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Would you pay to see this?


Wistarmo

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I have been debating for several months about posting this to the website, but it is aviation related. I don't post often but I read the site daily and am very impressed with the thoughtfulness and breadth of knowledge here. So many people from all walks of life, different ages, experience, and points of view.  

I am a WWII aviation devotee.  My dad was in the USAAF and my childhood pen pal was Jimmy Doolittle.  A few years ago I began restoring WWII equipment-- I am not in the financial stratosphere to restore warbirds. I have two principles: 1) Everything I own must work, and 2) I must know how to work everything.  

I assumed that every pilot was enthralled with WWII military history, but the set of pilots and the set of WWII aviation enthusiasts seem to have only partial overlap. I have met many pilots who have never heard of a Norden bombsight. 

Anyway, I have restored at least a dozen Norden bombsights for museums and others. I have many items that I think are the only working ones in existence, such as the Estoppey Bombsight, drift meters, navigator's flux gate compass, astrograph with film, etc. I have restored all the sextants (A-10, A-10A, A-12, A-14).  I have all of the accessories to the Norden bombsight up and working-- the intervalometer, automatic bombing computer, bomb spotting camera, etc. I will begin work on a Sperry bombsight shortly. I also think that I am the only guy left who knows how to use some of them.  I have made YouTube videos for teaching purposes on all of these. 

Now what?  What happens after me?  If I give them to a museum, they will put them in a case or storage. (I speak from experience, having worked with the museums.)  I am concerned about the knowledge it takes to work these things.  I would like to have some kind of living history or interactive museum or display.  I have simulators for the bombsights, so you could look at moving maps and operate the equipment.

I live in a small town that is hard to get to, and I fly my Mooney out of Leesburg, FL.  It's not a major tourist destination. I want to offer to people the ability to see all of the myriad of devices our brave fathers used to carry out their missions in that greatest generation. But even if I set something up in that area, who would come and see it? 

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

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I think the best way to capture the operating knowledge is to make videos of what you think is important and post them to YouTube or somewhere that people will find them in a search.   This way your knowledge is captured and preserved first-hand, and anybody interested can find it if they're willing to look. 

Edited by EricJ
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My ignorance of the subject matter involved keeps me from having a decent appreciation of your work. But I am smart enough to know that your knowledge and expertise is valuable and should be preserved. I am glad people like you do what you do.

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Eric, I have instructional videos on most of these on YouTube; if you search for "Wistarmo" it brings up my channel.  You can also see a 96 year old WWII bombardier running my equipment at an airshow. 

Edited by Wistarmo
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Not all museums are the same, but I hear your frustration. Thinking outside the box, you might consider the Boeing museum up in Seattle which has a great WWII section and is more interactive. Given the role of the Norden in the B-17 they might be interested.

Or really outside the box, you could reach out to that airport in NY state (can’t remember the name) that specializes in living history for WWI planes. Granted, wrong era, but your emphasis on living history for these devices might appeal to them.

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Jeff is probably thinking of Rhinebeck, where they just launched the "Spirit of St Louis" replica.

Another option is to reach out to the Commemorative Air Force https://www.commemorativeairforce.org which flies all kind of war birds out of various locations. They'd probably welcome your skills and enthousiasm with open arms :)

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I have worked with the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and restored one of their Norden bombsight sightheads. They also had a system on display with the sighthead installed backwards/sideways which looked peculiar. They don't seem too interested in an interactive function-- just too many people coming through. The greatest crowd I have worked with is the Mighty Eighth Museum up in Savannah. I got four systems up and running there; including one they just installed in their B-17 "City of Savannah". Hoping next year to do some work up in Dayton at the Air Force Museum. I guess one possibility would be to relocate all of these devices to one of the museums and then periodically go there to give seminars and train others for posterity. As you might imagine, given the one-of-a-kind nature of some of these things, I am pretty protective of them. 

Edited by Wistarmo
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