22 seconds. With slightly warmer, drier weather forecast for this year, it will be interesting to see if anyone can beat that or any of the other times from last year (Women’s marathon: 3 hours, 24 minutes and 30 seconds; half marathon: 1 hour, 12 minutes and 12 seconds; 5k: 15 minutes and 33 seconds). See you at the race and look for a follow up blog sometime soon after with results, pictures, and maybe some video.

2011 runners make their way past the Museum’s C-141 and EC-135.

- Arthur Sullivan, Assistant Curator

View of the action during a tournament.

Eight years ago STARBASE ROBINS ventured into hosting a robotics tournament. We knew very little about robotics at the time and nothing about hosting a tournament. After attending a FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics competition and becoming involved in the FIRST organization, I recognized that the goals of FIRST were in line with our national STARBASEpriorities. First off we wanted to enhance the overall quality of our program to better achieve our vision and mission by encouraging students to consider STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers by implementing exemplary activities. Secondly we could expand and strengthen our relationship with such a collaborating organization as FIRST to leverage our resources in reaching the same target audience.

Contestants at a tournament prepare their Lego Mindstorm robot (behind the red vehicle on the ramp) for competition.

So from our first Regional FIRST Lego Leaguecompetition with a total of 6 teams to today hosting our fourth Super Regional FIRST Lego League competition with a total of 40 teams has been an overwhelming but educational experience. We strongly believe that these challenges are helping to mold our future, not just our future engineers and scientists. Students who participate in FIRST learn valuable critical thinking skills and how to collaborate and work together with their peers to accomplish a mission.

Contestants wearing green mustaches talk with a judge. Teams have fun while they compete.

STARBASE ROBINS and FIRST is a perfect fit. We hope that you are able to join us this Saturday January 7, 2012 for our 7^th Annual Central Georgia Super Regional FIRST Lego League Competition. It will be a day of fun, excitement and educational. Come out and enjoy seeing Georgia’s future, scientists, engineers and work force. I dare you not to have fun!

-  By Wesley Fondal, Director of STARBASE Robins

Here’s  a short video of the ribbon cutting:

Andrew Young, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta, was the guest speaker at a dinner that followed the ribbon cutting. The dinner was sponsored by the Museum of Aviation Foundation and the Major General Joseph McNeil Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.

Educators can find a link to the Museum of Aviation Education staffs great Tuskegee Airmen Exhibit Teachers Guide by clicking this link.

(Back row) Capt William Williams and Maj Demetrius Brown from Robins AFB; original Tuskegee Airman LeRoy Eley; John Stewart, member of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., Atlanta Chapter; and 1st Lt Anthony Maxie and Maj Gen Bob McMahon from Robins AFB. (Front Row left to right) Original Tuskegee Airmen Raymond Williams and Edward Johnson.

Here are links to some of the local media coverage of the exhibit opening and visit by original Tuskegee Airman LeRoy Eley (in alphanumeric order):

13WMAZ       ‎

http://www.13wmaz.com/news/article/157185/153/Museum-of-Aviation-Honors-Tuskegee-Airmen

“Museum of Aviation Honors Tuskegee Airmen”

December 17, 2011

‎

http://warnerrobins.13wmaz.com/news/news/63057-tuskegee-airmen-exhibit-opens-museum-aviation

“Tuskegee Airmen Exhibit Opens at Museum of Aviation”

By Lorra Lynch-Jones

December 14, 2011

See also http://www.13wmaz.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1328291495001

38 WRWR

http://warnerrobinspatriot.com/view/full_story/16814616/article-Tuskegee-Airman-visits-Warner-Robins?
“Tuskegee Airman visits Warner Robins”

By Hollie Thrasher

December 17, 2011

41 NBC         

http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-news/9512-tuskegee-airmen-visits-museum-of-aviation

“Tuskegee Airmen Visits Museum of Aviation”

December 16, 2011

Macon Telegraph

http://www.macon.com/2011/12/17/1827829/living-legacy.html

“Robins airmen honor role of Tuskegee pilots”

By Wayner Crenshaw

December 17, 2011

http://www.macon.com/2011/12/16/1827158/tuskegee-airmen-pilot-visits-museum.html

“Tuskegee Airmen pilot visits Museum of Aviation”

By Wayne Crenshaw

December 16, 2011

Warner Robins Patriot

http://warnerrobinspatriot.com/view/full_story/16578668/article-Museum-plans-Dec–16-Tuskegee-Airmen-gala?#ixzz1h1EG3WZ6

“Museum plans Dec. 16 Tuskegee Airmen gala”

By Gene Rector

November 28, 2011The Warner Robins Patriot

- Mike Rowland, Curator

I would have to say that my favorite part of the guided tours is taking groups into the C-130A Hercules fuselage, located on the second floor of the Eagle Building. It never fails, whether the group is young or older, that I always hear several gasps when I tell them that we are going inside the C-130 fuselage.

