International Women Air & Space Museum

IWASM Life Trustee remembered

mepps — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:59:12 +0000

Photo courtesy of Wade Payne/Associated Press

IWASM would like to express our deepest condolences to the family of Evelyn Bryan Johnson. An IWASM member since 1991, Evelyn was truly an amazing person and an inspiration to all she met. Never giving up and never giving in, she logged over 57,000 flight hours (making her the highest-time female pilot), administered thousands of checkrides and managed an airport for decades. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her flying contributions. Evelyn passed away May 10th at age 102. Known as “Mama Bird,” she touched a lot of lives and all were better because of her. We valued her committment, her enthusiasm and her knowledge and she will be missed. Evelyn Bryan Johnson will be buried at Jefferson Memorial Gardens in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

Joan L. Hrubec Aviation Education Center Closed May 12, 2012

mepps — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:16:59 +0000

We would like to congratulate our Education Assistant Matt Sisson on his upcoming graduation from Cleveland State University’s Museum Studies program. Matt joined our staff in 2011 and has been supervising the Education Center on Saturdays. Due to Matt’s upcoming graduation on Saturday May 12, 2012 the Joan L. Hrubec Aviation Education Center will be ...Read the Rest

May Marks the 80th Anniversary of Earhart’s Crossing Atlantic

mepps — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:05:28 +0000

May 20-21, 2012 marks the 80th anniversary of Amelia Earhart’s solo crossing of the Atlantic. This was a first for a woman pilot and she did it exactly 5 years after Charles Lindbergh had been the first pilot to solo the Atlantic. Pictured is a note that Amelia wrote to Louise Thaden in the days before her flight. IWASM also has in its collection the notes on the Ninety-Nines that she refers to in her letter.

IWASM Receives Grant From Wolf Aviation Fund!

mepps — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:02:55 +0000

IWASM recently received a grant award for the conservation treatment of an Eric Sloane oil portrait of award winning balloonist Constance Wolf! After her death in 1994, IWASM received a monetary bequest from the estate of Constance Wolf and the oil portrait. The portrait is dated 1932, when Constance was 27 years old. Treatment will be completed by The Intermuseum Conservation Association (ICA). IWASM plans to display the portrait for a brief period of time in it’s present state. Once the treatment is complete, there will be a portrait unveiling open house.

News from the Collections Manager

mepps — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:00:37 +0000

In April IWASM had two Japanese visitors; they toured the gallery and then picked out Earhart books in the gift shop. One of the men began looking through the IWASM Earhart library books and came across a 1980s Japanese paperback that contained a long article on Amelia. I offered to make a copy of the article for him and he explained that he was a fashion designer. His studio is in North Hollywood (where Earhart had lived) and he was planning his 2013 line around Earhart. His fashion name is “Mr. Hoolywood.” I then asked him if he would like to see a flight suit that she had designed. Of course he was delighted. He was leaving Cleveland the next day to fly to Atchison, Kansas to visit the Amelia Earhart’s Birthplace Museum. We exchanged cards and he promised to send IWASM news of when his Earhart line comes out.

The IWASM Earhart flight suit is no longer on exhibit. We had it out during our Flight to Fame: Amelia Earhart exhibition and afterwards went out on loan to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Now it is “resting” for a period of at least five years. This is to ensure that it will remain in good condition for centuries to come. it is still available to researchers, as are all our artifacts and archives.

Cris Takacs

Collections Manager

UPDATE: May 4th- Wings & Wine party at IWASM

mepps — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:18:54 +0000

We hope you can join us on May 4th at 6pm for our “Wings & Wine” party. Here is a sneak peak of what to expect from your “behind the scenes” tour. Collection Manager Cris Takacs will be discussing IWASM’s vast collection along with displaying some of our most treasured items including: Amelia Earhart’s WWI nurse’s uniform, Tracy Pilurs’ good luck flying buddy the “Purple Puddy Tat,” Clara Adams program from the Hindenburg, “Smilin’ Jack” and “Peppermint Patty Air Race” Comics, and much much more. Tickets are $15 for non-members, $13 for members; includes drinks h’orderves. RSVP by April 27th by calling 216-623-1111 or click here to purchase tickets on-line.

