June 30--VIRGINIA BEACH -- A gleaming silver and banana-yellow B-17, a vintage bomber from World War II, rolled past the window behind David Hunt. It's up for sale.
Seated at his desk inside the Military Aviation Museum in Pungo, Hunt, the museum's director, reiterated Saturday that the business is fine -- for now. Although the museum won't close soon, some of the facility's planes, worth anywhere between $20,000 to $7 million each, may have to go to keep the operation aloft.
Last Monday, Gerald Yagen, owner of the museum and one of the world's largest collections of World War I- and World War II-era planes, announced that he no longer can afford to keep the collection and the museum. The four vocational schools he owns, including the Aviation Institute of Maintenance, Centura College and Tidewater Tech, are being sold. No details were disclosed.
"A lot of people see it as the glass half-empty as opposed to being half-full," Hunt said. "But we are still open for business and business is normal."
The museum, which opened in 2008, was a way for Yagen to share his passion for the old planes, Hunt said.
"The money that was provided to buy and refurbish the planes came from the success of his colleges," Hunt said. "But the way we see things are at the moment, we see frustration with government cutbacks.
"Some of the out-of-state colleges might have to close. It is our hope that we can stop some of that bleeding by selling some of the planes.
"We have lived off of the generosity of Mr. Yagen and what the colleges have made over the years," he said. "And now it's payback time. It's time to sell some of those assets to support other parts of his business."
The hope is that the entire collection won't be sold off. It includes planes in Virginia Beach and around the world, Hunt said. He didn't divulge exactly how many planes are in Yagen's collection. It's been reported that the inventory is around 50 planes.
"The grounds and buildings are owned by Mr. Yagen, and even if we sold, like, 10 or 12 planes, we'd still have 30 or 40 planes stored elsewhere," Hunt said. "I still believe we have one of the finest collections covering the first 50 years of aviation."
The museum's schedule is packed with events through 2015, Hunt said. Thirty of them -- weddings, car shows and private parties -- are booked through the end of the year.
Rentals for the space, including the 15,000-square-foot Navy Hangar, run from $2,200 to $3,300. At $10 a pop, not including military discounts and free admission for WWII vets, the aviation museum is among the most affordable tourist attractions in Virginia Beach, Hunt said.
About mid-morning Saturday, a crowd of roughly 200, mostly senior citizens, had come to hear Norwood Thomas Jr., a former WWII sergeant whose appearance was part of the museum's "Warbirds Over the Beach" series.
The crowd sat among the aircraft as Thomas recounted how he parachuted into Normandy, France, in the summer of 1944.
Hunt said the museum typically draws up to 500 visitors on Saturday, its busiest day of the week.
Because the runway was slick with rain Saturday, a flight of the Hawker Hurricane, a WWII plane reportedly worth $3 million and also up for sale, was canceled.
"It would be very sad to lose these planes," Hunt said. "The positive side is that they can go to other collections.... But we're not looking to close the museum doors anytime soon -- not at all."
Rashod Ollison, 757-446-2732,[email protected]
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