Celebrate the Heritage of the Ford Tri-Motor

Dinner with the Crew of EAA’s Legendary Aircraft

Saturday, June 29, 2013
Reception – 6:00 PM
Dinner – 7:00 PM

Take a flight in the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) 1929 Ford Tri-Motor Aircraft hosted by local EAA Chapter 533 at the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport on June 27th – 30th, 2013 and then join us at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center on Saturday, June 29th for a dinner including a Family-Friendly Summer Buffet Menu and program from the crew of the legendary Ford Tri-Motor. We will gather at 6:00PM for a reception and have dinner at 7:00 PM. Our program will include a briefing by the crew of this historic aircraft. Join us and imagine what the early days of commercial service were like, when airfields looked more like big pastures.

Make Reservations

Videos about EAA’s Ford Tri-Motor

History of the Ford Tri-Motor

The Ford Tri-Motor did for airline passenger transportation what the Ford Model T did for the family car. The Ford Tri-Motor was the first all metal, long range passenger aircraft and with over 100 airlines eventually operating 199 of the revolutionary aircraft the 1930s witnessed the first scheduled transcontinental and international air service using the Ford Tri-Motor. The aircraft enjoyed a long list of firsts including the first scheduled airliner with in-flight flight attendants and the first airliner to conduct scheduled international service with flights from Miami to Havana.

Flying the Tri-Motor took above average skills, because the flight controls were all manual. This challenged the first cadre of pilots but the aircraft developed an unprecedented safety record that capitalized on the redundancy of the three air cooled engines. The US Army and Navy experimented with both cargo and bomber versions of the aircraft. One was even converted to perform as a sea plane with added floats manufactured by the EDO Corporation.

Even though Henry Ford closed the Ford Motor Aircraft Corporation following the completion of the Tri-Motor manufacturing run, he went on to build the Willow Run plant which built thousands of B-24 Liberator bombers under contract from the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation. The assembly line fabrication skills needed for that record breaking war effort were developed during the building of the Tri-Motor and the multi-engine controls. In fact all metal fabrication can be directly traced to the lessons learned a decade before with the Tri-Motor. As one of two flying Tri-Motors, the EAA aircraft is an example of living aviation history and is a “must see” for all in the area.

Tours are ‘Rich’ and Unique from Docent Rich Green at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center
by Stacey Brown

Guided tours at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center are primarily based upon the aircraft within the Discovery Center’s collection, however that doesn’t mean you can’t have an interest in other areas to enjoy a tour at Wings of Eagles. One of the Discovery Center’s docents, Rich Green, works hard to give each visitor a tour based on the aspects of aviation history that appeals to them. From veterans who want to reminisce and share their own experiences while serving, to children full of questions, to disabled visitors who want to interact with the items on display, Green shares his knowledge to make everyone’s visit enjoyable.

Green, who started volunteering for the Discovery Center in 1997, served 10 years in the US Navy where he spent time as a Surface Warfare Officer and in the Navy’s Recruiting Command during the 1970s. His time on land, primarily in Norfolk, VA, and serving aboard the USS Columbus (CA-74), a guided missile cruiser, provided him with the base knowledge he uses today when giving a tour. This knowledge is especially useful when veterans come to tour the museum. “It becomes a give and take experience” says Green, “it’s like a symbiotic relationship forms where we can learn from one another because they are able to provide real life experiences for things I’ve only read about and I can do the same for them.”

For instance, Green recently had a local veteran visit that grew up in Owego and now lives in Corning. The visitor and his four brothers had served during World War II at different locations around the globe. As a member of the Navy’s Construction Battalion, or SeaBees, the visitor served a large amount of time in the South West Pacific Theater including the country of Australia where he helped build a hospital near Sydney. Because of research he had done and because of stories he had heard from other visitors, Green not only knew some of the islands where the visitor had served but he was also able to empathize and understand the experiences the visitor had had during his time in service.

Veterans are not the only type of visitors that come to experience the collection at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center. Quite frequently families with children come to see what the Discovery Center has to offer. “Young people are great to do tours for when they ask questions” says Green. What Green finds works best with young minds is relating items to one another in order to move ideas forward. Finding similar items like the torpedo tubes or country insignia on different aircraft makes the items easier to remember because of the reinforcement. Presenting information in this manner allows young people to remember relationships better than obscure facts.

