Virginia Beach, VA — The Military Aviation Museum has named Mike Potter as it’s new Museum Director.
Mike is by vocation, a former community banker in Virginia and is now a bank consultant. Mike’s avocation for forty years has been flying. He has owned several aircraft, and is an instrument rated private pilot. Mike has been actively involved with “warbirds”, or historic aircraft of the first half century of flight for the last thirty years.
He has had the privilege of flying in many of our country’s most famous aircraft, such as the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, the PBY Catalina, P-51 Mustang, and the only remaining airworthy B-29 Superfortress as well as a host of training aircraft. Mike has spent his time at the museum as a volunteer docent, trainer, public speaker, and aircraft handler.
About the Military Aviation Museum
The Military Aviation Museum is one of the largest collections in the world of flying WWI and WWII aircraft, and the museum continues to grow in its unique and evocative setting in Pungo, Virginia. It is becoming a vacation destination for aviation-minded people all around the world, and the museum is one of the most popular attractions in the Hampton Roads area. In fact, the Military Aviation Museum is now the top rated attraction in all of Virginia Beach according to TripAdvisor.com.
With well over 100,000 square feet of museum and hangar space, the museum currently houses over 60 historic military aircraft representing the first 50 years of military aviation, and almost all of them are kept in flying condition. From the museum’s first acquisition, the wreck of an American P-40 Warhawk in 1996, the collection has grown rapidly, requiring the construction of the museum complex starting in 2005.
The scope of the collection and its popularity requires what may be the largest and most active cadre of volunteers of any museum in the area. In 2012 alone, over 33,000 volunteer hours were logged. Today, we will hear Mike discuss the museum’s collection and the kind of events that have become so popular with tourists and locals alike.