In the midst of these trying times and museum closures, how about some good news for a change...
As some of you may already know, the Connecticut Air & Space Center since its inception in 1998, has been located in a portion of the former Textron-Avco-Lycoming Engine Plant (Vought R&D hangar before that). The US Army, (being the owners of the property) gave a right of entry to the museum to begin collecting and restoring aircraft. Since that time, multiple aircraft have been restored. Numerous display cases and artifacts have been donated. Displays have been built. And essentially a fledging museum grew behind mostly closed doors. But with the right of entry, also came restrictions. The CASC wasn't allowed to have anyone under the age of 18 enter the property. Imagine that... an air museum, not allowed to have kids visit.
So museum officials decided to look outside of the Army Engine Plant property, but they thankfully didn't have to look very far. Across Main St, sat the derelict 1929 Curtiss Hangar. An historic artifact from the Golden Age of aviation in its own right. Seeing the likes of: Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Howard Hughes, Juan Trippe, and of course Igor Sikorsky pass through its doors. The CASC was able to enter into a 99 year lease with the City of Bridgeport, and in 2018 over $1 million was allocated from the state to kick off fundraising efforts. Now, on May 29th, the Connecticut Air & Space Center is excited to announce that Phase: 1 of the Curtiss Hangar Project will be completed with the Grand Opening of a portion of the hangar. The "Blue Hangar", a pre-fab metal hangar built onto the back of the Curtiss Hangar in the 1960's will become the first accessible part of the property to visitors of all ages. This space will serve as a "mini-museum" for visitors to get up close and personal with aviation history. Four aircraft will go on display initially with others being rotated out. Some will also be on display outside:
- FG-1D Corsair (under restoration)
- Sikorsky S-52 / HO5S
- Sikorsky S-55 / H-19 (on outside display on May 29th)
- Sikorsky S-60 (cockpit cab section)
- Hughes OH-6 Cayuse
- Whitehead No.21 replica (on outside display on May 29th)
- Numerous Military Vehicles too!We expect the T-37 to be ready for final assembly by July and will go on display outside of the hangar. We also hope to have a decent number of privately owned flyable aircraft be on display or fly in from neighboring airfields. I will update as we get closer. Stay tuned!
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Rain or shine our aircraft will still be on display!
