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281:, east of Dallas. By 1997, the need for a more permanent museum home was realized. Responding to the need for a permanent glider home, the city of Lubbock, where a majority of the pilots had originally trained, offered to provide a new site for the museum. The pilots agreed to the new location, and the Terrell site closed in January 2001. The following October, the former South Plains Army Air Field site opened the new Silent Wings Museum with the restored CG-4A glider as the centerpiece of the exhibits.
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Lubbock site was initially chosen for the Army's glider school because of its dry climate, warm weather, mostly clear skies, and good will in the local community. The arid climate surroundings of the South Plains generally tend to create upward air currents and relatively few low-cloud formations, both of which are conditions deemed desirable in civilian gliding. The glider training area is now within the scope of the museum and of the nearby
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South Plains Army Air Field, where glider pilots were trained between 1942 and 1945, and after which time they were required also to command skills in powered flight. The giant "silent wing" gliders flew soldiers and supplies largely undetected behind enemy lines because they had no engine noise. The
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Silent Wings offers a variety of outreach programs and provides speakers who can tailor a program to fit a group's meeting. The Adams
Research Library is located within the Silent Wings Museum. It is home to an extensive archive and book collection about the World War II military glider program.
270:. After World War II, the giant, bulky aircraft had been purchased as military surplus, placed on top of the building, and subsequently used as advertising. In 1979, the glider was purchased, restored, and completed in time for the glider pilots' annual reunion in
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266:) glider for public display and viewing. Several former glider pilots living in the Dallas area learned of just such a glider sitting on top of a tire store in
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Visitors then move on to the
Timeline, Hangar and Combat Galleries. Photographs and artifacts include a fully restored WACO CG-4A glider,
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trainer, airborne equipment, a small barracks rendition from the
Lubbock Army Air Field, and a living exhibit: the British
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pilots to interact socially and to provide the framework for the preservation of the history of the U.S. glider program.
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The first Silent Wings Museum opened to the public on
November 10, 1984, in
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Glider Pilots
Association, Inc. Their mission was to establish a forum for
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One of its first goals was to locate and restore a WACO CG-4A (See
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National World War II Glider Pilots
Association, City of Lubbock
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The museum features in its theater a 15-minute program titled
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Barracks at the former South Plains Army Air Field, Lubbock
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Silent Wings: The Story of the World War II Glider
Program.
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Jennifer Paxton, "Silent Wings over the South Plains,"
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205:Silent Wings Museum - official site
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108:Show map of the United States
553:2001 establishments in Texas
513:Photos of the Llano Estacado
301:Glider restoration project.
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402:American Wind Power Center
533:Museums in Lubbock, Texas
121:20 October 2001
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471:Handbook of Texas Online
223:Pilots," is a museum in
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375:CG-4A inside the museum
363:CG-4A in action display
390:in front of the museum
305:Education and outreach
171:33.657778; -101.831667
72:Location in West Texas
467:"Silent Wings Museum"
422:Glider snatch pick-up
407:Lubbock Lake Landmark
388:Douglas C-47 Skytrain
216:, "The Legacy of The
137:Lubbock County, Texas
465:Julia Cauble Smith.
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495:Silent Wings Museum
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264:CG-4 Hadrian
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253:World War II
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66:Silent Wings
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157:101°49′54″W
144:Coordinates
118:Established
522:Categories
476:October 3,
446:Fort Worth
428:References
154:33°39′28″N
125:2001-10-20
503:from the
396:See also
285:Exhibits
133:Location
314:Gallery
279:Terrell
231:History
200:Website
123: (
508:Online
272:Dallas
257:glider
221:Glider
450:Texas
299:Horsa
192:Owner
478:2013
295:TG-4
182:Type
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457:^
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
