Ptjuly

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PRIMETIME of your life FREE | VOLUME 5 • ISSUE NO. 7 | JULY 2016 Interesting features for our 50+ audience

Palm Springs Air Museum Where history comes alive! By Lucinda Sue Crosby For PrimeTime of Your Life

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uman beings have always been fascinated with the idea of “slipping the surly bonds of earth.”* Ancient cave art and the earliest writings of our long ago forebears are full of hawks and birds not to mention winged caretakers and gods who came down from the heavens. About 500 years ago, the artistic genius Leonardo Da Vinci drew the first representation of a flying machine. And in 1913, the Wright Brothers floated off Kill Devil Hill sand dune in North Carolina for a few seconds using an unwieldy-looking conveyance that had often fallen apart after previous failed attempts. Since those pioneering days, aviation has come a long, long way, baby. And at the Palm Springs Air Museum (PSAM), you can experience in a unique way the glory of US military flight development and innovation from World II through Korea and including Vietnam. And that’s just for starters. Situated near the Palm Springs Airport, the campus of the PSAM greets you even before you enter the building with two planes “on loan” – an A6 Intruder, once piloted by Lt. Craig “Munster” Munsen and an F/A-18 Hornet, flown by Capt. Kelly “Trash” Hinz with an able assist from Cpls. J. G. Adams and M. Villafane. You can almost

Blueberry Tidbits Page 4

Bunny the North American P51 Mustang and Bell P-63 Kingcobra over Palm Springs

hear the sounds of antiaircraft fire they maneuvered through in their glory days and run your fingers over the many jagged scars shrapnel left behind. Glance to your right and see the Distinguished Flying Cross Wall of Honor. This sobering and informative display, authorized by Congress in 1926 and dedicated here in 2004, honors heroism and extraordinary achievement under flight. Now step through automatic glass doors onto the “fight deck” of the museum proper, turn 180 degrees, look up, and enjoy the scale replica of the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk. The walls of the main building and adjoining hangars are resplendent with expansive murals painted by La Quinta resident Stan Stokes, con-

sidered the premier aviation artist in America. I found his completed piece dedicated to the famed Tuskegee Airmen particularly inspiring. Other wall areas sport a larger-thanlife map depicting our European and North African campaigns during World War II; oil paintings of aircraft (including some by noted English artist Robert Taylor) and military memorabilia display cases showcasing firearms, communications devices, shrapnel vests and military awards and uniforms, among so much more. Upstairs in the library, if you look closely, you’ll discover a water color limned by Doolittle Raider Col. Ross Greening while imprisoned in a German POW camp as well as a complete set of log books rescued from a ship that went down in WWII.

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Heatstroke: Keep An Eye on Your Family Pet – Page 9

Bloody Mary Gazpacho with Shrimp – Page 14


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