Coast Guard Unit Lends a Hand at Naval Air Station Aviation Museum

WILDWOOD – A local unit of the United States Coast Guard visited Naval Air Station Wildwood (NASW) Aviation Museum to help spruce up the museum’s Coast Guard Exhibit. The NASW Aviation Museum, known for its World War II and other wartime memorabilia and artifacts, has dedicated a portion of the museum to feature the USCG, as the training center in Cape May has played a huge part in shaping the community. The exhibit features a USCG HH-52A Seaguard Helicopter, a 41 foot patrol boat, one of the few USCG Humvees that saw active duty and an interactive “All Available Boats” exhibit that shows how civilians worked with the USCG to perform the largest marine evacuation in history on 9/11.
The unit members helped clean various parts of the exhibit with the help of the maintenance crew at the museum. Almost every vehicle in the exhibit is accessible to the public to explore and learn more about. The NASW Aviation Museum is proud to support the Coast Guard Community and offers free admission to the museum to all active Coast Guard Families with proper identification. Almost every year a group of Coast Guard Recruits come to the museum in early June to participate in the annual Runway 5K 10K race. Spectators enjoy seeing the recruits run in formation as it is a sight to see such discipline. This year, however, the recruits were allowed to run individually to challenge themselves which was just as exciting. A small number of the recruits who were unable to participate due to having their wisdom teeth recently removed, stood in formation at the finish line to cheer on their fellow recruits and the rest of the participants as they crossed the line into Historic Hangar #1.
Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum is located in Historic Hangar #1 at the Cape May Airport. The airport was once Naval Air Station Wildwood, which served as a World War II dive-bomber training center. The museum is dedicated to the 42 airmen who perished while training at Naval Air Station Wildwood between 1943 and 1945. The museum is currently open daily 9-5.