The National Air Race Museum (NARM) was a short-lived (1993-1994)

aviation museum An aviation museum, air museum, or air and space museum is a museum exhibiting the history and cultural artifacts, artifacts of aviation. In addition to actual, replica or accurate reproduction aircraft, exhibits can include photographs, maps, P ...

featuring the Golden Age of

Racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

and the Reno Air Races, located in

Sparks Sparks may refer to: Places *Sparks, Georgia * Sparks, Kansas *Sparks, Kentucky *Sparks, Maryland * Sparks, Nebraska *Sparks, Nevada *Sparks, Oklahoma *Sparks, Texas * Sparks, Bell County, Texas * Sparks, West Virginia Books * ''Sparks'' (Raffi ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. Aircraft exhibited included an original, non-flying replica of

Hughes H-1 Racer The Hughes H-1 Racer is a racing aircraft built by Hughes Aircraft in 1935. It set a world airspeed record and a transcontinental speed record across the United States. The H-1 Racer was the last aircraft built by a private individual to set the ...

Aircraft displayed

* 1944

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...

G; * 1910

Curtiss pusher The 1911 Curtiss Model D (or frequently "Curtiss Pusher") was an early United States pusher aircraft with the engine and propeller behind the pilot's seat. It was among the first aircraft in the world to be built in any quantity, during an era ...

; * 1913 Deperdussin replica; * 1925

Curtiss R3C-2 The Curtiss R3C is an American racing aircraft built in landplane and floatplane form. It was a single-seat biplane built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. The R3C-1Also given the "paper" designation F3C as fighters in the US Navy desig ...

replica; * 1926

Macchi M.39 The Macchi M.39 was a racing seaplane designed and built by the Italian aircraft company Aeronautica Macchi in 1925–26. An M.39 piloted by Major Mario de Bernardi (1893–1959) won the 1926 Schneider Trophy, and the type also set world speed ...

replica; * 1931

Supermarine S.6B The Supermarine S.6B is a British racing seaplane developed by R.J. Mitchell for the Supermarine company to take part in the Schneider Trophy competition of 1931. The S.6B marked the culmination of Mitchell's quest to "perfect the design of th ...

replica; * 1936

Rider R-4 The Rider-Elmendorf R-5 Jackrabbit is an aircraft designed and built to compete in the National Air Races. Development Keith Rider developed the R-4 Firecracker and R-5 at the same time to compete in the 1936 racing season. Design The R-5 is a ...

#70 Schoenfeldt "Firecracker", winner, 1938 Greve Race in Cleveland; * 1938

Rider R-6 The Rider R-6 was the last of the Keith Rider designed racing aircraft of the 1930s. Development The R-6 eightball had smooth plywood skins painted light blue with a large eight ball on each side. The actual racing number for the aircraft was 18 ...

"Eightball" flown in Oakland and Cleveland, 1938-1939; * 1936 Beechcraft 17R Staggerwing; * 1971 Hanson Special #35 "Sump'n Else"; * 1948 Miss Cosmic Wind #6 raced and owned by Bill Stead, Founder of Reno Air Races; * Formula-1 Racer Stinger #21 owned and flown by Astronaut Deke Slayton. Artifacts on display included a pair of leather gloves left behind by

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

in 1927 when he flew into Blanchard Field, Reno's Original Airport. The

National Automobile Museum The National Automobile Museum is a museum in Reno, Nevada. Most of the vehicles displayed are from the collection of William F. Harrah. The museum opened on November 5, 1989. History William F. Harrah collected approximately 1,450 automobiles, ...

would rotate vintage vehicles through to complement antique hot air balloon display. NARM Visitors were beneficiaries of exchange programs with a number of Museums including the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

. The museum included an Aviation Art Gallery, Gift Shop and "Fuselage Theater" built with commercial airliner interior for screening of movies. Many of the air racers and the Bf 109G were on loan from the Air Museum in Chino,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The Bf 109G was last seen, a few years ago, in the Planes of Fame satellite museum near the Grand Canyon at Valle Airport in Valle-Williams,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, along with a letter from General Jimmy Doolittle's son informing NARM that Jimmy had become ill and was unable to attend NARM's Grand Opening. As of May 10, 2008 many of the other racers and replicas are in a hangar at the Main Planes of Fame Museum in Chino. Ed Maloney, President of the Air Museum, says the air racers will soon be featured in an air racing display. The non-flying replica of the Hughes H-1 Racer is currently in storage. Opened in May 1993, NARM closed in February, 1994. Over 20,000 visitors came through in less than a year of operation. A learning center including Flight School for Kids at Risk and any other children who wanted to learn more about flying was under development at time of closure. The Planes of Fame Museum briefly reopened NARM in September, 1994, before removing all contents of NARM which have been relocated to Chino and Valle-Williams.

References

{{authority control Air racing Aerospace museums in Nevada Defunct museums in Nevada 1993 establishments in Nevada 1994 disestablishments in Nevada Museums established in 1993 Museums disestablished in 1994