The Marines, the Leatherneck Foundation and the Irvine are working to move antique airplanes to Grand Park – Orange County Register

The CH-46 helicopter that evacuated the ambassador and raised the flag from the roof of the US embassy during the fall of Saigon in 1975 may soon make a new journey, landing at Irvine Great Park.

Helicopters and more than 40 other aircraft from the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum in San Diego may soon be on display in a newly restored hangar that was once part of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro .

The base was the original home of the aviation museum when it operated in the late 1980s. Since then, American aviation artifacts have been housed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

Discussions between the Marines, the Flying Leatherneck Historical Foundation, and the city of Irvine are progressing for the museum to move to Orange County, and officials expect an agreement soon leading to a public/private partnership in which the Marines will lend aircraft and artifacts for display in the Great Park hangar.

“We are currently working with the Marines on a draft of a memorandum of understanding that will allow the Marines to lend aircraft when the city and facility can provide appropriate security and safety,” said Standard. retired general said. General Mike Aguilar, executive director of the museum’s nonprofit foundation. “During the discussions, we received their 100% commitment to this project.”

Camp Pendleton officials confirmed the service branch was “prepared to lend the aircraft and smaller artifacts” as it “became a viable museum that could properly care for the artifacts.”

In the meantime, the Corps will maintain its aircraft at Miramar; transfer smaller artifacts to the National Museum of the Navy for cataloging, preservation and archiving; Transfer archival materials to the Department of Marine History for cataloging, preservation and archiving.

“Our goal was to meet and exceed their requirements,” Aguilar said of the plans for the Great Park museum.

The proposed location is in a former Marine hangar built during World War II called Hangar 296 on the eastern edge of Grand Park. The hangar is large enough to hold all the planes and memorabilia.

Engineers are looking at what restoring the hangar will entail, estimated to be worth about $14 million, Irvine officials said. Irvine will essentially host the museum.

Mayor Farrah Khan said bringing the museum to Grand Park was “very important” for the city.

Many of the aircraft in the collection were already part of the museum while it was still part of the El Toro base.

“It was like they were coming home,” she said. “As we developed Grand Park, it was very important to know how it came to be.”

The interior design part and museum exhibition will be left the foundation for development. Some of the funding for the museum may come from private donations or corporate sponsorship.

“I am excited about the collective effort between the Marines, the organization, and Irvine to bring the Aviation Museum back to the former Marine Corps El Toro Terminal,” Aguilar said.

The museum, in El Toro is the El Toro Historical Foundation and under the leadership of Brigadier General Jay Hubbard, moved to Miramar in 1998 when the base was decommissioned.

Hubbard’s vision is to preserve and recount the rich history of Marine Corps Aviation on the West Coast, dating back to 1920. Most of the Corps’ aviation forces have deployed to combat and projectile cases. Others have been training in constellations of air stations and facilities since the 20s.

The museum’s collection of aircraft, exhibits and archives has been moved to a location on Miramar Road close to the airport terminal. There, over the years, the aircraft collection grew to more than three dozen historic aircraft, some of which were unique to the Marines.

Amid budget constraints, the Miramar base closed the museum in 2020. Aguilar said funds were approached by Irvine to move it back to where it was first established in the late 1980s.

The museum collection, actually owned by the National Museum of the Marine Corps, is considered the only one dedicated to Marine Corps aviation.

One of these was an Iraqi Bell 214 ST attack helicopter, which was captured and acquired by retired Marine Colonel Charles Quilter of Laguna Beach after the 1st Marine Division seized the Field. Kuwait International Flight during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Quilter, a pilot and historian who flew F-18s for decades in the Marines, thanks plans for the museum that are underway.

“As part of the planned Culture Terrace, the city of Irvine is really stepping up to transform a vast historic hangar into what will be Orange County’s largest aviation museum,” he said. , in terms of area,” he said. “More importantly, the story of the Marine Corps aviation role in Southern California will not only be preserved, but well told. I hope that the modern museum design will make it an experience worth experiencing.”