Transportation Museum Finds a Home in Georgetown
In a few short years, Georgetown, Texas will become the home for the state’s newest transportation museum. The Texas Aviation History Museum, Inc. will be located on approximately seven acres at the Georgetown Municipal Airport. The Georgetown site was selected primarily due to its proximity to Interstate 35 and the outpouring of support from city officials and local aviation enthusiasts. The museum will open with vintage aircraft of both civil and military varieties and beautifully restored automobiles from the collection of the Central Texas Museum of Automotive History in Rosanky, Texas.
Memorabilia and artifacts from aviation pioneer Emma Carter Browning, who is the visionary for the museum and its primary benefactor, will also be featured. Mrs. Browning’s career in aviation was decided in 1929 when she paid $100 and took her first airplane ride with a barnstormer. She later married the barnstormer and together Emma and Robert Browning Jr. started and managed Browning Aerial Services, first in Abilene, Texas and later in Austin. During World War II, they trained Navy and Army Air Corps pilots. Once the war was over, they played a significant role in shaping the civil aviation industry that exists today operating the business until 1987. Today at a young 95, Mrs. Browning keeps busy with her church and charitable causes, manages her family’s investments and anxiously awaits opening day for the museum she has envisioned for the last 10 years. At a ceremony held April 20, 2006, at the Georgetown Municipal Airport, the City of Georgetown named the airport’s terminal building in honor of Emma Carter Browning.
It is anticipated that the museum will be open for business sometime in 2009. The museum facility will contain meeting and lecture suites, a modeler’s area, a restoration/maintenance facility and a research library. Museum planners expect the collection to grow exponentially and are already fielding phone calls from collectors and enthusiasts who are in search of a home for their items. To further enhance the success of the museum, the City of Georgetown has also announced plans to build a connector from the main entrance of the airport to IH-35 and SH 130.
Tribute to Our Veterans
With this edition of Wingtips, we begin a new feature acknowledging the service of our veterans, particularly those who served during World War II. As their numbers continue to decline with the passage of time, it is important to capture as many of the wonderful stories as we can of the service that these military heroes performed. Our first feature contains a story of survival for Tom Holland of Lockhart, Texas. Be sure and read the article contained in this edition of Wingtips as I am sure it will amaze you as much as it did me. If you know of similar stories, please send them to us so we can honor our veterans in future newsletters.
