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Plane museum may soon fly
Plans continue for Lauridsen Aviation Museum

<br>Patrick Whitehurst/WGCN<br>
Members of the Williams City Council voted to approve plans for an aviation museum at the H.A. Clark Memorial Airfield near Williams.  Plane afficanado Hans Lauridsen, owner of the 1953 Grumman Albatross pictured above, has been working with Williams officials to bring a plane museum to Williams for a number of months.

<br>Patrick Whitehurst/WGCN<br> Members of the Williams City Council voted to approve plans for an aviation museum at the H.A. Clark Memorial Airfield near Williams. Plane afficanado Hans Lauridsen, owner of the 1953 Grumman Albatross pictured above, has been working with Williams officials to bring a plane museum to Williams for a number of months.

Members of the Williams City Council gave their approval for developers and city planners to move forward with plans for a proposed five-acre airplane museum at the H.A. Clark Memorial Airfield north of Williams. The facility, to be called the Lauridsen Aviation Museum, calls for three buildings on a tract of land that would be leased from city of Williams officials. The museum itself, which has received concept approval from the Williams Airport Committee, is expected to house roughly 22 planes owned by aviation enthusiast Hans Lauridsen.

Council members approved a recommendation that city employees continue to work with Lauridsen on accommodating the museum in the Williams area. A number of details will be discussed in the coming weeks, including the development of a site plan, exact acreage for the proposed museum and the terms of a lease for the property.

Some of the costs associated with the proposed facility, according to Lauridsen would run between $400,000 to $500,000, though he added that the city would not be responsible for any of the costs associated with the museum.

"We're not asking the city of Williams to put up a penny," he told council members during the Sept. 25 meeting at Williams City Hall.

Lauridsen is currently seeking a 40-year lease, which he told council members was fairly standard for airport agreements. He said that other plane museums, such as an aviation museum in Palm Springs, Calif., are popular attractions. He said he believes an aviation museum in Williams would be just as popular.

"Williams, Arizona, has more going for it than any other spot, just because of the train," Lauridsen said. "We've got about 22 different varieties of airplanes. All of these planes have a history."

Williams Public Works Director Glenn Cornwell said he believes an agreement can be reached to bring the aviation museum to Williams.

"There's plenty of real estate out there," Cornwell said. "I think there's something we can make work."

The planes that Lauridsen hopes to display at the proposed museum are currently housed in a number of locations throughout Arizona. The planes range in age from World War II era aircraft through the Korean War and include a Fairchild C119-6. Lauridsen said the C119-6 was used in the film "Flight of the Phoenix." Many in Williams have already seen Lauridsen's 1953 Grumman Albatross, which Lauridsen has flown into the Williams Airport on numerous occasions. Lauridsen is currently working to restore the historic craft. The amphibious Navy plane, featuring pontoons on either side of the cockpit, once carried U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson from Puerto Rico to the United States, after Air Force One suffered technical difficulties and was forced to remain behind for repairs. Other planes in Lauridsen's impressive collection include one of the last remaining operable B-25 Bombers, notable for their use in World War II.

Officials have said that the Lauridsen Aviation Museum would be similar in style to the plane museum in Valle. The museum would include a maintenance area and gift shop besides the museum itself.


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