In some cases however, answering and asking questions isn’t always an easy task. Several weeks ago a family from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France visited. The family spoke both French and German and the father was fluent in English. The family’s eldest son spoke some English but the youngest spoke none. “We quite frequently have visitors from other countries” says Green, “and the language barrier isn’t always as hard to overcome as you would think.” Since this family spoke French a lot of the aircraft terms were familiar to them. Green attributes this to the fact that French was the language of science when airplanes were first being developed. Terms like fuselage, aileron and empennage all come from the French language.

Not only can languages be different, but visitors may be more accustomed to one measurement system than another. Green gives each visitor to the Discovery Center a brief overview of the metric system compared to the English measurement system before proceeding with his tour. Green grew up building model airplanes so he understands the importance of being able to convert from one to the other.

Green’s desire to make a tour interesting to everyone that visits goes beyond an intellectual level in some cases. The Discovery Center often receives tour groups from Pathways, Inc., a local not-for-profit human service organization that provides children, adults, and families with specialized programs and services in developmental disabilities, mental health, family support, traumatic brain injury, and child care. “These individuals have varying ability levels but they need to and want to participate” says Green. When going from station to station in the Discovery Center’s collection, Green allows the visitors to touch as much as possible, but when they use the HotSeat flight simulator they really become engaged. “They can fly things like ultralights that don’t require the use of the foot pedals or I can sit in the seat and take off in an aircraft and then let them control either the pitch or the throttle to change the plane’s position in the air” says Green. Some of the visitors from Pathways, Inc. are able to sit in the seat of the simulator and do more of the flying on their own, but either way they are able to experience flight in a safe manner.

With such a diverse population of visitors it is easy to see how every artifact in the Discovery Center’s collection can blossom into different pathways depending on the visitor’s interest. “I’m not going to spend time talking about the cubic inch displacement of a radial engine if the visitor isn’t interested in learning about it” Green says. In the Discovery Center’s new location he finds that the Ohka, MiG-21 and F-4 have become the highlights of the tour because of their rich aerodynamic and political history. The UH-1H Huey is also very popular because visitors are able to sit inside the aircraft. Green finds that the Discovery Center’s resources in addition to the aircraft help reinforce and illustrate concepts he would not otherwise be able to provide. The addition of a library in the Discovery Center’s new location and the models of aircraft and aircraft carriers on hand allow Green to give a visual reference point to someone having trouble understanding a concept by just hearing about it. The uniforms on hand are also a good resource. Green says, “I had a young person here today who was about six years old and I put him in a flak vest and put a helmet on him and then raised the visor screen so he could see and he thought that was a lot of fun.”

Although Green tries to give every visitor a comprehensive tour of the site, occasionally a visitor will be extremely interested in one aspect. “In that case I encourage people to return at a later time to spend time just learning about the subject they’re interested in” says Green. “I’m more than happy to sit and spend as much time as someone wants learning about any item here at the Discovery Center.” Whether someone makes one or more trips to the Discovery Center it’s clear that Green enjoys what he does and truly tries his hardest to make every person’s experience worthwhile when they visit Wings of Eagles Discovery Center.

The date for our 2013 Spring Dinner has been shifted to coincide with the NY State Museum Week. We will be announcing a date and sending invitations soon. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Monday, February 11th from 12 PM – 5 PM at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center

Click to enlarge

When you’re driving near the airport this Monday, don’t just fly by. Glide into a special American Red Cross blood drive and give a donation that will help lift the spirits of a patient who needs blood to higher heights. The National Soaring Museum and Wings of Eagles Discovery Center are holding a blood drive on Monday, February 11, from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, 339 Daniel Zenker Drive in Horseheads, NY.

It’s important to remember that blood is always needed and giving blood is a simple act that helps save lives. Approximately every two seconds a patient in the United States needs blood. That’s why your blood donation through the Red Cross is so important. A blood donation may help save up to three lives and it only takes about an hour of your time. It is the blood on the shelves today that helps save lives tomorrow.

A blood donation can help save the life of a real person in your community. Blood is an essential component for patient care in area hospitals, and the only source of blood is a healthy, volunteer blood donor. All presenting donors can enter for a chance to win a $50 movie gift card. One winner will be selected each day for the entire month of February. Walk-ins are always welcome, but donors are encouraged to schedule an appointment in advance by calling 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) or by visiting redcrossblood.org.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross has been a primary supplier of lifesaving blood products in the United States for more than 50 years. Eligible volunteer blood donors are asked to please call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org to find a blood drive and to make appointments. Individuals who are 17 years of age (16 with parental permission in New York State), meet weight and height requirements (110 pounds or more, depending on their height) and are in generally good health may be eligible to give blood. Please bring your Red Cross blood donor card or other form of positive ID when you come to donate.

