Armed Forces museum project names new chief

Supporters of a proposed Armed Forces and Aerospace Museum on the West Plains have determined new direction will give the project a lift after more than a decade on the runway.

Retired Air Force Col. Arne Weinman handed over his role as president of the Armed Forces and Aerospace Museum Society to Catherine Brazil during the April board meeting.

It was Weinman who initiated plans for an off-base museum in 1996 after Fairchild’s Heritage Museum was closed by the military along with many similar facilities across the country. More than 7,000 area military artifacts were destined for storage at an Air Force base in Ohio before Weinman successfully petitioned to keep the items in the Inland Northwest.

With the addition of other armed services collections as well as several historic aircraft on loan from private collectors, the society now has 10,000 items ready to exhibit in a planned hangarlike structure just off Interstate 90 near the base. Supporters say the building will also house a theater, classroom and other amenities and could attract an estimated 80,000 visitors a year and generate $26 million in regional economic impact.

Now Weinman said he’s ready for someone else to direct the mission. While he’ll remain active on the society board, Weinman said his construction company and a role as next year’s Lilac Association president will take much of his time.

“I got the project up and running, but now it’s a matter of raising the money to get it off the ground,” he said. “We just needed new blood, new faces and new insights into where we can go from here.”

Brazil may be new to the museum, but she’s well known elsewhere in the community. She has served on numerous boards, including the YWCA, the Association of Washington Business, and Friends of the Spokane Falls. She also is director of public affairs for Cowles Publishing, which owns The Spokesman-Review.

Brazil’s background attracted her to the prospect of being involved with the society. “I come from a lot of military history and our community is ripe for this,” she said. “With all the flying around this area we feel this is a perfect place for the museum.”

Tobby Hatley, the Armed Forces and Aerospace Museum Society director of public relations, said Brazil is the perfect choice to make the museum a reality. “Catherine has a prior skill set that lends itself well to a project like this,” he said, pointing to her recent role in assuring funds for the Fox Theater remodeling and her time campaigning for former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton. “She has been very successful at fundraising, and she has an awful lot of contacts in the political arena.”

A change in leadership is part of a wider strategy proposed by Logic Inc., a national museum consulting company the society hired last fall. The firm is headed by Howard Lovering, founder of Seattle’s Museum of Flight and now the Armed Forces and Aerospace Museum executive.

At Lovering’s recommendation the board is instigating the project in phases. Hatley said the group so far has about $1.5 million secured for the first phase of the project and is looking for another $4 million.

Several large organizations have signed on for donations, but Hatley said some investors can’t release funds until a property lease is secured. “Once the lease is in place it will be a lot easier to get funds. Then we’ll put spade to earth as soon as humanly possible,” he said.

The group plans to meet with the Spokane Airport later this month about leasing a site in the southeast corner of the Airport Business Park, which is close to the runway and faces Interstate 90.

Hatley said that because the museum will be a nonprofit venture and could benefit the airport, the society will push for a low-market lease agreement while keeping other options open. “The airport is our first choice, but this is a viable project and has so much community support,” he said. “We’ve already been approached by other property owners out there who said, ‘We’ll make it worth your while to stay here.’ ”

Todd Woodard, public relations director for the Spokane Airport, said he looks forward to negotiations, but no definite proposals have been put forward in the more than eight years of talks with the museum board.

Brazil said as with all projects such as this, a site is key to gathering investor interest. “We want to create a home for this to be. We have the vision of where we want it to go; now we just need to get the lease and tie up the land.”