VIEWS OF A FARM BOY

RETURN TO HOMEPAGE>>>

October--2019

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. (NIV) (Psalm 36:5)

MOTHBALLS

An important part of Iowa history goes in mothballs for one year. These airplanes were flying the Iowa skies in the early 1900's. For the past 23 years they (Wings Over Iowa Exhibit) have been suspended from the ceiling of the State Historical Museum of Iowa. Now they must be temporarily grounded as the building undergoes renovation. I arrived today (September 25, 2019) just as two of the planes made a soft landing to the museum floor. As you can see, the big crane is already hoisted to prepare the last airplane for a Sunday landing. Once down, the planes will be disassembled and stored away in custom made crates. This will be their home until the first phase of the building remodel is completed. If all goes according to schedule this should be about one year. Don't worry--I will be there and let you know when these beautiful birds, once again, take to the museum "sky." That will be a good day for me--I don't like the smell of mothballs!

Bleriotxi Monoplane (1909)

Curtiss Pusher Biplane (1911)

Benoist Tractor Biplane (1917)

The State Historical Museum of Iowa (below) is located at 600 East Locust, Des Moines, Iowa.

This beautiful State Historical Museum Building opened in this location in 1988--making it a relatively new building. However, what you see is not always what you get. It seems this beautiful building has been plagued with structural problems almost from the get-go. At one point, demolition of the building was considered, but it was decided remodeling was the better option. The first remodel phase will include replacing the skylights with verticle windows.That means the three antique airplanes suspended from the ceiling have to temporarily be grounded. This process started today--and I was there. Dont worry, they will have loving care and we will see them again in about a year.