Nose of the museum’s C-130A Hercules fuselage in the Eagle Building.

Interior of the C-130 fuselage. Visitors can strap themselves into the red seats and enjoy a short video showing paratroopers and aerial resupply operations.

The other day I had some 2nd graders and it was no different from any other time. When I announced that we were going inside the fuselage, the gasps began. But this day I also heard a little whimper. I looked around and it was a boy, about to cry because he was scared to go inside the plane. He was saying “I don’t want to go, I don’t want to fly!”

I went over to the boy and tried to console him. I assured him that I wasn’t going to fly that airplane because I didn’t have my license to fly! I also assured him that I would NOT take him into anything that was going to be scary. Somehow, someway, I convinced him and we walked around the corner together to enter the fuselage and there it was…THE GASP! I looked at him and his face was full of surprise but with the cutest grin you have ever seen.

As the saying goes… “Just another fun day at the office.”

Candi guides a group of children during a tour of the C-130 fuselage. Visitors can’t go inside the cockpit but they can look in through a plexiglass panel.

Candi James uses a C-130 toy model to explain parts of the aircraft to a group of young visitors inside the C-130 fuselage.

Happy young visitors inside the C-130.

- Candi James, Museum of Aviation Guided Tour Coordinator

The Museum of Aviation’s Tuskegee Airmen exhibit during installation in the Scott Exhibit Hangar.

While we were installing the exhibit, I reflected on an experience I had a few years ago. During the summer of 2006, I went to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, for a week of training. Late on Friday afternoon I got on the interstate highway to head back home.

For some time I’d wanted to stop by Tuskegee, Alabama, to see the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site at Moton Field, where the Tuskegee Airmen did their initial flight training. Since Moton Field is close to the highway, I made the detour even though I knew the visitor center would be closed. I pulled in and parked.

As I reached for the key to turn off the engine it occurred to me that I might leave it running. I’d had problems for some time with my car not always wanting to start, though it had worked perfectly the entire time I was at Maxwell. But I thought, “What if I’m more than just a couple of minutes? The car worked perfectly all week.” So I turned off the engine.

I walked around the site for about 20 minutes. A few original buildings, including a hangar, were still standing, and at the time, the National Park Service was in the early stages of constructing a museum complex. I went back to my car. It wouldn’t start! I had a bit of a sinking feeling.

I called the Tuskegee Police Department on my cell phone and asked if they could recommend any mechanics who could come out and give my car a jump. I was told that Tuskegee is a small town and everything was closed. The dispatcher recommended I call a mechanic in Montgomery but that sounded really expensive. I was on a tight budget.

I decided I’d just sleep in my car and find someone to give me a jump in the morning. It was hot and humid (late July in central Alabama) and I was sweating just sitting there with the door open.

As it got dark, I climbed into the back seat and used some clothes for a pillow. It started to rain and I had to put the windows on the driver’s side all the way up. As I lay there, I thought about the young men who lived in the barracks at Moton Field and nearby Tuskegee Army Air Field nearly 70 years ago. They endured the same heat and humidity and a lot of much worse things, too. I felt a certain closeness to them. There I was, getting ready to sleep at this historic site where young heroes were learning to fly! It was neat, in spite of the physical discomfort. I fell asleep and slept surprisingly well.

Diorama in the Museum of Aviation’s Tuskegee Airmen exhibit showing an aviation cadet studying.

Around 12:30 AM I woke up. As I lay there thinking about how sweaty and gross I was, I heard a car and saw the light from headlights. It was a police car. I climbed out of the back seat and the officer asked what was going on. I explained and when I said I needed a jump he said he could help. Within a minute, I had the cables hooked up. My car started right up. I thanked the officer for his help and hit the road. Let me just say that the air conditioner felt really good.

I thought about that experience often when we were working on the Tuskegee Airmen exhibit. I’m glad it happened. And in case you’re wondering, when I left the car with a mechanic the following week, he wasn’t able to find the problem because the car started up every time.

- Mike Rowland, Curator

I like helicopters. There is something fascinating to me about how they operate and what they can do. I’m not a pilot, mechanic, or engineer, so while I understand some of the basic principles, it’s still kind of magical to me. A little scary, too, when I think about everything hanging from a whirling disk of rotor blades.

