Silent Wings Museum

Silent Wings Museum, "The Legacy of The World War II Glider Pilots", is a museum in Lubbock, Texas.HistoryThe museum is located on the site of World War II South Plains Army Air Field, where glider pilots were trained between 1942 and 1945, after which time they were required also to command skills in powered flight. The Lubbock site was chosen for the glider school because of its dry, warm weather, mostly clear skies, and goodwill in the local community. The climate creates conditions of upward air currents and relatively little low-cloud formation, both conditions essential in gliding. The glider training area is now within the scope of the museum and the nearby Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport.In 1971, former pilots of the U.S. Army Air Force banded together to form the National World War II Glider Pilots Association, Inc. Their mission was to establish a forum for glider pilots to interact socially and provide the framework for the preservation of the history of the U.S. glider program.One of its first goals was to locate and restore a WACO CG-4A (See CG-4 Hadrian) glider for public display. Several pilots in the Dallas area learned of just such a glider sitting on top of a tire store in Fresno, California. After World War II, the aircraft had been purchased as military surplus, placed on top of the building and used as advertising. In 1979, the glider was purchased, restored and completed in time for the reunion in Dallas. After the reunion steps were taken to build a museum to house the CG-4A.