Donations roll into John C. Robinson Brown Condor Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum

Blue skies ahead for the John C. Robinson Brown Condor Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum. Recent donations, including several from an anonymous donor, are taking the Gulfport Museum to new heights.

Kenneth Tims picked up a lot of skills during his time with the Navy. Dressing mannequins wasn’t one of them, but this South Mississippi retiree proved to be a quick study as he worked on the latest display at the Mississippi Aviation Museum in Gulfport, uniforms spanning his 21-year career with the U.S. Navy Reserve including his time as a Seabee. “They’ve been sitting at the house, and my kids have used them for plays and different things like that. I have kept them in pretty good shape. I heard about the museum opening up here. I took them to the dry cleaners, got them cleaned up and went and got them some mannequins to help outfit them with. I just feel good about donating them to the museum so that other people can appreciate them as well.”

One of those people is Todd Young, who is flying solo, traveling across the country, fulfilling a dream he and his late father shared. “I got here Monday, and the Museum opened here today Thursday, so I’ve been camping out, having a great time. It’s a beautiful museum. There’s a lot of labor of love here. People have donated to this museum. It’s growing. It’s in its infancy, but it’s growing.”

So are the donations, in particular, a steady stream of them from an anonymous donor, that’s kept the museum’s project manager’s hands full as evidenced Thursday as Francisco Gonzalez opened yet two more packages from anonymous donors.

If these donations keep coming, expansion plans to take this museum to a whole new level could be on the fast track. Gonzalez said, “Hopefully, we’ll get more people on board so we can build the second floor, and then get the observation deck built on top of the roof so the kids can come see airplanes land and take off.”