Charlie Returns to the NASM! (original) (raw)

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) Parked just a few feet away from a giant Air France Concorde and the Space Shuttle Enterprise, "Charlie" is now in some very good company.

Back in 1984, the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum removed Jerrie Mock's Spirit of Columbus from public view, citing lack of space in their National Mall museum. FAA N1538C was disassembled and placed in the Paul Garber Restoration Facility in suburban Suitland, MD. out of regular public view. Special, pre-arranged tours of the Garber warehouses could be arranged, but with numerous hangars stuffed full of NASM artifacts, Charlie's legend was easily forgotten by all but the very few who stumbled upon the plain red and white Cessna Skywagon sitting unpretentiously in a corner.

But when the NASM completed their Steven Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport in December, 2003, it marked a new era in the storied history of this country's most important aviation museum. The Hazy Center opened up much-needed display space to the NASM Curators, and one by one, the many famous aircraft in the NASM collection began moving through the Garber restoration shops and onto the Hazy display floor.

The photo shown above illustrated one such move. In late October 2005 –as promised by NASM Curators – Charlie was fully restored to perfect condition, and now sits in a proper place of prominence. After the first of the year, the Spirit of Columbus will be placed in its "permanent" location, hanging from the ceiling of the three-level museum.

In 2000, I first viewed Charlie in that Garber warehouse, and became perplexed at how such an important flying machine – and its pilot – could fall through the cracks of aviation history. On Wednesday, November 16th, I returned to D.C. to again visit my old friend Charlie, where I shot a collection of archival research images for use in making the film Three-Eight Charlie.

I cannot take any credit for the Spirit of Columbus finally being brought back to the public. This move has been in the normal NASM schedule for quite some time. But I will say this...as a pilot and driving force behind the film about Jerrie Mock's life, it sure feels good to see Charlie get his due.

Now all we have to do is get the movie produced so Jerrie can get hers!