Flying High
by Vanessa Kekoanui, reporter

    Choral director Chuckie Hospers takes her music to higher levels, literally.

    Aside from directing the Madrigal Singers and the college choir on NE Campus, Hospers “flies high” as a pilot and co-founder of the Vintage Flying Museum in Fort Worth.

    To explain how a choral director wound up with an aviation museum, Hospers recalled the introduction of her flying lifestyle and her husband, W.D. Hospers.

    The couple met while in college. He always loved flying and always had an airplane of some kind, Hospers said.

    His favorite airplane was the rare B-17 Flying Fortress. When one became available in Dauphin, Ala., he knew he wanted it.

    “At that time, it was being used to spray fire ants,” she said. “A big auger in the bomb bay would crank out a product called Myrex. When the government got involved and environmental issues became pretty controversial, those contracts were eliminated.
    “That’s when the person who had a couple of B-17’s for that purpose sold them. When it came up for sale, he came home with it.”
    The Flying B-17 that W.D. brought home and named Chuckie was only 74 feet long with a 103-foot long wingspan, standing 19 feet off the ground.

    “It was a big shock! He walked me around underneath the wing and all of these people were out front. He said, ‘Look at this,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, what is it?’ He said, ‘It’s ours.’

    “I didn’t know whether to divorce him or commit him. He put my name up on the side. That was the peace offering. He was using psychology, and it worked,” she said.

    Hospers joined the bandwagon and learned to fly in 1983.

    “When this property became available for sale, we started the museum and became a non-profit 501c,” she said.

    The B-17 Flying Fortress that found a place in Hospers’ life is one of the 12 remaining B-17’s in the United States and one of eight functioning models. The plane is painted in a 486-color scheme based on a bomber group in England during the bombing campaign against Nazi Germany.

    The B-17 contains the famous Norden bombsight, which would be removed at the end of each flight. Identified as a Pathfinder, this plane would lead the bombing mission in bad weather. The turbo-charged war bird was called the Flying Fortress because it had 50-caliber machine guns in all of the compartments.

    Currently, the B-17 is in the final stages of complete renovation thanks to the designs acquired from microfilm and the museum’s restoration workshop, Hospers said. The Flying Fortress shares its hangar at the Meacham Airport with 20 other aircraft on display.

    Hospers explained the purpose of the Vintage Flying Museum.

    “It’s really keeping history alive. You get the WWII veterans up inside the aircraft and tears come up in their eyes. It brings back a lot of memories for them,” she said.

    Hospers views the museum as a labor of love.

    “It’s a tremendous amount of work for the number of hours we fly. You don’t even want to think about comparing the two because it’s too discouraging,” she said.

    Aside from creating “flying museums” through the renovation of older planes, Hospers also advances aviation one step further through educational programs that she has created for students and teachers.

    With the Take Flight Day program, children visit the museum, where they can build a flying aircraft model, speak with World War II or Korean War veterans and learn about careers in the aviation field.

    High schools students have a week-long summer program that allows them not only to learn about different careers, but to learn first-hand from various aviation professionals.

    “We’ll take them to the top of the DFW tower. They’ll get to talk to the air traffic controllers about their jobs. We also take them to Lockheed, so they’re exposed to a lot of different careers that way,” she said.

    The summer program is co-sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration and the organization of Black Airline Pilots to ensure that all expenses are paid at no cost to the students, Hospers said.

    Teachers can integrate flight with their subject matter by attending a weeklong workshop on NW Campus.

    “You can tie aviation in with science, history and math. You can tie it into any subject; that’s what is so neat about it. The really neat thing is that kids have an automatic fascination with aviation, so you don’t have to sell them on the idea,” she said.

    Hospers said anyone can get involved in aviation by volunteering at the museum.

    “All ages are welcome. If they’re younger than high school age, it’s usually best to have a parent here with them, but by the time they reach high school, we can get them to partner with one of our volunteers and come out on weekends. They can learn all about restoration and the operation of the B-17. They can go to the ground school that we’re going to be giving,” she said.

    Other volunteer opportunities include managing the museum’s collections, donations or memberships and working on the Wing Tips newsletter.

    With such an agenda, how does Hospers manage?

    “It’s very difficult. I’m pretty busy doing all the educational programs. Working at Tarrant County is part-time, so it works very well, and I just really enjoy it. The choirs are wonderful, so, it’s a real treat,” she said.

    This flying choir director is not planning to land any time soon. Her future goals include more air shows, the 11th Annual Big Band Hangar Dance and a multi-engine rating on her pilot’s license.

    For more information or to visit the museum, contact Hospers at (817) 624-1935 or visit the website at www.vintageflyingmuseum.org.