Adams Library and Reading Room is available by appointment only, and it features a massive archive and book collection regarding the glider program. The museum is located out near the Lubbock Airport, so you will need a car to reach it. It is specifically dedicated to The Legacy of The World War II Glider Pilots among which our founder’s grandfather can be counted. Group and school tours are also available, and special events at the museum offer visitors a continuous variety of new WWII experiences, such as “Aviation Boot Camp” or “Our Lives, Our Stories: America's Greatest Generation. As the name suggests, Silent Wings Museum is not your average airplane or aerospace museum.
SILENT WINGS MUSEUM LUBBOCK TEXAS FULL
Other exhibits include the gallery packed full of airborne equipment and the living exhibit: the British Horsa Glider restoration project. Visitors coming to the museum first sit down for a 15-minute program titled, “Silent Wings: The Story of the World War II Glider Program.” After the program, visitors then explore the timeline of the glider program, the Combat and Hangar galleries (the Combat gallery looks like a real WWII war zone), and view hundreds of photographs and artifacts. The central exhibit at the Silent Wings Museum is the fully restored WACO CG-4A glider, which was the mainstay of the glider program that flew in every major invasion during the war. Through images and stories, this twelve-panel exhibition provides a historical overview of U.S. The very first goal of the Glider Pilots Association was to locate and display the popular WACO CG-4A glider, which they bought and then restored just in time for the 1979 national reunion.Īfterwards, the Association developed a museum to house the glider, and the Silent Wings Museum officially opened in Terrell, Texas in 1984, and by 1997, the museum moved to Lubbock to satisfy a growing demand and to showcase a greater variety of aircraft. LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Beginning July 14, 2020, the Silent Wings Museum will present Images of Valor: U.S. At the time, the mission of this organization was to establish a forum for glider pilots to interact while preserving the history of the U.S. Army Air Force’s Glider Program eventually banded together in 1971 and formed the National World War II Glider Pilots Association Inc. The former pilots who were part of the U.S. Following WWII, the United States military maintained only one regiment of gliders, and glider operations were deleted from the US Army capabilities in 1953. The history of the Silent Wings Museum dates back to the wartime years between 19, when the South Plains Army Airfield was used for training glider pilots and giving them new skills for powered flights. Click on April, 2015 and scroll to bottom to see posts oldest to current.History of the Museum and the U.S. The museum had the above restored CG-4A on display.įollow The 5th Wheel on Check my previous posts. The result of this late start was lots of casualties, with 38% of all the gliders launched crashing. This glider was not used until 1943 during the invasion of Sicily.
It’s primary purpose was to glide silently behind enemy lines to bring or supply troops.Īmerica was a slow starter in using gliders, even though Germany was using them successfully to invade it’s neighboring countries before the US got into the War. The glider could carry troops, or equipment, including a jeep, bulldozer, or a small tank. It was designated as a cargo assault glider, with a designation of CG-4A. The primary glider used by the Army was built by the WACO Aircraft Co. During the war nine preliminary military glider pilot training fields operated in Texas, with one of those sites here at Lubbock Municipal Airport. It is in tribute and remembrance of the gliders used in World War II. Lubbock to mark Veterans Day at Silent Wings Museum, around city Adam D.
The Silent Wings Museum is located on Lubbock Airfield in Lubbock, Texas.
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