1st of November, 2025
We’re saving the “tricks” for Halloween, but we’ve got plenty of “treats” for you and the family this Saturday, November 1, 2025.
Through the graciousness of Rod Lewis and his Lewis Air Legends, we’re thrilled to have the beautiful Grumman F7F “Tigercat” as our featured aircraft for the month, flying over the Museum beginning at 12:15pm.
And Saturday marks the judging for our annual Ed Maloney Scale Model Contest. All visitors will receive ballots to vote o n our many entries.
“Hangar Talk” promises some great topics that will teach and inspire.
Like we said – lots of treats for everyone!
Doors to the Museum open at 9:00am and regular admission prices are in effect. Museum Members always get in FREE!
From 9:00am until 11:00am we’re holding the Ed Maloney Scale Model Contest. This annual event, open to all Museum members, volunteers, and our Junior Modeling Club Members, features six different categories this year and dozens of entries on display in the Maloney Hangar.
All guests to the Museum serve as judges for this great contest.
Upon entry, you’ll receive colored stickers to place on your favorite models. At the close of voting, we’ll tabulate your choices and at the end of Hangar Talk announce the winners in each of the six categories. It promises to be a lot of fun and a chance to see some fantastic scale models!
We’ve got four wonderful presentations scheduled for this month’s “Hangar Talk.” Each of these tells a unique chapter in aviation history and should be filled with fun facts and interesting tidbits. Here’s what’s in store.
More and more we keep hearing about “drone attacks” in military engagements. From Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) attacking Naval vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to Russian drone attacks on civilian targets in the Ukraine to Ukrainian responses via drone against Russian troops, the drone has become a growing part of combat. But did you know that the pioneering work in drones came out of Hollywood during World War II?
In this presentation we’ll look at the man behind one of the first unmanned aerial vehicles used to train soldiers during the Second World War and how his efforts launched an industry that has both important civilian uses as well as military ones.
With this month’s Hangar Talk we begin a new four-part series on a critical component in naval aviation – the development, evolution, and utilization of the aircraft carrier.
Part One looks that the early beginnings of naval aviation and how these efforts led to the transition of existing ships into “carriers of aircraft.” From there, the presentation will explore the evolution of the carrier and the role they continue to play in military strategy today.
In this presentation we turn our attention once again to the science of flight and explore the effects that gravity has on our frail human bodies while they fly through the air.
And while aircraft can be designed and built to withstand the strong forces that aerial maneuvers place on the machine, these same gravitational forces can prove deadly to the human occupants of the aircraft. We’ll look at the challenges faced by scientists to combat the effects of “G-forces” that ultimately led to the development of sophisticated equipment to measure these forces and resulted in special G-suits to prevent G-LOC (Gravitational Loss of Consciousness).
In this fun presentation, we’ll look back nearly 50 years at the phenomenon of the movie “Star Wars” and the role that World War II aerial combat played in helping frame both the story and the special effects.
“Star Wars” creator George Lucas studied over 25 hours of footage from World War II dogfights and jittery newsreel imagery, and war movies while doing research for his epic space trilogy. Film clips from gun cameras and WWII-era movies were even used as placeholders while the special effects team created their magic. To go along with this presentation, a display of Star Wars models will help accent the WWII influence that is pervasive through the movies. Upon completion of this presentation, we’ll announce the winners of the Ed Maloney Scale Model Contest.
At 12:15pm on our Hot Ramp we present this month’s aircraft flight presentation. This month we’re pleased to present a rare bird that is visiting the Museum. Thanks go out to Rod Lewis of Lewis Air Legends for kindly letting us fly his beautiful “Tigercat” aptly named “Here, Kitty, Kitty!”
The Grumman F7F Tigercat was developed in 1941 for the U.S. Navy as a powerful, twin-engine carrier-based fighter and ground attack aircraft, intended for use on the new Midway-class carriers. Although its first flight was in 1943, it arrived too late for World War II combat. However, the U.S. Marine Corps used the Tigercat during the Korean War for night fighting and ground support.
It was notable for being the first U.S. Navy carrier aircraft to have tricycle landing gear and its heavy armament of four 20mm cannons and four .50-caliber machine guns packed a wallop!
Following a brief outdoor presentation about this amazing aircraft, we’ll fire up both of the air-cooled 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engines right in front of the crowd. Get ready to feel the rumble in your chest as you experience 4,200 horsepower just a few feet away!
The Tigercat will taxi away and we’ll conduct our “Member’s Only” raffle for a ride to one lucky winner in one of our WWII-era trainers. Then the Tigercat will put on an aerial display over the Museum for all of us to enjoy. This is a great chance to get some outstanding photographs. Upon the aircraft’s return, guests will be able to meet the pilot and ask questions.
Your admission gets you access to all seven of our hangars and the over 100 aircraft and historical memorabilia on display. The B-17 will be open to visitors, and our food trucks will be on-site with lots of delicious options. Museum Guides are on hand to tell you the stories of the Museum and our collection and the Gift Shop is stocked with some cool items for purchase.
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