CASE STUDIES :

The New Jersy Aviation Hall of Fame

The New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum is located at Teterboro Airport in northern New Jersey, just minutes from New York City. It consists of the Fred Wehran Pavilion, which houses the museum's administration offices, gift shop and the Ray Wells Skyroom Theater. The Richard Dehmel Wing, added in 1997, houses the majority of the museum's historic artifacts, including the Silvio Cavalier Research Library.

The Hall of Fame and Museum is the result of the vision of H.V. Pat Reilly. Reilly was the public relations director for Pan American Airways, which managed Teterboro Airport for its owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Reilly notes that at the time he first conceived of the museum, Teterboro Airport itself and the men, women and companies that called Teterboro home had developed its own unique place in aviation history.

"Initially, the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum was developed in recognition of those men and women-aviators and others-who made history at Teterboro," said Reilly. "Then, state historians encouraged us to recognize all of New Jersey's rich aviation heritage. That recognition became official when former Governor Brendan Byrne signed a law that established us as the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum."

Today's museum is a far cry from the one that started in 1972 and is a testament to the dedication and hard work of people who want to preserve aviation history. A major fundraising effort allowed for significant expansion of the facility, which sits on property leased from the Port Authority for $1 per year.

In the 60-seat Ray Wells Skyroom Theater, visitors are shown a nine-minute film highlighting New Jersey's 207-year aeronautical heritage. It is also used for lectures, conferences and meetings of various groups, including the Civil Air Patrol, local flying clubs, and the Ninety-Nines organization of women pilots. The theater is also available for non-aviation related functions.

In the Hall of Fame gallery, there are more than 120 bronze plaques honoring some of the greatest names in aviation history. All honorees have a New Jersey connection.

The Great Room houses the museum's larger artifacts, such as a Wright Aeronautical J-5 Whirlwind engine similar to the one used by Charles Lindbergh on his 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic. There are also New Jersey built jet and rocket engines, including those that in 1947 propelled the Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound and the large rocket motor that drove the X-15 into space. Visitors may also sit in the cockpit of a downsized Aeronca monoplane and pretend to fly. The Great Room also has galleries dedicated to space travel, military accomplishments and lighter-than-air flight.

From a second floor balcony, visitors can look down into the Great Room and view the aircraft, satellites and other pieces of New Jersey aviation history suspended from the ceiling. The second floor also offers a replica of a control tower where children can "direct" air traffic while listening to actual radio communications between the Teterboro tower and the general aviation aircraft that make this airport one of the busiest corporate aviation facilities in the country.

The "Women in Aviation" exhibit is also on the second level. One of its highlights is a short film narrated by five-time World Aerobati Champion Patty Wagstaff.

There is a M.A.S.H. exhibit behind the museum-the only one of its kind in the United States dedicated to the Korean War veterans. In the compound, visitors will see a Korean War-era Bell 47C helicopter, a collection of military vehicles and a replica surgical tent complete with 1950s vintage medical equipment.

Museum guests may also board the museum's Martin 202 airliner or check out the cockpit of a Bell AH-1S Cobra attack helicopter.

For more information about the New Jersey Aviation Hal of Fame and Museum, visit it on the Web at www.njahof.org. You may contact the museum by e-mail at info@njahof.org or by phone at 201-288-6344.