Noha307 wrote:
This is a bit of an unusual one as the museum no longer occupies the purpose-built facility at 17 Aviation Drive, but thanks to a sales listing for the former location of the Wings of Aviation Discovery Center, we have a low resolution floorplan of the building:
Wings of Aviation Discovery CenterAttachment:
Wings of Aviation Discovery Center Map (Extracted, Converted).png
(Source:
PDF via
Cushman & Wakefield)
The total size of the facility is given as 70,000 square feet in the listing, but the math on the drawings comes out to 55,271 square feet (office/classroom space 8,150 sf, manufacturing space 6,259 sf, mechanical/electrical space 1,175 sf, pump building 1,457 sf, common space 8,230 sf, hangar space 30,000 sf) and the reason for the discrepancy is unclear. The building, which opened in 1998, was taken over by Sikorsky Aircraft in 2010.
This is the old purpose built National Warplane Museum location (back in 1998) in Elmira, NY. (After of course the split from the Geneseo contingent that then became the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group.) I remember watching for updates eagerly online in 97-98 as NWM was my favorite flying museum at the time. Which included such stars as their B-17G "Fuddy Duddy", PBY-6A, R4D, T-6s, trainers, L-birds. And static birds like an TBM, BTD, F-4, Banshee, A-26, Huey, Mig-21, etc. I was able to get up there for the 99-01 Wings of Eagles Airshows, before they came to an abrupt end. Originally the facility included a second maintenance hangar next to the main museum building.
Here I am in 2000 at the show when I saw the CAF LB-30/B-24A and B-29 for the first time.
I'm sure someone will correct me but the museum somehow mismanaged funds so badly that they had to sell the B-17, R4D, and PBY to recoup funds. They then sold this facility, moved offsite to a vacant former horse stable / arena, and rebranded as the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center. Where they are still open to this day.
https://www.wingsofeagles.com We stopped one year on the way to Geneseo, and I was able to get some shots of the birds sitting outside. They are looking rough, at best. I really wish the museum would focus on the construction of another hangar to get more of the collection indoors.
Since then, the 1941HAG in Geneseo have since recovered the original name and are now once again, the National Warplane Museum.
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