The Aerodrome Forum - View Single Post

LibertyV12 · 20 November 2003, 10:08 AM

My first exposure to the Aerodrome was in 1965 when I had a summer job. Luckily, my father was good freinds with Dave Fox. This is when Cole had a Dr1 fuselage in one room, a Bleriot wing in another and an aircraft engine in every corner where furniture usually resides. The upstairs was a mass of World War One articles, from Spandaus to aircraft magazines.After many years I came back to the Aerodrome as a volunteer working with Tom Polapink. I feel very fortunate to have been connected with the Aerodrome when it still had the people with direct links to Cole and strove to keep his personality alive through the Aerodrome. During Tom's tenure , I knew he was going through alot of frustration with the board, but was always very professional and would not disclose any information. Out of frustration, he wrote a letter to the board to try to set the record straight on what was required to get the museum on a better footing. The Boards answer to this criticism was his termination in December. At that point I was going to quit, but Tom asked me to stay on for the good of the Aerodrome. This is after being fired and making sure the Aerodrome News was updated on the web site, which is why there are no more entries after January. When Steve Cunningham took over as Museum Director, the atmosphere went from one of being a kid in a candy store to working for a corporation. Somehow the fun was being sucked out of the place. Then in the middle of the season he quit, the full reason I am not sure of, but it had to be very serious for him to take such a drastic step. Then Tom Daly takes over, the third Director in 7 months, I think Tom is an honest hardworking guy,but if I were him, I would not quit my day job. Ken Cassens getting fired is the last straw. Scott Mackenzie was fired along with him. Scotts' whole family was involved with the Aerodrome, that is how all the cars, trucks and motorcycles keep running week after week, year after year, until now. Tom Daly said in the Middletown Record that the museum will be all volunteer, I don't know how that will work with everyone leaving.

20 November 2003, 10:08 AM	#35 (permalink)
LibertyV12 Observer Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 0	My first exposure to the Aerodrome was in 1965 when I had a summer job. Luckily, my father was good freinds with Dave Fox. This is when Cole had a Dr1 fuselage in one room, a Bleriot wing in another and an aircraft engine in every corner where furniture usually resides. The upstairs was a mass of World War One articles, from Spandaus to aircraft magazines.After many years I came back to the Aerodrome as a volunteer working with Tom Polapink. I feel very fortunate to have been connected with the Aerodrome when it still had the people with direct links to Cole and strove to keep his personality alive through the Aerodrome. During Tom's tenure , I knew he was going through alot of frustration with the board, but was always very professional and would not disclose any information. Out of frustration, he wrote a letter to the board to try to set the record straight on what was required to get the museum on a better footing. The Boards answer to this criticism was his termination in December. At that point I was going to quit, but Tom asked me to stay on for the good of the Aerodrome. This is after being fired and making sure the Aerodrome News was updated on the web site, which is why there are no more entries after January. When Steve Cunningham took over as Museum Director, the atmosphere went from one of being a kid in a candy store to working for a corporation. Somehow the fun was being sucked out of the place. Then in the middle of the season he quit, the full reason I am not sure of, but it had to be very serious for him to take such a drastic step. Then Tom Daly takes over, the third Director in 7 months, I think Tom is an honest hardworking guy,but if I were him, I would not quit my day job. Ken Cassens getting fired is the last straw. Scott Mackenzie was fired along with him. Scotts' whole family was involved with the Aerodrome, that is how all the cars, trucks and motorcycles keep running week after week, year after year, until now. Tom Daly said in the Middletown Record that the museum will be all volunteer, I don't know how that will work with everyone leaving.