New classrooms support award-winning AMC Museum Published Aug. 18, 2021 By Tech. Sgt. Nicole Leidholm 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs Dover Air Force Base, Del. -- DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. – The Air Mobility Command Museum, located just south of Dover Air Force Base and winner of the 2020 Trip Advisor Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best award, provides more than just an array of historical aircraft. It is dedicated to preserving military history and providing educational programs. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum had to look for new ways to provide outreach. “Over the years we’ve had educational outreach programs that have included summer camps which are extremely popular,” said Eric Czerwinski, AMC Museum deputy director. “We were trying to use our conference room and adapt our existing space but [the available space we had] wasn’t fair to the kids or the visitors so we decided to convert one of our Quonset Huts into a classroom.” The Quonset Hut classrooms were built in order to allow the museum to continue offering educational outreach in a COVID friendly environment. There are currently two classrooms, one that can be configured for up to 12 students ages 9-15 and the other for adult learning and outreach programs. An additional classroom is being built to support more programs. “We now have a dedicated space that allows us to increase the number of kids we can have at the camps,” said Czerwinski. “It also allows us to improve the quality of the educational programs and use more educational tools, like Smart Boards, to teach the kids about the history of flight, stem topics, aerospace topics and airlift history.” The classrooms are used to teach the children about aviation, forces of flight, airplane engines, how weather affects flying and flight planning. “The team worked very hard to get the classrooms ready for this year’s camp,” said Patti Papineau, AMC Museum volunteer educator.. “The classrooms can also be used for homeschooled students who come to the museum that will meet the needs of the homeschooling parents in history, science and math using the artifacts of the museum as instructional tools.” This year, the museum was able to bring back the Aviation Summer Camp and due to popularity, added a fourth week after being unable to hold the camp in 2020 because of the pandemic. “Education is important for any field,” said Papineau. “They have the opportunity to learn everything they can and decide on what they love because when they do what they love, they’ll never work a day in their life. It’s an experience not every kid gets.” In addition to the educational programs and summer camp, the museum also offers Aviation Merit Badges for scouts and Hangar Talks with retirees who share their military experiences. “What we do each and every day is to educate the general public on the history and heritage of the mobility mission of the U.S. Air Force, “ said Michael Hurlburt, AMC Museum operations manager. “We do this through our display of various artifacts and exhibits, providing free guided tours from experienced docents and bring history to life through our Living History program where our volunteer re-enactors dress in various period specific uniforms portraying various roles throughout the history of the U.S. Air Force and the Army Air Corp and answer questions about the various conflicts that the U.S. has been involved in.” The AMC museum has a collection of aircraft and artifacts on display. These include the only C-5A Galaxy and the last remaining C-119 Flying Boxcar, which flew during the Korean War. Visitors can also see the last remaining C-54M Skymaster which flew during the Berlin Airlift to haul coal into the city. The museum, which is free and open to the public, is located off the Route 9 access road and is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. For more information about the AMC Museum, visit https://amcmuseum.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/AMCMuseum.