Pate Museum closing

[MX304]

Usually being the only one there.........................kind of reminds you of Midland.

Ain't that the truth.

[Holedigger]

Tis a shame. Another victim of a hard hit economy and apathy. All museums are suffering, is the Midlands Museum doing ANYTHING to boost walk-ins, community visibility? I see their site isn't even up at the moment (claims it is under redesign.....shouldn't the old one, no matter how bad, stay up till the new one is ready to replace???? Something is better than NOTHING!!). That is not good. At least you can get their hours of operation at the main CAF site. Our little local Military Museum has a traveling exhibit that goes out to events, they have model building events, they have community events......PR is a critical thing. If ignored, you loose the public. Sounds like the folks at Pate had lost the passion of the original owner and just let it coast. Long term, no matter how nice a collection you have, that will kill any business.

[mrhenniger]

Here's a link to a blog; looks like the Albatross, the C-119, the H-21 and Voodoo are all that's left:

I have four listed...
Aerial Visuals - Location Dossier - Pate Museum of Transportation - Inventory List

So the question I have is... Where did the HU-16 and F-101 go? I would like to update the airframe dossiers with the new locations.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

Mike

[Ztex]

Mike the HU-16 is the Albatross and the F-101 is the Voodoo...All 4 were there last Sunday when my son and I went for a final visit...

[EDowning]

Does anyone know how to contact the Pate heirs regarding their desires for the disposition of the HU-16? Anyone know exactly who it belongs to now?

[RickH]

There used to be a private airstrip down at the bottom of the big pasture. Once upon a time I was told by Museum personnel that the USAF crew that flew the C119 in, landed and taxiied the Boxcar to where she's now parked, shut her down and left ! Been there ever since....

[bluehawk15]

Not a plane, but...I wonder what else might be for sale?


DALLAS — The Checker cab once known as Lee Harvey Oswald's getaway car is headed to auction.

Cab 36 is part of the collection that will go up for sale Saturday at the defunct Pate Museum of Transportation in Cresson near Fort Worth.

RM Auctions car specialist Donnie Gould estimates the cab will fetch around $30,000 — rather more than the nickel Oswald paid for his cab fare on Nov. 22, 1963, just moments after President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot.

Oswald hailed the cab because the bus he initially tried to escape in got stuck in traffic.

[SuperGuppy]

Is the Voodoo still there? Headed to DFW on Wed. How do you get to Pate Museum from DFW?

[67N20]

Is the Voodoo still there? Headed to DFW on Wed. How do you get to Pate Museum from DFW?

From DFW, head south on Hwy 360 to IH20 (approx 15miles), head west on IH20 (towards Ft. Worth), Take exit 429A onto Hwy 377. Museum is about 20 miles once you get on 377, near own of Cresson.

[viking73]

Is the Voodoo still there? Headed to DFW on Wed. How do you get to Pate Museum from DFW?

It was still there as of April 10 when I was last there watching the Coast Guard guys taking apart the Albatross...

-Derek

[Holedigger]

Here is the HU-16 at her new home, USCG Air Station, St Pete/Clearwater. She is still disassembled and being restored for a memorial static display for a crew lost out of this airstation back in 1967. Work is being done by CG folk in their spare time...with the current mess in the Gulf, and the heat of the summer, I would guess not a lot will get done over the summer. I hope to check back in and will try to do progress reports on her restoration.

[viking73]

Thanks for the update Chris. Glad she made it to Florida okay. Do keep us posted on how the restoration is going if you can.

I posted a few photos of her disassembly here on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=35581&p=355411#p355411

-Derek

[Holedigger]

Ah, I knew there was another thread with pics, I just didn't spot it. The Fuselage is getting cleaned up and skin repairs done here and there. Wings and empenage are still sitting outside waiting their turn in the hangar to get a going over. The C-130s in the hangar make her look rather small by comparison! I have a contact person there, so as I get updates I will pass them along, and will try to do a photo shoot as they get some real progress made.

[eze240]

Anybody know what became of the collection? where did the H-21 go? how about the C-119, did it go to a marine base/museum?
In the bing overhead view, theres a large boat, various comments said it was a mine sweeper- where did it go?
I'm wondering how the auction went in june, did they sell everything that was left?
just wondering.......

[cozmo]

I have been wondering that myself. Many of the artifacts have been leaving the Pate Museum for years. F-104, F-105, T-33, T-28, HH-43, F-9F, F-86, F-4, F-84, F-8 and maybe some others I am forgetting. HAMM got some but I am not sure which.

There was an Apollo boilerplate, a Gemini practice capsule, a London double decker bus, London tube entrance, a railroad car, an M-114, and M41 that also left before the auction.

The boat is a wood hulled minesweeper, MSB-5 that, according to its description, was the largest watercraft transported over land at the time it was brought there.

Here are some pictures from 2008 that shows the stuff that was there at the time.


Another place from my youth, like the Flying Tigers Museum outside of Paris Texas, that is gone with lots of memories but too few pictures. Soon to be joined by the Age of Steam Railroad museum at Fair Park. At least with the railroad museum, I have plenty of pictures.