Air museum taps into tech for exhibit space

Supporters of the Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum in Columbus have found a creative to expand the amount of aviation history visitors can experience by tapping into technology.

The museum, which doubled in size to 7,200 square feet after a 2014 expansion, still has more material than it has room to display on available floor space. So the museum board has turned to digital photo galleries to complement static displays, giving its growing number of visitors more to enjoy.

The new content also provides returning visitors to the museum with a new experience.

Volunteers raised more than $300,000 to increase exhibit space two years ago, and the board is considering constructing a second building for storage that would free up about 1,000 square feet more in display space in the original museum.

That would create room to display additional artifacts such as military uniforms and a propeller from a C-119 aircraft, a special project that past president Jim Sellars is heading up.

But in an idea suggested by volunteer David Day, the museum has added more context to its exhibits without involving contractors right away, adding nearly a dozen digital picture frames stationed at exhibits that provide slide shows of 20 to 30 additional photos.

“By having more photographs, it tells a more complete story,” Day said.

For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.