Amarillo, TX — On their drives to Amarillo, Pampans pass by Rick Husband International Airport, make a quick glance to the left to see if a plane might be taking off, and then continue on their ways for business or pleasure in the big town. Even those who’ve actually been to the airport may not realize that in one of those large hangar buildings before you reach the terminal is the Texas Air & Space Museum.
It’s a small museum staffed entirely by volunteers. The president is Pampa resident and pilot Ron Fernuik, who seems to spend every free minute that he’s not airborne either at the museum or talking on the phone to anyone who has an interest in aviation, or the museum in particular.
Fernuik has been like a kid in a candy store since the museum’s latest acquisition, a DC-3 built in 1945, landed at the museum in mid February.
Restored at several points in its life by the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency no longer had space to store the plane in Oklahoma City and placed it on permanent loan to the museum. Tomorrow, March 1, the plane will become available for public viewing.
The DC-3 was a workhorse of a plane and was used extensively by the commercial airline industry previous to World War II.
In the early days of commercial flight, a passenger had to be pretty hardcore to fly instead of ride cross country in a comfortable railroad car. The DC-3s were among the first aircraft that provided any degree of passenger comfort.
Then the war came.
This particular bird, Number 34, spent its first decade flying worldwide as a transport plane for the U.S. Navy.
N34 may have been flown during the Berlin Airlift after WWII, because it was in the right place at the right time, Fernuik said.
Though it has reached the venerable age of nearly 70, the plane’s aluminum skin still glistens like new. And although it will likely never fly again, it will be maintained in flying condition, Fernuik said.
Right now, N34 is being kept in a hangar operated by English Field Aviation, who leases space to the museum.
Fernuik said the museum is a grateful tenant, but is excited about the day when it will have a permanent location.
In March 2013, the museum acquired ownership of 20 acres of land adjacent to the airport. The property includes eight large, hangar-sized, structurally-excellent buildings that, after renovation, will provide more than five acres (enough space for 250 aircraft) of indoor aircraft display space.
Historic DC-3 now showcased at Texas Air & Space Museum