COLUMBUS, OHIO — Officials from the Ohio Air & Space Hall of Fame and Museum and Ohio State University have joined forces to create aviation-based Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (AvSTEAM) education programming.
The OAS is fundraising to transform the original Port Columbus Air Terminal into its home and a civic showpiece. In addition to a $550,000 grant from the State of Ohio and early gifts from donors, the OAS recently received a donation from the Wright Brothers Foundation toward the renovation of the historic 13,000-square-foot Art Deco style terminal and tower, built in 1929 and on the National Register of Historic Places.
Public exhibits on the first floor will honor a diverse roster of air and space pioneers from Ohio, along with recognizing the state’s companies and organizations significant to the advancement of powered flight and manned space exploration.
The second floor will be devoted to youth STEAM education and workforce development programming. The Wright Brothers, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Charles E. McGee, and Jerrie Mock are just a few of the OAS honorees whose inspirational legacies will be integrated into AvSTEAM curricula and activities, according to officials at the university’s Aviation Studies & Air Transportation and Aerospace Campus.
“A wealth of the world’s innovation and technological advancements were created right here in ‘The Birthplace of Aviation’, thanks to ordinary Ohioans making extraordinary contributions,” said OAS Executive Director Ron Kaplan. “The world class facilities and programs of Ohio State Aviation have been instrumental to that success for over a hundred years. Thus we are delighted that our very first STEAM education partnership is with the OSU Center for Aviation Center Studies. The timing is ideal to share our state’s remarkable history of flight while fostering the future-looking workforce that will maintain Ohio’s leading role in aerospace and technology.”
I am anxious to see this project begin:,I was born in 1934, grew up in Gahanna near the Port Columbus Airport and often rode my bike to the airport in the early 1940’s, walk the flight line at will, visit the tower where my paper route customer worked in meteorology and graciously allowed me access to the tower to observe aircraft cleared to land via a green light flashed from the tower. I grew up fascinated with airplanes visiting the airport when there was an air-show or a historical event taking place
At the age of 17 in 1952, joined the Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-244 as a reservist at NAS Port Columbus as a flight line mechanic on various aircraft.
I began working in the factory at North American Aviation in 1952 on the F86F Sabre Jet assembly line. in 1953, I joined the engineering department at NAA as a draftsman and later a design engineer for a total of 18 years, leaving NAA in November 1970.
I began flight training as a private pilot in January 1979 and completed training in 1980 as a licensed pilot.