Air Force One Museum may call Wilmington home

How would you like to tour Air Force One right here in Wilmington? City, state and federal government officials are now one step closer to making that a reality. The proposed museum, which would resemble the White House, may call Wilmington home.

You don’t have to look far for Air Force One history in our area. Howie Franklin currently works as the Brunswick County Airport Director, but spent 18 years working for five presidents as a flight attendant aboard the flying White House.

“My job was to take care of all the personal needs of the presidents the first family, the staff, the senior staff the press corps,” Franklin said. “It is kind of like somebody calling you up and saying there is a hundred people coming to your house and they’re going to stay there for the weekend, and your job would be to take care of them and see that they have a great time.”

Franklin sits on the Air Force One Museum board. For more than a year now, the board has been scouting a location. One idea is to house the museum in Wilmington.

It would sit near Kerr Avenue and MLK Parkway on a plot of land owned by the Department of Transportation. Elected state and local officials met Monday to discuss details.

In the end, a resolution was passed to give the museum board a letter of intent, stating that the area is behind the project. The $34 million museum would be privately funded by money raised from its board. It would feature a photo gallery, and of course, the presidential planes.

For personal and professional reasons, Franklin says he’d love to see the museum take off and noted other Air Force One crew members feel the same way.

“When they see the airplane take off,” Franklin said, “they get a little chills.”

It is still uncertain if the museum will call Wilmington home, as the museum board is still considering other locations in the state. The museum board is committed to having the museum in North Carolina, partly because of the state’s designation as “First in Flight.”

A final decision on the exact location is expected before the end of January.