PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Frank Baehre has some vivid memories of being on the runway of the Plattsburgh Air Force Base.
 
“As I’m dumping fuel with the after burner going, I’m sending this big streak of fire out behind the airplane. Because we’re in the clouds, it lit up the clouds, it was like flying in a brilliant orange, ping pong ball,” Baehre said.
 
The FB-111 Pilot was stationed twice in Plattsburgh — from 1977 to 1982, and then again from 1986 to 1989.
“In 1993, when I retired out of the Air Force, I asked my wife, ‘Where would you like to go?'” Baehre said. “Because the Air Force would move you to the place you want to move to, she said, ‘let’s go home to Plattsburgh.'”   
 
But only two years shy of retirement, the base closed down — and so did a landmark dedicated to it.
 
“They always ask — they say, ‘Where is the old base museum?’ And the answer is, it closed when the base closed. And they always say — it’s really unfortunate,” said Keith Herkalo, President of The Battle of Plattsburgh Association, a not-for-profit organization that operates the War of 1812 Museum. He pitched the idea of re-opening an air base museum a few weeks ago — and the community approved.
 
“From ’55 through ’95 — you can let your mind wander. How many hundreds of thousands have been through here?” Herkalo said.
 
The old base museum building was rehabbed since closing, but Herkalo said the museum needs about $25,000 for installation and exhibit costs, and another $5,000 for storage space for artifacts. “I don’t believe we’re going to have a problem raising that money in a community that’s so enamored with this subject and the willingness to participate,” he said.
 
Herkalo said the association is launching a membership campaign and creating social media pitches for donations. The museum is collecting donated items from members that were part of the community surrounding the base. “The family life, it is the mission life, the operational life of the Air Force units when they were here. What was it like being a family member here? What was it like being on the flight line?”  Herkalo said.
 
“Plattsburgh had this attraction for us that hardly any of the other bases did and Plattsburgh could feel like a home for you, whereas you were just stationed in Texas,” Frank Baehre said.
 
A piece of the Air Force base — making a landing in Plattsburgh once again. 
 
Project managers anticipate to open the museum in the spring of 2014.
 
Plattsburgh Air Base museum to re-open