Renovation proposed for Horsham aviation museum

Local aviation enthusiasts are setting their sights high with a proposed renovation of the Wings of Freedom museum in Horsham, hoping that it could someday rival the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.

The designs, unveiled Friday at a fund-raiser in Blue Bell, call for a $24 million, green-certified campus to replace the existing museum. The planes now displayed on the lawn would move inside an all-glass exhibit hall. A circuitous, multilevel viewing path would showcase the planes from above and below. And a separate gallery would allow visitors to watch planes being restored.

The expansion is part of the redevelopment of the former Willow Grove Naval Air Station, which closed in 2011 except for the museum and a small parcel still used by the Air National Guard. The rest of the base is slated to be turned into houses, condos, office space, shops, and parks.

"We believe it's a great cause. We want to preserve the history of the base, and we're the only ones doing that right now," said Ronald Nelson, a retired Marine who heads the museum board.

Nelson said he doesn't want Willow Grove's legacy to fade into obscurity, like that of the former Naval Air Warfare Center in Warminster. After the Warminster base closed in 1996, its most important artifact -- a centrifuge where astronauts trained before space flights -- foundered as a commercial event space and is now usually closed to the public.

Currently, the Wings of Freedom museum gets about 1,000 visitors a month, Nelson said. All of the aircraft on display flew out of Willow Grove - during the Gulf war, the Vietnam War, World War II, and even earlier, when it was a corporate airfield founded by aviation pioneer Harold Pitcairn.

"Pitcairn Field is the birthplace of rotary-wing flight, which is huge," Nelson said. "Almost every helicopter flying today has a rotor head that the basic design was done by Harold."

In its current state, the museum does not have space to display some of its best materials, said Mark Hurwitz, vice president of the museum board.

"There are things that we have in storage now, just because we have limited space," he said. He recalled sorting through the basement a few years ago and finding a black-and-white photograph.

"It was Amelia Earhart when she was in Norristown, not long before she took her final flight," Hurwitz said. "But she also flew out of Willow Grove, in a Pitcairn autogiro, and set an altitude record at Willow Grove. . . . That's part of the history that is kind of very quiet, and we need to raise that up."

The Delaware Valley Historical Aircraft Association, which owns and operates the museum, is entirely funded by donations and run by volunteers.

Raising the $24 million to build the facility - plus more for upkeep and operating expenses - will be a huge hurdle. But time may be on their side.

In addition to the usual delays over permits, water and sewer infrastructure, and contracting, the association is still waiting for the Navy to release the land. The local redevelopment agency buying the base has promised the museum a 14-acre parcel, but environmental cleanup is hindering the process.

"I hope it happens in my lifetime," Nelson said. "I'm not sure it will, but we'll get it started anyhow."

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*Note: This article has been updated to reflect that the Warminster centrifuge occasionally opens for lectures or other events.