Warbird Information Exchange

Times are a changing, their name is no longer the Yankee Air Museum, it is now the Michigan Flight Museum. [url]https://miflightmuseum.org/url]
Good name change? What are your thoughts?

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Roger Cain
www.sfahistory.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stearman/


We must limit politicians to two terms:
one in office and one in jail.

Likely a good name change, gets people to know at least what state it is in, and retires a name that might have other connotations or cause pause/division from some wanting to visit. And no I am not going to get into the politics of that.

They can call the museum whatever they want as far as I'm concerned. It's probably a good move for publicity and advertising purposes and I'm glad it isn't the "National Museum" of whatever or some non-descriptive STEM name, which both seem to be en vogue across the museum industry these days. I'm sure there are a lot of weirdos who think it's "woke" or whatever. The new name at least describes the location and purpose of the museum in the title.

More importantly, I'd like to know the status on the museum's flying planes for airshows after the hangar door collapse. Other than the occasional vague comment on social media, the museum has been mum on it. A basic statement would at least tell people what's going on, manage expectations and maybe even provide an avenue for fundraising for repairs if they need it.

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Matt

I liked the YAM name, but the new name is certainly memorable and concise. Probably easier for the general public to recognize.

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Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

Kinda generic, but way better than the last rebranding attempt. Ten years ago they announced the name would be changing to the thoroughly unwieldy "National Museum of Aviation and Technology at Historic Willow Run" but the idea quickly (and thankfully) died. I'll probably always refer to it as "Yankee," but then I still call the place in Dayton the "Air Force Museum" (and "Episode IV: A New Hope" will always just be "Star Wars" to me.)

SN

To me, the name doesn't matter so much as what they do.

In my few interactions with their maintenance and ops staff at Thunder, they're a class act. Best of luck to them under a new moniker.

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Generally speaking, IMHO, a good aviation museum name will include the following features:

• Begin with a term describing either the location (e.g. British Columbia Aviation Museum) or subject matter (National Naval Aviation Museum)
• Include the word "museum"

The new name ticks both those boxes, so I would say its a good decision.

An example of a poor name change is Aero Space Museum of Calgary > The Hangar Flight Museum, as it:

• Begins with an article
• Is incredibly vague (Where is this museum? How can it be distinguished from others?)

However, the previous name was a bit clunky, so my suggestion would have been: Calgary Aerospace Museum.

• Eliminates the unnecessary "of" (see, National Museum of Naval Aviation > National Naval Aviation Museum)
• Combines "Aero" and "Space" into a single word, as is standard

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

Sounds overly simple and generic, people in Sault Ste. Marie might think they are close to it but are actually 350 miles away. At least they resisted calling it Ypsilanti, though Ypsi is unique and has a nice ring to it - And most of all, at least they didn't let Comerica or some other corporation lease the name.

As a Red Sox fan, I approve this change.

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I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.

I visited them a long time ago....

I wish them luck, I really appreciate how difficult it is to run/fund a museum with operational aircraft.

That said, I still wish they hadn't scrapped the Argosy.
I have a factory HP desk model I was going to donate to them... .

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.