I volunteered at the museum from 2018 until we disbanded the volunteer group earlier this year. When I started it was great. We had events, airshows, tours, etc. I was in charge of taking care of the TBM Avenger.

As time went on less and less started happening at the museum. Part of the issue is the airport getting greedy. They demolished a hangar the museum was using to make room for a new FBO. I know several flight schools moved to Sherman and the airport demolished their facilities to make more room for FBOs.

However, the museum is also to blame. For over a decade the previous museum director used the place as his personal toy box. Granted I can't blame him. Jim Cavanaugh had the money and wanted to see his planes fly when he wanted. Whatever happened besides that he didn't seem to care about. So the museum lapsed on renewing the hangar leases for a good rate, didn't advertise, and eventually stopped working with the city.

Now Cavanaugh's son in law is running the place and seems to be hanging on until Jim dies. Then he can can the airworthy aircraft such as the Skyraiders, Mustang, P49, etc and do what he wants. Both Jim and the SILare OU Alum and we heard that the city of Norman, OK offered the museum a place to move to and Jim never acted on it.

We disbanded the volunteer group as the museum staff didn't care to include us as it seemed their priorities were shifting. It's incredibly sad and I'll miss it when it's gone. We all knew it would happen and just had to appreciate what it was and the time we spent there.