When I was growing up, my main exposure to helicopters was through television. Helicopters made occasional appearances on Magnum, P.I. and The A-Team, two shows I watched regularly. And there was Airwolf, about a super-advanced helicopter and its troubled pilot, and the short-lived Blue Thunder, about another hi-tech helicopter. To an aviation-enthusiast kid in his early teens, the Airwolf and Blue Thunder helicopters in particular were the coolest things flying.

Now, as an adult, I find real-life helicopters much more interesting and inspiring than any of the fanciful, fictional representations I enjoyed as a child. My enthusiasm and wonder about helicopters are still childlike at times though. Occasionally, Marine helicopters stationed at Robins Air Force Base will fly over my house. I love it. I might feel differently if they were flying over at all hours every day, but as it is, I wish they would fly over more often. When my two-year-old daughter hears the distant whop-whop-whop of the rotors, she’ll turn to me with wide, bright eyes and say, “Hehwicopa.” I’ll scoop her up in my arms and we’ll rush outside to see the gray helicopters—usually Super Cobras—pass overhead. On the rare best days we’ll run outside three or four times.

A UH-1N Huey (left) and an AH-1W Super Cobra hover taxi on the Robins AFB flightline. (U.S. Air Force photo by Sue Sapp.)

The Museum of Aviation currently has nine helicopters on display, including a Vietnam War combat veteran Huey, a CH-21B “Workhorse” used for VIP transport, and a huge MH-53 Pave Low. Over the next couple of months we’ll profile some of these aircraft on the blog. Come visit the museum and see our helicopters and more!

The Museum of Aviation’s CH-21B “Workhorse” is on display in the Scott Exhibit Hangar.

 One of my favorite helicopters is the HH-60G Pave Hawk. Pave Hawks fly out of Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Georgia, just a couple of hours south of the museum. The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center’s Aerospace Sustainment Directorate provides cradle-to-grave acquisition and sustainment for all USAF helicopters, including the HH-60G. We don’t have a Pave Hawk at the museum, but go to Air Force.com to play at being both a pararescuemanand a pilot. Click on “Videos and More”; at the bottom under “Interactive Features,” scroll over to “Go on a Combat Search and Rescue Mission.” I played twice and my best score was 1108. You can do better, right? Let me know!

An HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter from the 41st Rescue Squadron hovers overhead as pararescuemen rescue a simulated downed pilot at Moody Air Force Base. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Benjamin Wiseman)

Just this morning three helicopters from the Georgia State Patrol landed here at the Museum. The pilots and crew were here for a conference. Of course, I was there also, watching them land and taking pictures the whole time. Hopefully I will be able to be there this afternoon as well, watching them lift off into the beautiful fall sky. For now here are some pictures after they landed.

Three Georgia State Patrol helicopters: a Bell 206 in the front and two Bell 407s lined up behind it.

A Georgia State Patrol Bell 407 rests in front of the Museum of Aviation.

 Whop-whop-whop…

 - Submitted by Mike Rowland, Curator

You might be wondering if we are testing plants in a new biology lab of some
sort….. That would be cool, but no, that is not the type of STEM Lab we
are planning.  STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math.

 In September, 2010, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology (PCAST), created a report for the President that states, “We must
prepare students so they have a strong foundation in STEM subjects and are
able to use this knowledge in their personal and professional lives. And we
must inspire students so that all are motivated to study STEM subjects in
school and many are excited about the prospect of having careers in STEM
fields”. (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. 2010. Report to the President  PREPARE AND INSPIRE: K-12 EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATH (STEM) FOR AMERICA’S FUTURE. pg.V. )

STEM students work together in the Air Traffic Control classroom.

 The Museum of Aviation has been presenting programs for students and
educators since 1984 when the museum first opened.  Education has always
been an important mission of the museum.  The programs have grown over the
years, and we are proud that history, science, technology, engineering and
math have been the foundation of our curriculum.   STEM Labs will focus
directly on specific questions that challenge students to think, hypothesize
and experiment their way to a solution.

.       Oct 7                Rocketry

.       Oct 29              Chemistry

.       Dec 17             Flight

.       Feb 24             Air Traffic Control

.       Apr 6                Computer Components

 All STEM labs are open to 6th – 9th grade students.  The programs will be
held in the Century of Flight Hangar at the Museum of Aviation.  Each STEM
Lab costs $20.

A STEM instructor teaches about the physics of flight.

 Below is the complete schedule of Fall and Winter Programs.  All programs
are 9am until noon.  Prices vary. Call 478-926-5558 or email
jgombos@museumofaviation.org to register.

