Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page 118

12 Great Falls Tribune, Sunday, May 21, 1989 Centennial summer Malmstrom Museum- Big Sky Day Malmstrom Museum gets ready for visitors he Malmstrom Air Force Base 1989 Museum is Centennial being year preened season. for the According to Gerald C. Hanson, president of the Malmstrom Historical Foundation, the year promises to be the in the museum's history. Located just inside the main gate at Malmstrom at the east end of Second Avenue North, the museum provides Great Falls visitors with a free afternoon of modern military history. Admission to the base is provided by checking at the base's entry office and showing a driver's license and certificate of insurance.

Other points of modern military history in Great Falls include the Montana Air National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve at International Airport on Gore Hill. Displayed in the park where the Malmstrom Museum is located are seven aircraft of types connected with the base, and a Minuteman III missile. During the past year, a T-33 Shooting Star has been installed in the park, where it joined a KC-97 propeller-driven Stratotanker, B-25 Billy Mitchell medium bomber from World War II, F-101 VooDoo jet fighter, F-84F Thunderstreak jet fighter, EB-57 Canberra electronic warfare aircraft and a UH-IF Iroquois (Huey) helicopter. Hanson said the foundation is in the process of transporting a P-63 King Cobra, a World War I1 fighter, to the museum from Connecticut.

It will require three to four years for volunteers to restore the aircraft after its parts are brought here. Also in the park is a totem pole, carved by Canadian Indians and presented to A T-33 Shooting star jet trainer, used for many years at Malmstrom Air Force Base, is among aircraft displayed at the Malmstrom Museum. Malmstrom by Canadian Forces stationed here with the 24th North American. Aerospace Defense Command Region. Hanson said the aircraft and missile, which are on loan to the foundation from the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, are being given a spring cleaning by volunteers.

The museum is open Monday through Friday, from 1 to 3 p.m. After June 1 it is open for the same hours Monday through Saturday. The park is open during daylight hours every day, Hanson said. There is no charge for visiting the museum, which is funded by the Malmstrom Historical Foundation. Sidewalks, signs and benches have been installed in the park and the Malmstrom Kiwanis Club has donated landscaping and flower beds, Hanson said.

Members of the club care for the decorative floral displays throughout the summer. Inside the museum is a military aircraft model collection, a typical World War II barracks room, and a World War II diorama of the PRIDE Hangar with model aircraft on the ramp in front of the hangar. The aircraft are the types which were flown north from the base then Great Falls Air Base to Alaska and eventually to the Soviet Union under the Lend Lease Program. A visual history of Strategic Air Command missions at the base is depicted with photographs, memorabilia and flight-suit displays. There is a shop in the museum where patrons can buy coffee cups, pens and other souvenirs.

Tours of Malmstrom are difficult to arrange, but it can be done by contacting across town from Gore Hill and will the streets of downtown Great Falls participate in the day's activities, as will beginning at 10 a.m. that day. The length the two T-38 Talon trainers which the 301st of the parade and early indications are is using in a new flight enhancement it will be a long one will be a factor in program. determining the hours for Big Sky Day. Service organizations from the base will Base officials also may open several be providing concessions throughout the gates to the public instead of just at the day, Geddes said.

main gate, at the east end of Second Tours are planned including the T-9 Avenue North. trainer, which is a modified Minuteman Parking areas near the PRIDE Hangar missile silo used as a training facility, no longer are available, and new Geddes said. The Malmstrom Museum in construction and construction equipment is the park just inside the main gate will be occupying other possible parking areas. open all day without charge. Seven aircraft Geddes said a plan for parking vehicles in are displayed in the park.

outlying areas of the base and bringing Most of this year's Big Sky Day will visitors by shuttle to reduce the expected happen after the Montana Centennial congestion, is being considered. Parade, scheduled to wend its way through RONALD J. RICE Aircraft aplenty planned for annual Big almstrom Air Force Base has for planned Big Sky an Day, entirely July new 22. format Maj. Doug Geddes, Big Sky Day project officer, said two jewels in the Big Sky Day crown will be a B-1B bomber, the newest long-range bomber operating in the Strategic Air Command, and a B-52 Stratofortress, dowager queen of SAC's bomber fleet, which has been a Big Sky Day favorite in the past.

Geddes said all branches of the Armed Forces have been invited to take part. He said there will be plenty of aircraft both on the ground and doing flybys. As a special feature of the Centennial year show, a missile community display is being planned. Now that Malmstrom has two missions the 341st Strategic Missile Wing and the 301st Air Refueling Wing the display will allow Montanans to talk with the people who make the 341st's missile business operate, Geddes said. The display will include three sections: combat missile crews who control the operations of flights of missiles, the people who maintain the missiles, and security police, who patrol the facilities.

The 301st's KC-135R Stratotankers will perform flybys during the day and a commitment has been made to have a KC-10 Extender, SAC's largest air-tanker, at Malmstrom. F-16 Fighting Falcons of the Montana Air National Guard's 120th Fighter Interceptor Squadron are expected to fly Naturally inviting! Naturally irresistible! A masterful blend of ingredients. Tantalize even the most discriminating of taste buds with a zesty new gourmet flavor. Ruby Valley All Purpose Dressing is the perfect compliment of any sandwiches, meats and poultry. It is delightfully sweet and sour and ALL NATURAL! One gift pack (12.7 A.

oz. bottle) $6.50. To order, call 684-5753 with your Visa or Mastercard number and expiration date or send $6.50 to: KB PRODUCTS, INC. CONTAIN 268 Twin Davis Bridges, Lane MT 59754 If ordering as a gift, please provide name, address and phone number 389.1989 of both you and recipient. If mailed outside Montana, add $2.50 postage and handling.

Ronald J. Rice photo the base Public Affairs Office. Public Affairs should be contacted well in advance of a planned visit. For Montanans, a visit to the Army Reserve's Capt. William W.

Galt Center on Gore Hill will have historic significance. Galt was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry on the field of battle during World War II. In a display near the entrance to the center is Galt's Medal of Honor, his Silver Star and Purple Heart medals, a citation from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, photographs and other memorabilia. Arrangements to visit the center can be made by telephoning 452-8552.

The Montana Army National Guard has a training center for its tank company and its engineering detachment at 501 2nd St. that people can visit if they call in advance and make arrangements. Appointments to visit the Montana Air National Guard's 120th Fighter Interceptor Group facilities and its F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft can be made by telephoning 791-6286 at least a day in advance. At the southeast corner of its property at the 1-15 off ramp, the 120th has an F-86 Saber Jet as a weathervane. Over its main gate is an F-89 Scorpion.

It has an F-102 Delta Dagger on display in Lions park at 2700 10th Ave. and another F-102 and a T-33 on display near its main hangar. Great Falls also boasts a Naval Reserve unit, which includes a hospital unit and a SeaBee detachment, in the same general area as the Air Guard and Army Reserve. RONALD J. RICE Big Sky Day YOU GET ENOUGH BUT YOU WON'T GET ANY GRIEF WHEN YOU CALL CANDICE, bEY OR BONNIE FOR THE FOLLOWING: Economical air fares Guaranteed seat assignments and boarding passes Guaranteed best rates for hotels and cars Many, many more services MONTANA'S MOST COMPLETE TRAVEL AGENCY SERVING THE GENERAL PUBLIC TOO AMICI Membership not required 505 10th Avenue South Great Falls, Montana 59405 Phone 727-2900.