A GSE Enthusiast’s Dream Itinerary

March 2, 2015
Helpful list of various aviation museums and their GSE exhibits.

Ground support equipment enthusiasts can indulge in their passion by travelling to aviation museums in North America and Europe.

Ground Support Equipment Mecca #1 – PIMA Air & Space Museum, Arizona

This museum, which bills itself as “one of the largest aviation museums in the world,” has a large outside exhibit of ground support equipment, including:

the Cleveland M2 Cletrac crawler tractor (1942 military tug that looks like a tank. Not many Cletras have survived until the present day. Many were apparently scrapped for metal.)
a Dodge airport ambulance (also circa 1942, very attractive, classic design)
a bright yellow CF-55-AF tug (1952)
a cargo trailer (1956)

Must-see ground support equipment: extremely rare examples of ground equipment from the Korean War

Interesting fact: The museum itself uses some of its vintage ground support equipment to move the aircraft in its collections. One of the “on-duty” tugs is a Buda-Hebard Co. J233 (1981).

Ground Support Equipment Mecca #2 – Estrella Warbirds Museum and Woodland Auto Display, California

This museum in Paso Robles is dedicated to preserving military vehicles as well as aircraft. Like Ground Support Equipment Mecca #1, it has a 1942 Cletrac, which, it explains, were produced to be used on airfields as a tow tractor.

The Cletra was designed to be used with other kinds of ground support equipment, including an:

an air compressor
a generator

Must-see ground support equipment: Harley Davidson motorcycles favoured by some ground crews during World War II

Ground Support Equipment Meccas #3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 – Imperial War Museums (IWM) in five locations in England, including London

These museums are dedicated to conflicts involving Britain extending as far back as World War 1.

Ground support equipment enthusiasts will appreciate the artwork in the museum that shows ground crews at work. One painting by Keith Henderson, “An Improvised Test of an Under-carriage,” (1940) shows the inside of a hangar. A person is jumping on the wing of a Lockheed Hudson while two fellow ground crew members look on.

Also of interest:

photos of ground support equipment crews at work, e.g., a 1943 photo of a crew refueling a Hawker Hurricane for a training flight
bomb trolleys
Fordson Half Track Tractor

Warning: Ground support equipment enthusiasts may find the IWM gift shops hard to resist. Of particular interest: prints of an elephant pulling an aircraft in wartime (India, 1944).

These are just a few of the many places that ground support equipment enthusiasts may want to visit to learn more about the machines on the ground that help keep planes in the air.