October 7                    1st-2nd              Culinary Kids

October 7                    6th-9th               Rocketry STEM Lab

October 29                  PreK-5th           Spooky Science

October 29                  6th-9th               Chemistry STEM Lab

November 22               1st-2nd              Thanksgiving Holiday Fun

December 17               PreK-5th           Science with Santa

December 17               6th-9th               Flight STEM Lab

Now that I think about it, a STEM class on stems could be pretty fun too!
Call us for more information on any of our programs..there is always a lot
going on at the Museum of Aviation!

- Melissa G. Spalding

  Director of Education

  478-926-0247  Office

  478-954-1915   Cell

An RQ-4 Global Hawk in flight.

The RQ-4 is a high-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned aircraft system. In other words, it can fly really high (60,000 feet above the ground), really far (over 9,500 miles), it doesn’t carry a pilot, and it’s a “system,” so there’s more to it than just the aircraft itself. Though the Global Hawk can fly a mission pretty much autonomously, it is monitored by a pilot and a sensor operator, who can take control the aircraft.

It’s a big airplane. The wings are 116 feet from tip to tip and the fuselage is 44 feet long. It’s not pretty, but I think it’s cool all the same, like something out of a sci-fi movie.

This U.S. Air Force photo of a Global Hawk by Staff Sgt. Christopher Matthews gives a sense of the size of the aircraft.

Our aircraft, #2011, flew 357 combat sorties for a total of 7,074.4 combat hours and currently has more combat sorties and hours than any other Global Hawk. The last flight of 2011 was in May of this year from a base in Southwest Asia to Beale AFB in California, with a single stop at Naval Air Station Patuxent River,Maryland, along the way. #2011 was part of the first block or group of production aircraft, known as “Block 10.” The US Air Force recently retired its Block 10 aircraft in favor of newer Block 20 and 30 aircraft.

 The Global Hawk uses radar and cameras to provide what’s called “ISR,” or Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. As you’ve seen in the news over the years, ISR has played a critical role in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center performs program management for the RQ-4 Global Hawk and other unmanned aircraft systems.

Make sure to follow us on twitter (@MOAatRAFB) for updates and hopefully some pictures of RQ-4 #2011 when it arrives on Friday.

Well, since I have been here at the Museum of Aviation for a couple of months, I have had a lot more time to peruse and take in information slowly, and it has been so much more enriching because I am not burdened by time to move on to the next exhibit, or rather, to whatever I have planned for later in the day. Before I came to the museum, I possessed very little knowledge of aircraft, much less those used in the Air Force. It was a field of history that I just never touched, unless I had a class that discussed it. Now? I love it. I’m fascinated by it. But my interest in this isn’t necessarily from a military standpoint. For example, I had never seen or heard of the SR-71 before I came here. My first thought of it was, ‘that plane is pretty.’ That first impression led me to find out more about the plane, and now it’s my favorite. Now I can tell you its speed, its service ceiling, and its history.

What I’m trying to show here is how a seemingly unrelated assessment led me to discover so much. The museum showed me one thing, which made me want to learn more about it. This got me thinking on how museums can serve as a starting point for exploration. And I’m not just talking about exploration in the historical sense. Sure, different museums cater to different subjects and audiences, but so much work goes into making an exhibit appeal to a wide range of audiences that almost anything can be used as a starting point. Another example: I’m in no way a physics person. There’s a certain point where my brain just refuses to operate anymore when it comes to physics. But, I can appreciate the designs of different aircraft, how the physics that went into building that aircraft enable it to meet a certain need. I have a high respect for the people who designed it, even though I do not understand it.

Sometimes I see museums as boxes separated from the world. Go in, come out, and back to my life. But museums are not mere places that house things. They tell stories. Many museums, including the Museum of Aviation, have too many artifacts to display all at once, and, simultaneously, not enough to tell the a story in its entirety. Instead, museums introduce a topic, an event, a piece of clothing, an instrument, a work of art, or anything else, and leave the responsibility to the viewer to learn more.

Random facts are some of my favorite things to learn, and in working on this app, I have learned many interesting things about some of the aircraft here at the museum. I myself listen to many podcasts, and I am excited to see that the Museum is creating an app that has some similarities to podcasts.  The information found in the app will not be presented in a lecture format, or be heavy on technical jargon. Instead, it will be much shorter than most podcasts, making it easily accessible and understood.

So, if you feel your eyes are tiring from too much reading, or your brain melting from trying to remember the dimensions, speeds or other facts related to aircraft at the Museum, take heart. Soon you will be able to pull up the Museum of Aviation app on your Iphone, Ipod or Ipad and simply listen.