Meeting Number 14 Rantoul, Champaign and Urbana, IL, September 28, 2008 "Search for the Chanute Aerospace Museum" TOURING THE MUSEUM Meeting #14 was actually a "three city tour" that began in Rantoul at the amazing Chanute Aerospace Museum. Formerly a USAF training base, Chanute has now been converted completely to civilian use and yet still retains many of the USAF's old training simulators and aircraft. It was also a training facility for SAC silo operators and has at least three missile silo simulators SEE VIDEO HERE. Inside and out, we saw at about 30 or so military aircraft on display and tons of related equipment, gear and uniforms. Let's take a look at what we found: The front entrance beckoned us to enter and still retains that old USAF military base appearance. The welcome sign just inside the museum's front door. There were about 20 of these WW2 vintage safety posters all around. How cool! So THAT'S what a helicopter pilot uniform really looks like! And check out that great honor guard uniform. Nice stuff recognized by Joe collectors and history buffs lined every wall. This room-sized diorama recreates a hangar work area down to the last vintage tool. Fantastic job! This is an amazing 1:6 scale model of the Da Vinci Ornothopter. GIjOE would fit perfectly in there! You have to study this stuff up close to really "get it." WOW ! More great reference material for your next Air Security Police custom figure. Kitbash this! This is a beautiful B-25 Mitchell Bomber. Remember "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo?" This is it, dude! This B-58 Hustler set a speed record between London and Tokyo. Whooooooosh! How beautiful is this stunt flyer? And the colors are Illini orange and blue (for those of you who care--like Jeff)! Ever wonder where the inspiration for the AT Pursuit Craft came from? Well, here it is! This big banner is still up from a recent Tuskeegee Airmen reunion at Chanute. Turns out, the Tuskeegee Airmen actually began here in Rantoul before being transferred later to Alabama. Go Chanute! Go Tuskeegee Airmen! Isn't that "encapsulated escape pod" on the right, cool? Imagine ejecting out of a B-58 in that thing. This Sabre Jet saw a LOT of action over Korea and made it back home, ending up here! Here's an actual Crash Crew fire truck. That front bumper extends outward (to shove things overboard?), and there are hoses on the top, front and back. This is the mighty Rolls-Royse Merlin engine of a P-51 Mustang that's currently being restored to FLYING condition. YES! Chanute's original switchboard looks like a technological work of art. How cool! This historic Frasca flight simulator dates from World War 2 and was used to train MANY pilots to fly. VIEWING ROBERT'S COLLECTION After a couple of hours at the museum, we headed down highway 45 to Champaign and Robert Findlay's house to see his collection and have some Pizza Hut pizza. Robert had laid out all of his boxed sets in the living room and was actually amazed at how many he had (they had been put away for a while). In his "Joe Room," Robert actually has a mixture of Evel Knieval, GIjOE and vintage battery-operated toys on display. By far, GIjOEs ruled the room, but all the other stuff was just as cool and a lot of fun to look at. Let's take a look at what we found: Robert's boxed sets filled up the entire living room! Fantastic collection. Robert also has a thing for Evel Knievel. Or can't you tell? These display shelves contain MIB Evel sets and all vintage GIjOEs. (You may drool now.) For years, Robert has been amassing an amazing all-vintage GIjOE collection. And he's still not done! VIEWING MARK'S COLLECTION After viewing Robert's amazing collection, we headed over to Mark's house in Urbana for some RC vehicle fun. Mark's collection is quite a sight as well, and includes modern and vintage toys of all types. Check 'em out... Let's take a look at what we found: The steps leading down to Mark's toy room are lined with Quisp cereal boxes! This wall is covered with toy aircraft, Star Trek playsets, Major Matt Mason and much more. This wall features a lot of vintage Remco and Ideal toys, as well as games and playsets. These display cases are filled with tiny stuff including Pee Wee Herman toys, vintage cameras, Transformers and more. Mark also collects toys simply for their box artwork and has arranged them on this wall for easy viewing. This corner is all GIjOE, baby. Oh yeah... This wall reveals more of Mark's Joes, many with custom Battleboxes that he made himself. Fun! This display case reveals at least SEVEN sea sleds! Holy underwater obsessions, Mark! R/C "ROAD WARRIORS" After we'd "seen it all," we headed out to Mark's courtyard for some RC action including a VW Minibus, the infamous 4x4 Scorpion (rescued from David Thompson's house--see last meeting HERE), the yellow AT 4-wheeler and a yellow Hummer. Some vehicles had technical difficulties, but the VW minibus and the Scorpion ran like champs. Using training towers as course obstacles, we ran them around and around, up and over a ramp, and through a wall of styrofoam blocks. THAT WAS FUN! Here are some videos of the action: AT Minibus BUST OUT AT Scorpion STUNT RUN ON THE ROAD AGAIN... What a great meeting! So much happened in September. We gained a new member, Jamie J. and were finally recognized as an OFFICIAL "local division" by the national GIjOE club. They've now listed our club on the NATIONAL GIjOE Club website on their local divisions page, complete with our club logo and a hotlink back to our website. YES! Thanks again to Don Hanke for his help getting this through, and to Robert and Mark for co-hosting this month's meeting. GO JOE! Events Calendar Member Bio Pages Photo Gallery Past Meetings Archive Helpful Links Home Page Please visit our sponsor: If you'd like to advertise here, contact Mark at sterling@shout.net