History
The museum is located on the site of the World War II South Plains Army Air Field, where glider pilots were trained between 1942 and 1945, after which time they were required also to command skills in powered flight. The Lubbock site was chosen for the glider school because of its dry, warm weather, mostly clear skies, and goodwill in the local community. The climate creates conditions of upward air currents and relatively little low-cloud formation, both conditions essential in gliding. The glider training area is now within the scope of the museum and the nearby Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport.
In 1971, former pilots of the U.S. Army Air Force banded together to form the National World War II Glider Pilots Association, Inc. Their mission was to establish a forum for glider pilots to interact socially and provide the framework for the preservation of the history of the U.S. glider program.
One of its first goals was to locate and restore a WACO CG-4A (See CG-4 Hadrian) glider for public display. Several pilots in the Dallas area learned of just such a glider sitting on top of a tire store in Fresno, California. After World War II, the aircraft had been purchased as military surplus, placed on top of the building and used as advertising. In 1979 the glider was purchased, restored and completed in time for the reunion in Dallas. After the reunion steps were taken to build a museum to house the CG-4A.
The first Silent Wings Museum opened to the public on November 10, 1984 in Terrell east of Dallas. By 1997, the need for a more permanent museum home was realized. Lubbock, where a majority of the pilots had trained, offered to provide a new site for the museum. The pilots agreed to the new location, and the Terrell site closed in January 2001. The following October, the former South Plains Army Air Field site opened the new Silent Wings Museum with the restored CG-4A glider as the centerpiece of the exhibits.
Read more about this topic: Silent Wings Museum
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