New curator uncovering personal history of NAS Wildwood

LOWER TOWNSHIP, NJ – Nina Ranalli loves her job.

 

On a quiet Tuesday afternoon in her office at the aviation museum at Naval Air Station Wildwood, this young woman, barely a quarter century old herself, starts explaining why the small, very old objects she has selected to share are so important.

 

“These are some of the effects of a man who died in training here,” Ranalli said, as she removed the cover of the box storing the items. “Leonard Volpi was a pilot who crashed out on one of the runways here. We have photographs of him and with his family. There’s one here with another aviator.”

 

The photographs, a mix of copies and originals, show Ensign Volpi in his dress uniform in a portrait, standing with his parents, and in front of aircraft he trained in. His dog tags bore his name, rank and serial number, and a variety of insignia from his uniforms were carefully tucked in the box.

 

“These kinds of things are very meaningful, and people really do think of us,” Ranalli said. “They are more than happy to share and donate, so we really try to have reverence and respect for that.”

 

Military records indicate that Volpi died some 200 yards off runway 28 on July 6, 1945 – months before the World War II’s end. Volpi was one of 42 men to have died while training here during the war.

 

“That’s 42 that we know of,” Ranalli said. “There might have been more, and that is why the recordkeeping and cataloging is so important.”

 

Naval Air Station Wildwood was commissioned on April 1, 1943, and was an active dive-bombing training facility for navy aviators. There were 129 crashes documented in and around the base.

 

“These were young men here, brand new pilots and moved into advanced training to fly these dive-bomber missions,” Ranalli said. “The war created a sense of urgency so they had to learn so much, so fast.”

 

The facility was decommissioned in 1946.

 

Ranalli was hired by the museum’s Board of Directors last September in the newly created curator’s position.

 

“I feel so lucky to have landed here,” she said. “I have wanted to work in museums since I was very young, and there are not a ton of opportunities in curatorial work in South Jersey.”