Support the Museum- Buy a raffle Ticket!

mepps — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:19:29 +0000

IWASM is raffling off 2 round-trip tickets courtesy of Southwest Airlines to ANYWHERE they fly! Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by calling IWASM at 216-623-1111. Drawing will be held June 29th, 2012 at the Mary Feik/ Patricia Hange Dinner. You have a 1 in 300 chance of winning! Tickets are valid through April 30, 2013. Our thanks go to Southwest for again sponsoring our museum with this raffle.

Parade the Circle with IWASM!

mepps — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:24:44 +0000

For the first time ever the International Women’s Air & Space Museum will be participating in Parade the Circle on June 9th, 2012 from 11am-4pm; parade begins at noon.

Help us prepare for our parade debut by joining our team! Participation is only $6 per per person and we are looking for kids ages 7-15 to participate! Weekend workshops to make parade costumes and learn choreography will begin April 21st at 2pm and run each Saturday after that at 2pm leading up to the day of the parade. Costume materials will be provided; $6 registration fee is due at the first workshop on April 21st.

For more information or to RSVP to the first workshop call Michelle at 216-623-1111 or email at mepps@iwasm.org

Pre-Tweetup Gathering at IWASM

mepps — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:35:14 +0000

For those attending the NASA Glenn tweetup in Cleveland on March 2d: The International Women’s Air & Space Museum will be hosting a pre-tweetup gathering on Thursday March 1 from 2-5 PM. We are FREE and have many space exhibits. Come join us.

Dr. Barbara Ganson to Speak About Harriet Quimby’s Fashionable Flight Suit

mepps — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:28:19 +0000

Dr. Barbara Ganson

As part of Women in Aviation Week Worldwide, March 5-11, 2012 and the one hundredth anniversary of the first crossing of the English Channel by airplane piloted by a woman aviator in 1912, that is by America’s own Harriet Quimby, the first U.S. licensed woman pilot, I will be giving a power point talk on the morning of March 10, 2012 at Lashenden Air Warfare Museum at Headcorn Aerodrome on the history of pioneer women aviators’ fashion. In particular, I will be demonstrating the plum colored satin flying outfit Harriet Quimby wore. I had a replica of her flying suit sewn using a pattern from IWASM made from plum satin for this special event. The hood is backed in plum colored wool. I will also be explaining the influences or origins of the design of early aviatrices flying costumes and how these women’s socioeconomic backgrounds and career choices in part determined what they wore when piloting airplanes. I then will be flying left seat in a Cessna 172 with a British instructor across the English channel to Le Touquet, France, along with at least 99 other aircraft that have registered for this special event. My aircraft and instructor is being provided by Headcorn Aerodrome. Since I do not have a UK pilot’s license or a U.S. registered aircraft in England, I have to fly with an instructor. There is a special celebratory dinner at Le Touquet, a French coastal resort, on Saturday evening, March 10. I then fly back the next day to Headcorn and make my way back to the U.S. and my classes at Florida Atlantic University. French aviator Mireille Goyer who resides in Canada is the international team leader for this event. I talked about celebrating this event at Oshkosh with Mireille last summer. That the event is taking place underscores her outstanding organizing ability. (As a November we will not sure anything was going to happen!). I have been thinking about the importance of celebrating Harriet Quimby’s achievements nearly for two years. An American woman who had to be a nonpilot won a video contest to accompany Mireille in her Robin across the channel and be a part of this special event (See womenofaviationweek.org/channel for more details about this young woman and my talk, “Women did not always wear pants,”). We will be introducing women to aviation by providing rides on March 10 for a reasonable price at Headcorn. (see website for event schedule).