Rapid City Journal from Rapid City, South Dakota • 89

Sunday, June 17, 199U the Rapid City Journal BHA-3 Aviation history no flight of fancy at Ellsworth EC-135s and KC-135s. "The tours provide the opportunity for people to see their tax dollars at work," Roetter said. But because of the museum's unprecedented expansion, the foundation needs more "volunteers who have an interest in aviation to donate time and support the program," Roetter said. Long-range plans call for the addition each year "of a new emphasis, a new program, so if you come back year after year you'll see something major that's new," Roetter said. "We want to stress that it has as much emphasis for South Dakota as for the Air Force." gion," Alley said of the museum.

Teachout added, "None of the other air bases can come close to us the numbers of aircraft, the condition of the aircraft, the restoration in progress, and the buildings and staff we have. It's bigger and better. The only one better than ours in this region would be at Wright-Patterson AFB, which is Air Force funded." The Ellsworth museum is a private, non-profit organization that depends on volunteers, contributions and fund-raisers for its money. Thirteen historic aircraft are on the grounds, with two more soon to be added. Minuteman I and Titan I missiles the first under Ells worth's command will be added next year.

There also is a renovation hangar on the base flight line, in which recently acquired vintage aircraft, such as a World War II B-29 and an L-5 observation aircraft, are being worked on. Visitors can walk among the displayed aircraft, but can't enter or climb on them. One of the most intriguing is the Honda Stealth mock-up, a three-fifths-size model of the B-2. Daily guided one-hour bus tours take visitors onto the flight line, where they can get a closer view of aircraft such as the strategic B-ls, tendance for the past year is up about 75 percent, Alley said. Reasons for the increases vary.

The facility for years was in the oldest building on the base and its hodgepodge of exhibits was scattered in different rooms. The museum has been relocated outside the main gate, so that visitors needn't obtain base passes. The base recently gave the foundation four Korean War-era fighter hangars, which were moved to the present site and form a connected nucleus of the new facility. A result has been a much improved format for exhibits, displays and presentations in two of the hangars, with work proceeding in the other two as funds and exhibits become available. "It is 5,000 percent better even than last year," Teachout said.

Additions include a snack bar and gift shop. There is a 22i-foot high model (on a l-to-14 scale) of the helium balloon Explorer II, which, in 1935, soared from the Black Hills' Stratosphere Bowl to a record 72,395 feet, marking man's first entry into the stratosphere. The National Geographic Society will give the museum a videotape of the 1935 balloon launch. Another video, which will be shown each day and can be purchased, depicts the history of the base. Nineteen-inch elevated monitors have been built into new exhibit cases for viewing.

"There's nothing like it in the re- Gordon Hanson Staff Writer Jerry Teachout says the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Ellsworth Air Force Base soon will rival or exceed most other tourist attractions in the Black Hills. However, Teachout and base officials also say the facility is more than a tourist attraction. "We're not just here for the tourist business," said Ron Alley, an Air Force veteran and now the museum's civilian curator. "We're here to show aviation history." Col. Walt Roetter, 12th Air Division chief of staff and a member of the Ellsworth Heritage Foundation's board, which administers the museum, said, "We're trying to build the educational aspect into it We want to use the museum to keep that history from being lost." The museum emphasizes civilian and military aviation history in South Dakota.

It is open year-round, with summer hours from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through Sept. 14. Admission is free, although there is a charge for bus tours of the base.

The museum's attendance has shown tremendous increases in recent years, board officials said. Last summer, some 25,000 visitors to the museum also took the daily bus tours of the base. Another unknown number of people visited the museum only. Including last winter's visits, at The Finest ft PH JU in Western Style! You know that Western attire is a way of life. American lifestyle.

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