Frank P. Lahm Aviation Museum opens Oct. 2 in Mansfield

A new aviation museum dedicated to the history of aviation in Mansfield is set to open Sunday, Oct. 2, in Mansfield.

The Frank P. Lahm Aviation Museum is at the rear of the Mansfield Memorial Museum at 34 & 40 Park Avenue West.

Did you know that on July 7, 1852 Professor John Wise inflated the Jupiter balloon in the city's square, the first lighter-than-air dirigible ever seen in Mansfield? The new museum displays a copy of the original photograph. Wise and his balloon several years later delivered the first Airmail in the United States.

Frank P. Lahm was an aviation pioneer

Brig. Gen. Frank Purdy Lahm, was born in Mansfield on Nov. 17, 1877, and died July 7, 1963. The Mansfield Regional Lahm Airport is named for the aviator, who was instrumental in procuring the first military plane from the Wright Brothers for the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

Among his many accomplishments, in 1906 he was sent to Europe to study aeronautics and won the first Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race from Parish to Yorkshire, England.

Schaut, who is the curator of both the Mansfield Memorial Museum and the aviation museum, said he has been collecting local aviation artifacts for 25 years, since he has been at the memorial museum.

"The airport is named after Lahm but few people know his whole history. The neat thing about General Lahm is he started early in the early part of the 1900s ballooning. His father, Frank S., taught him. Frank (P.)'s coming on the national stage was the Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race.

"... He won it by flying faster and farther than anyone else," Schaut said.

Schaut said Lahm was at the forefront of aviation and trained by the Wright brothers.

"His pilot's license was No. 2 in the United States," Schaut said.

In 1909, in Texas, Lahm was the first military person in the world to be a passenger on an airplane, as he flew with Orville Wright, Schaut said. He designed the first Army Air Corps functional field in Texas, Randolph Field, the first in the United States.

"He flew next to Orville to show the Army the Wright planes," Schaut said. "They liked it so much they actually bought the planes from the Wright brothers."

Schaut said Lahm was a balloonist during World War I. The Army Air Corps actually came out of the Signal Corps of the Army, which was using balloons for signal posts and observation posts and in field work. He was very influential in the forming of the Army Air Corps.

"It's kind of neat. He started at the beginning with the Wright Brothers — the basic plane that was used — and then in 1956 he comes full circle and actually flies a jet," Schaut said. "He goes from pre-airplane (balloons) to the first airplanes and toward the latter part of his life ends up flying in a jet."

An extensive seven-panel display with photographs about Lahm's life is on permanent loan from the city of Mansfield at the new museum, dedicated in his honor.

The new museum's location

The aviation museum will operate in the back portion of 40 Park Avenue West under the umbrella of the Mansfield Memorial Museum, which is next door at 34 Park Ave. W., according to Schaut. A tenant occupies the front of the proposed aviation building. The income from the rent provides financial support for all buildings, Schaut added.

The aviation museum property is owned by the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building, which features multiple collections including all major wars, natural history, industry and the oldest American robot, ELEKTRO, as featured in the Worlds Fair 1937-38 in New York.

Local industrialist and philanthropist Jim Gorman and the Gorman Foundation purchased the aviation building in November 2019 for the Soldiers and Sailors Building, Schaut said. The entrance to the new aviation museum will be accessible from the parking lot on east side of the building.

Schaut said Mansfield's aviation history is very rich, dating back to June 1852.

In 1911, Cal Rogers flew his plane, called the Vin Fiz, from the East Coast to the West Coast.

"He landed in Mansfield to get gas, oil and directions," Schaut said.

Schaut said The News in 1912 sponsored The News Aviation Meet in which two Curtiss planes came to Mansfield and did exhibitions.

"That got the people of Mansfield very interested in aviation," he said.

By the early 1920s, Mansfielders began looking for a place to build an airport and it opened in 1928 at its current location.

Of course, Mansfield is home to the 179th Airlift Wing of the Air National Guard. It's predecessor was the 164th Fighter Squadron which began in 1947. Jim Gorman was a charter member.

Mansfield also is known for Bud Harrington, who trained 1,700 Navy pilots at the beginning of World War II. He was the first private trainer in the United States.

"Harrington operated Richland Aviation," he said.

Schaut said he is always looking for artifacts, films from early aviation, photographs, aviation uniforms and war production items and any other related aviation materials related to the local community.

Aviation uniforms from Mansfield men, women

The museum has dozens of uniforms from aviation history including industrialist Jim Gorman's military uniform and memorabilia including a photograph of the C-47 he flew. Gorman is a charter member of the 179th Airlift Wing of Air National Guard at Mansfield Lahm Airport, having joined the unit when it was initially formed as the 164th Fighter Squadron in June 1948.

The family of Judge George J. Murray, a Marine aviator, who was on the U.S. carrier Bennington, donated his medals, showing 35 missions and a distinguished flying cross. And the aviation museum has Rear Admiral Tim Beard's Navy Air jackets.

3 Mansfielders had roles in space exploration

Three people from Mansfield who were very instrumental in space exploration also have a place in the museum, including Pete Knight who was instrumental in the 164th at the base, Fred Hayes who was on Apollo 13, and Mike Gernhardt, who was on the space shuttle.

The museum features a section dedicated to the 164th and 179th Airlift Wing of the Ohio National Guard. And it features the history of war production and local airports.

The museum will hold a private invitation-only dedication ceremony at 1 p.m. Oct. 1. The Mansfield Memorial Museum will be closed on Oct. 1 for the reception.

The museum opens publicly Oct. 2 from noon to 4 p.m.

Hours of the aviation museum are the same as the Mansfield Memorial Museum, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Frank P. Lahm Aviation Museum opens Oct. 2 in Mansfield