Open the National Museum of Naval Aviation for all citizens | Guestview

Quint Studer
·3 min read

Community Maritime Park, a multi-use, public-private park development on Pensacola Bay, is home to the Blue Wahoos baseball team. The stadium’s Fetterman Field is named in honor of the late U.S. Navy Vice Adm. John H. Fetterman, a former fighter pilot turned civic leader hailed for championing education, historic preservation and economic development projects in Pensacola for all to enjoy.

Adm. Fetterman and the late Mayor Vince Whibbs Sr. worked tirelessly leading a community effort to develop Maritime Park into a world-class facility. Today, the waterfront park has successfully hosted thousands of events to the enjoyment of hundreds of thousands of citizens.

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In addition to Maritime Park, Adm. Fetterman was also instrumental in the developmental evolution of the National Naval Aviation Museum (NNAM) becoming one of the finest Air and Space museums in the world. In his years as the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation’s president and CEO, Fetterman helped raise millions to expand the museum’s hangar space and collection in the 1990s. He was the vision and force behind a $36 million fundraising campaign to create a new wing of the museum, the National Flight Academy (NFA). Although he passed away right before its completion, today, 7th through 12th-grade students from all over the country get to spend an immersive week at the NFA learning about aviation, science, technology, engineering and math aboard the virtual aircraft carrier, Ambition.

That’s all thanks to Jack Fetterman’s unwavering ability to “dream big” and not take no for an answer.

Since Dec. 2019 terrorist attack and the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Naval Aviation Museum has seen a dramatic drop in the number of daily visitors as of Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021.
Since Dec. 2019 terrorist attack and the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Naval Aviation Museum has seen a dramatic drop in the number of daily visitors as of Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021.

Over the past five decades as NAS Pensacola’s historic attractions have flourished and grown — tens of millions of citizens have strolled through the 350,000-square-feet of interactive and larger-than-life displays at the National Naval Aviation Museum, gathered along Sherman Field’s flight line to watch the Blue Angels practice defying gravity overhead, climbed the 177 steps to the top of the Pensacola Lighthouse to see a bird’s-eye view of Pensacola Bay, taken an NPS Ranger-led tour through the six million bricks of Fort Barrancas, or paid their respects to the 36,000+ honorable men and women buried at Barrancas National Cemetery — all without the occurrence of a single significant security incident.

Following a foreign terrorist attack aboard NAS Pensacola in December of 2019, access to NNAM, the historic Pensacola Lighthouse, Fort Barrancas, and Barrancas National Cemetery has been restricted to current Department of Defense (DoD) ID card holders and veterans who possess a Veterans Health Identification Card.

All other U.S. citizens are not allowed access.

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It is unfortunate that for more than two years, public citizens are still being denied access to a National Museum whose operations are paid for, in large part, by their hard-earned tax dollars.

Our youth are losing the opportunity to be inspired to learn science, technology and engineering or potentially become part of the next generation of U.S. Military Aviators. Pensacola’s rich naval and national history as The Cradle of Naval Aviation is being dismissed by denying access to its citizens.

As noted, tens of millions of citizens have visited the NNAM without the occurrence of a single significant security incident.

The time has come for the U.S. Navy and Department of Defense to find a way to reestablish the public access waiver to NAS Pensacola so all citizens are allowed to visit the Naval Aviation Museum, the Pensacola Lighthouse, Fort Barrancas and Barrancas National Cemetery.

If Adm. Fetterman was still around, he would tell the Pensacola community to roll up our sleeves and get it done.

Quint Studer is the founder of the Studer Community Institute and a successful business leader, speaker and author.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: National Museum of Naval Aviation should be open for all citizens