In the midst of a snowstorm, a small group of aviation history buffs met earlier this month at a former chapel in Air Park to discuss the possibility of a Lincoln Air Force Base museum.Â
Led by historian and Lincoln native Rob Branting, the group has begun the hard work of establishing themselves as a nonprofit organization, which will allow them to begin applying for grants to fund the museum. Branting said the Lincoln Airport Authority has recently expressed interest in leasing the former chapel, located at Northwest 48th and West Douglas streets, to the group. The Cold War-era chapel previously served as a religious site for Air Force servicemen working on the base.
"We still have a lot of work to do, but we're seeing a lot of interest from the Lincoln area aviation fans," Branting said. "Now we just have to start the process of finding donors, getting grants and putting a board together."
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In the meantime, Branting said he's happy they finally have a potential home for the museum, which the group is calling the Lincoln Air Force Base Legacy Project.
The idea for the museum came to Branting when he was 15 years old. In the summer of 2000, he registered a website to his name and began the project by collecting photos and videos and writing essays about the Lincoln Air Force Base's role in the 20th century.
"I've always been an aviation fan and there's just not a lot of Lincoln-centric aviation history being shown,"Â said Branting, who currently works at the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site in Cooperstown, North Dakota.Â
From the early days of Charles Lindbergh's pilot training to having nuclear bomber planes at the ready on the tarmac during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Lincoln Air Force Base once played a key role as a strategic air command base in the United States' drive to control the skies during the 20th century. But the base officially closed in 1966 and has been largely forgotten in the years since, Branting said.
He hopes the museum will chronicle Nebraska's role in the history of American aviation by providing visitors with artifacts, aircraft and stories from Lincoln Air Force Base's heyday.
"We're trying to give a broader context of history for people," Branting said. "There's so many different ways we can go. The sky's really the limit here."