The Coronado Public Library has announced an ambitious exhibit schedule for 2011 designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Naval Aviation and its birthplace in Coronado. The exhibit, which opens January 1, will run the entire year, ending December 31.
Normally the library rotates their exhibits every two months, however, library staff, in discussions with the Naval Aviation Centennial Task Force last year, decided that this very special tribute to Naval Aviation should keep a continuous theme throughout the year, rotating exhibits bimonthly with various themes within the larger theme.
“We’re very excited about this,” said Candice Hooper, curator at the Coronado Public Library. “We’ll have six different exhibits within the exhibit, with monthly programs and events to compliment each component of “100 Years of Naval Aviation,” she said.
Hooper, who has been with the Coronado Public Library for more than 20 years, came up with the idea some years ago while working on an exhibit to honor women in the military.
“This is something the Coronado Library has wanted to do for a very long time,” said Hooper. “We have built an alliance with some greatly respected institutions in the planning for this project guaranteeing this will be a significant exhibition and unique educational experience.”
Contributing institutions include the US Navy, the USS Midway Museum, the San Diego Air & Space Museum, the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola and the International Plastic Modelers’ Society.
“The United States Navy’s connection to Coronado is a special one that goes back a long time,” said Hooper. “It is always a special honor when the Coronado Public Library has an opportunity to pay tribute to the men and women who serve our country.”
Part of the Coronado Public Library’s mission is to meet the informational, recreational, and cultural needs of the community, and to actively promote reading, life-long learning and the pursuit of knowledge. They offer a large collection of books, films and photographs, and access to many digital databases covering almost any subject.
The Coronado Public Library is open Monday-Thursday 10-9, Friday-Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 1-5. They are located at 640 Orange Avenue. For more information call or visit (619) 522-7390 or www.coronado.lib.ca.us. All programs and events at the library are free to the public.
— Story By Joe Ditler
Military Pilots line-up on the beach in front of Curtiss N-9s, a large seaplane trainer
used at North Island in 1918.
Row of Navy training biplanes on grass field, Naval Air Station North Island, circa 1937.
The heroic crew of the “lost” N.C.3 transatlantic flight at Admiral Jackson’s headquarters at Ponta Delgada in the Azores, after bringing the crippled plane into port under its own power, May 1919.
United States Secretary of the Navy Curtis D. Wilbur with inspection party at
Naval Air Station North Island, August 30, 1927.