Twin Tiers Hot Spots: The New Wings Of Eagles Discovery Center

Published on WETM 18, Elmira-Corning, NY, February 1, 2013

Reported by: Marissa Perlman
Email: mperlman@wetmtv.com

Published: 2/01 1:02 pm
Updated: 2/01 1:13 pm

Horseheads, N.Y. (WETM 18) – The New Wings Of Eagles Discovery Center opens in Horseheads. WETM 18 News Reporter, Marissa Perlman, takes you back in time and highlights the aircraft on display. If you’ve been itching to take a journey to the skies, we have just the place for you.

The museum features real war-time aircraft.

President of the Discovery Center, Mike Hall, says everything on display has played a major role in U.S. wars, dating back to the 1940′s.

He says, “The Huey, has become a very popular aircraft for us because you can get in it and see as much as they did, and imagine what it felt like to be a young person in that conflict and riding off into battle.”

He says the best part of the museum is this hands on experience for the whole family.

“We’re about coming here and being able to see and to touch the artifacts and gain appreciation for what it means to build an aircraft that can fly,” he says.

You’ll find people at the Discovery Center who can give you a first hand account of what it feels like to take one of these to the skies.

Executive Officer Karen Robbin’s father built an aircraft featured at the museum.

She grew up flying “The Breezy.” She says, “It’s basically flying through the air at pretty good height with nothing around you but air.”

Wings of Eagles is open Tuesday through Saturday, admission is $7 dollars for adults, and $5 dollars for kids.

Story & Photo by Roger Neumann

Originally printed in the December 2012 edition of Mountain Home magazine and reprinted in the Star-Gazette

There are more computers than airplanes today, and more teaching room than hangar space at what once was called the National Warplane Museum. And the emphasis on education is only growing.

You can still call it a museum, as its president does, but more and more the focus at the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center is on using aircraft, and other flight-related objects, as teaching tools to inspire young people to learn. In fact, a brochure describes the center as “a regional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) academy.”

Mike Hall, the president and CEO, said the center owns about thirty-six planes now, many of which are stationed at the Elmira Corning Regional Airport. He said that while the aim of the museum years ago was to stockpile old warplanes, this is no longer a goal. Only a few planes stand outside the museum now, with several others inside.

A former fighter pilot, Hall understands the importance of the planes but says, “We had to find a way to make these artifacts that were a part of history relevant to the future.”

Hall said the transition in the mission began around the middle of the last decade. It was motivated by the realization that: (1) the old planes appealed mostly to members of an aging (and fading) generation and (2) the center was in a strong position to help fill the gaps in the teaching of STEM subjects to future generations.

Hall, a retired Air Force major general, still sounds like a man with two stars on each shoulder when he says: “I think our number one security threat is a failure of our country to prepare our future generations for the world in which they’re going to live. The United States of America right now, by any measure, is somewhere between twenty-fifth and fiftieth in terms of preparing its young people to meet the technical challenges of the global economy. If we don’t change that, we’re not going to be the top dog.”

The Wings of Eagles is doing its part. Now located at a former indoor polo arena at Airport Corporate Park in Horseheads (and still in the renovation process), it had a grand opening last November, with Elmira native and former astronaut Eileen Collins as the guest speaker.

The museum has a large open space in its 30,000-square-foot display hangar for science fairs and displays of students’ projects. It has a learning center equipped with five recently-acquired air traffic control consoles that were free Federal Aviation Administration surplus, along with computers and whiteboards that were free school surplus acquired through BOCES (New York State’s Boards of Cooperative Educational Services). Teachers are being sent into schools and hosting groups of students—mostly from the Corning, Elmira, and Horseheads districts for now—for lessons that lean heavily on projects rather than lectures.

Hall said the STEM subjects are “teachable in lecture format but not exciting,” and are therefore taught better through hands-on experiences. He said the Wings of Eagles modeled its programs on those of top-rated high-tech school systems he visited in Seattle and San Diego.

