Art and aviation

Michelle Swafford

Friday, July 8, 2005 | 10:47 a.m.

Airports are not traditionally thought of as a place to showcase art and artifacts but an increasing number of them -- including McCarran International Airport -- are opening museums.

In 1993 McCarran opened the Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum, which features thousands of artifacts that tell the history of Las Vegas and highlight aviation's evolution.

The 3,000-square-foot museum -- located on the second floor of the main terminal -- is jointly operated by the state Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Aviation. The airport invests about $300,000 annually to maintain the museum, McCarran spokeswoman Elaine Sanchez said.

Other museum-owned artifacts are featured throughout the airport in both terminals and at the North Las Vegas Airport. The main terminal features a 1956 Ford Thunderbird that is a replica of the crash wagon operated by Alamo Airways when the airport was founded in 1942, Museum Administrator Mark Hall-Patton said.

"Unlike a lot of programs, this is a program that has all the aspects of a normal museum except that it is in an airport instead of in a museum building," Hall-Patton said, adding that it's also open 24 hours unlike traditional museums.

Model airplanes, uniforms, wing pins and manuals are some of the items that depict the first airlines in Las Vegas, important aviators, women in aviation, children in aviation and flight records.

A Cessna 172 airplane that set the world endurance aloft record -- the pilots were in the air for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and five seconds -- in late 1958 and early 1959 hangs over the north end of baggage claim, Hall-Patton said.

"That records stands to this day," he said.

The family of local airport founder George Crockett provided the initial collection. Since then, retired airport employees and aviation enthusiasts have donated items, all of which are archived and available to public for research.

"Las Vegas has a history and aviation is a big part of that," Hall-Patton said.

About 1 percent of the airport's travelers -- or about 400,000 people -- take in the museum attractions, Hall-Patton said.

"It's one where people coming to the museum don't come because they've made a conscious decision to do so," he said. "It catches people who are not necessarily regular museumgoers. People don't come to LV to go the museum. This will hopefully catch people and let them learn a little in a setting where they have absolute choice over their time."

Displays are changed occasionally and, while some items are in storage, the airport is always accepting collectible donations, Hall-Patton said.

In addition to the aviation items, McCarran features several public displays of art such as the gem garden, mosaic art tiles and life-size paper airplanes created by local children and murals painted by professional artists, Sanchez said.

"In light of people coming earlier with security, it's something nice to look at," she said. "Museums and public art change the atmosphere."

Las Vegas is not the only airport investing in art and collectibles to make traveling more beautiful.

Airports in San Francisco, Phoenix, Atlanta, Denver, Philadelphia and Miami are among the growing number of places where luggage and art coexist.

Displays at other airports vary dramatically from baseball exhibits in Philadelphia to giant wishbones in Dallas and Miami's architecture.

Dallas/Fort Worth International has invested about $6 million for large art medallions by local artists in its new international terminal that is scheduled to open later this month.

Miami International is spending about $18 million on art projects through 2010 as part of its capital improvements.