flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
I was recently in Houston, and amid the craziness surrounding my sister's wedding, I was able to hook up with PJ for dinner one night. After devouring some delectable smoked dead animals at Pappa's BBQ, PJ invited me to check out the 1940 Air Terminal Museum where he is a volunteer.
WOW was it cool! They have a ton of memorabilia, including quite a few old pilot logbooks, models of many airplanes in liveries you don't see any more, photos of the terminal the day it opened, etc.
They recently completed renovation of the first floor, and it looks as if you had stepped right into the golden age of aviation. There's even a Halsey-Taylor drinking fountain from that period that has been restored to brand-new condition.
We also took a look around the not-yet-completed portions. The plan is for the entire terminal to be renovated literally from the ground up, all the way up to the original control tower. While the first floor and the entire atrium is the only finished part, there is a lot more to come, including a restaurant which will have outdoor seating with a GREAT view of the field, and the control tower, complete with equipment from that era! Seeing the field all lit up in the twilight with airplanes coming and going was fantastic.
In case you haven't heard (unlikely, but you never know), they are raffling off a 1956 C172 to raise more funds towards the completion of the renovation. Please consider a donation and/or purchase of a raffle ticket to help this effort (talk to PJ, t0r0nad0 here), and if you're in the Houston area, stop and check it out!
Also, they do have monthly "Wings and Wheels" fly-ins on the 3rd Saturday of every month. The perfect excuse to fly in and check it out.
And, of course, check out their web site, where I found these pictures (because I didn't have a camera on me
): http://www.1940airterminal.org/
WOW was it cool! They have a ton of memorabilia, including quite a few old pilot logbooks, models of many airplanes in liveries you don't see any more, photos of the terminal the day it opened, etc.
They recently completed renovation of the first floor, and it looks as if you had stepped right into the golden age of aviation. There's even a Halsey-Taylor drinking fountain from that period that has been restored to brand-new condition.
We also took a look around the not-yet-completed portions. The plan is for the entire terminal to be renovated literally from the ground up, all the way up to the original control tower. While the first floor and the entire atrium is the only finished part, there is a lot more to come, including a restaurant which will have outdoor seating with a GREAT view of the field, and the control tower, complete with equipment from that era! Seeing the field all lit up in the twilight with airplanes coming and going was fantastic.
In case you haven't heard (unlikely, but you never know), they are raffling off a 1956 C172 to raise more funds towards the completion of the renovation. Please consider a donation and/or purchase of a raffle ticket to help this effort (talk to PJ, t0r0nad0 here), and if you're in the Houston area, stop and check it out!
Also, they do have monthly "Wings and Wheels" fly-ins on the 3rd Saturday of every month. The perfect excuse to fly in and check it out.
And, of course, check out their web site, where I found these pictures (because I didn't have a camera on me
): http://www.1940airterminal.org/
