Hang Gliding Museum Update!!!!

As most of you know I have been working many years to preserve hang gliding
history through my extensive collection efforts, public displays, and the
exhibition at the Seattle Museum of Flight. The support from the hang gliding
community has been extraordinary as one might well expect from such a motivated
group! Many of you have gone to great effort to donate your treasured hang
gliding gear and memorabilia to become part of the largest collection in the
US. I am greatly moved by this support and am encouraged to continue to acquire
and protect our heritage. Due to space limitation I have been unable to accept
some of what has been offered and this has been very troubling. In some cases I
have asked that the donor hold the gear until I could resolve the issue of
suitable storage.

I am happy to report that my wife Bonnie and I have just purchased a new home
that comes with a nearly new, giant, modern building that should take care of
all my hang glider storage needs for some years to come. The building seems to
be ready made for creating a hang gliding museum! It is 48' X 36' and the floor
to rafters dimension is 15'. In addition there is a 8' covered space along the
entire 48' rear of the building. I should be able to easily store 80 to 100
gliders and still have the space to nicely display 3 or 4 assembled either on
the floor or pulled up snug to the rafters. Or, in fair weather, twice that
many could be set up inside to be moved out during the day through the spacious
roll up doors onto the 48' X 20' concrete pad out front. Bonnie and I figured
that the best way to create a museum would be in a large building on our own
property. No commute and no worries when I am not there. Maybe someday after it
has been set up here for a while I might even create a more public home for it.

In an interesting bit of timing Kris and Joe Greblo have generously offered to
donate some gliders to donate to the collection. Among them is the BFG designed
by Terry Sweeney that came to Joe through the efforts of Mark West. Two others,
the 269 UP Condor and the Seagull 3 are gliders I have wanted to find for some
time. If you or some pilot you know would be willing to carry them from LA to
somewhere close to Seattle you would be performing a great service to expanding
the effort to preserving our history. They need to be moved from their present
location by July 1.

In point of fact there are gliders on the East Coast and in various parts of
the country that I need transported to the Northwest. Please contact me if you
are intending to make a road trip with any spare glider carrying capacity and
are willing to help in moving gliders.

I have one last request. Several years of my e-mail files have been lost and I
would like to hear from anyone who has previously offered to donate gear and
memorabilia. There are easily a dozen pilots that have pledged gear and I do
hope they read this post. In particular there was a pilot on the East Coast
that offered an Electra Flyer Prototype. I'm sorry I cannot recall his name. I
would also like to hear from Chuck Rhodes.


Thank you all again for helping to make our dream of a Hang Gliding Museum come
to pass! I hope all of you will take the opportunity to stop by and visit the
Museum. It is not exactly on the beaten path, but Anacortes, WA is a
spectacular part of the "Salish Sea" archipelago and, in addition to some
pretty great flying you will be able to discover more about the history of the
sport we all love so much.

Please contact me directly as I do not routinely read any list and may not see
your post if you simply reply to this list.

Ken de Russy
Anacortes, WA
360 293 8621
WeFlyUniv "at" aol.com

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