Alison Mandel, director of education at the Wings of Eagles, has witnessed the effect her methods have had on children, some of them quite young. This summer, for example, third- and fourth-graders took part in a new two-week Marvelous Machines model building project and, Mandel said, “I was extremely impressed with how the kids got engaged in the program, how excited they got about the program.”

On December 6, students in grades five through eight from the Horseheads, Campbell-Savona, Addison, and Bath school districts took part in a SciFair Showcase at the museum. One of three such events that schools in the Greater Southern Tier BOCES districts put on each year, it gave students a chance to present the virtual worlds they had produced in groups on computers.

Jason Schrage, an eighth-grade social studies teacher and one of the coaches of the Horseheads group, said the number of applicants for the SciFair jumped significantly over previous projects because the word had gotten around that learning can be fun.

“There’s a lot of creativity involved” in the projects, Schrage said. “The kids go to town with it. They just go crazy.”

The excitement is shared by Hall, Mandel, and others at the Wings of Eagles as they consider the center’s future. But there’s concern, too, for what might be the most critical year in its history.

The museum had to move after Chemung County, which owned its former home, agreed in 2010 to lease that building to Sikorsky Aircraft, which was planning an expansion. Sikorsky has since announced that it will close its local operation, but the Wings of Eagles is long gone, having taken two years—a year longer than expected—to relocate.

Hall said the museum received $3.2 million to move but still needs about $3 million more to complete the transformation of what was the Thundering Hooves arena.

“For us, 2013 is a really important year because we have to rebuild our business,” he said. “We had to live off our reserves for a year longer, and now we have less reserves to protect us against a slow time. It’s important for us to connect with the public and have the public support us. If we can accomplish that, then we’ll be successful.”

-Roger Neumann is a retired editor and reporter for the Elmira Star-Gazette.

From October 4th through October 22nd bring a canned good or nonperishable food item to Wings of Eagles Discovery Center and receive half off admission. All items will be donated to the 11th Annual March out for Hunger on October 23rd at Tops Market in Elmira, New York.

Volunteer Chuck Erle works to clean the nose strut of our A-10 in preparation for moving it indoors for display.

For the Grand Re-Opening Celebration of Wings of Eagles Discovery Center

including an evening with

Astronaut Eileen Collins

on

Saturday, November 24, 2012

More information to follow
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The move and installation of our UH-1 Huey begins the next steps for Wings of Eagles Discovery Center

What a great way to get started!!!  On Thursday, Mike Hall, President of the Discovery Center joined with County Officials to officiate over the ribbon cutting for our new facility at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center. Celebrating the arrival of our first aircraft, a Vietnam Combat veteran UH-1 Huey, Mike showed the community that we have returned and are opening up to the public following our successful Summer of Innovation.  This summer over 400 children benefited from the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs they attended while volunteers readied our new hanger and interactive classroom for general opening. We are happy to announce that starting September 18th our squadron of unique and historic aircraft will have arrived at their new home and join the Huey on display for the public to enjoy.

These aircraft can and will inspire the thousands of children who will benefit from learning – quite literally “Under the Wings of Eagles.”  As the Summer of Innovation was held free to all who attended, some of our efforts will now shift to raising the funding for next summer’s classes as well as extended day and weekend learning classes this year. Sponsorship of our returning aircraft is a great way to help us reach out fundraising goals and to recognize the service of a loved one. You can choose to have the name of a family member who served displayed at the aircraft’s exhibit for posterity.  Click below to learn more about how to sponsor an aircraft and to see the full list of our collection that spans some of the most historic years of aviation.

Sponsor An Aircraft

Additionally, in the record press coverage of our ribbon cutting, several mentions of our November Gala were announced.  As the general public becomes more aware of our expanded education mission we believe that there will be additional and expanded community support that will help us to become fully self sufficient.  Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli summed up our purpose and passion by saying, “The STEM programs offered by Wings of Eagles could lead local students to rewarding careers in technology-driven fields. Having such programs available also makes it easier to recruit businesses – and jobs – to the area.”

One of our goals is to increase our ability to reach our friends via email updates.  At no cost to yourself please consider forwarding this email to your friends and contacts and asking them to sign up to receive future Discovery Grams and consider signing up for a membership to enjoy the year round benefits from Wings of Eagles.

Our ribbon cutting was an exciting first step after nearly two years of hard work and now we look forward to welcoming our squadron to their new home and inspiring an entire future generation “Under the Wings of Eagles.