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PVMTM continues to move toward future opening

Date: 4/14/2009

By Katelyn Gendron

Reminder Assistant Editor



WESTFIELD -- It's been an uphill battle for Pioneer Valley Military and Transportation Museum (P.V.M.T.M.) Board of Directors to get their fully functional military and civilian transportation museum built but they're not giving up.

The board still has a long way to go, with only $50,000 raised toward the $500,000 needed to fund the establishment of the museum on an eight-acre site at Barnes Airport.

"We're trying to raise money and we're trying to tune up our operation as well," Leo Dube, president of the P.V.M.T.M. Board of Directors, said.

He added that the board has chosen to scale down the museum in light of the economic climate. Dube explained that instead of erecting three Quonset buildings to separate modes of transportation chronologically, they will have one large display hangar.

"We can't just let these things slip away. We need to preserve these artifacts for our children, to let them know how people lived, and had to be a part of war, and get around [their communities]," he said.

The board has several artifacts including a 1953 M59 armored personnel carrier and a deuce-and-a-half-truck. Harland Avezzie, vice president of the P.V.M.T.M. Board of Directors, said that they were forced to sell Polish Antonov AN-2 aircraft for fear of corrosion.

"We didn't have a building [to house the Antonov] and as a fabric aircraft [it would succumb to the elements]. It would [have been] wrong for us to let it deteriorate," he explained.

Dube noted that the board's reluctant sale of the aircraft did boost the P.V.M.T.M.'s bank account, however. He said various fundraisers throughout 2009, prior to their capital campaign, will help them to reach their $500,000 goal.

Events include a trip to the Intrepid Museum in New York City on May 2; a trip to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Rhinebeck, N.Y., on June 13; the Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-In at Barnes Airport on June 27; and the annual Hangar Dance and Cruise-In at Barnes on Aug. 29.

Avezzie said goals for 2009 include grading and fencing the property.

"I believe that this [museum] will be an asset to the community," he said. "We want it to be a living, rather than a static, museum."

Avezzie noted that each of the modes of transportation, from unicycles to aircraft, will be housed, restored and ready for patrons to use once their facility is operational.

Dube said volunteers are always welcome to aid board members with work on the property each Saturday during the summer and fall seasons.

For additional information about volunteer opportunities or the P.V.M.T.M., call Dube at 529-9296 or visit www.pvmtm.org.