Our Town: Marietta Museum looks to get aviation program off the ground

550 Perrin Road, Marietta

Free admission; $5 parking fee.

Information: mariettahistory.org or 770-794-5712.

If the roar of helicopter rotors is music to your ears, there’s a corner of Cobb County you’ll call heaven on June 1. That’s when the Marietta Museum of History’s Aviation Wing sponsors its second annual Helicopter Day to showcase aircraft used by law enforcement, emergency medical services and military agencies from around the metro area.

The day also provides a chance for more people to discover the Aviation Wing, located outdoors at the corner of South Cobb Drive and Atlanta Road on a 15.5-acre plot of land that abuts the Lockheed Martin plant and Dobbins Air Force Base. The museum acquired the property a year and a half ago, but little has been done to promote it, said Jan Russell, the museum’s operations director.

“We took it over from another group that tried to start it, but they lost their funding,” said Russell. “As I like to say, it never got off the ground — It was never even open to the public. Right now, most people find out about it because they drive by, see it and pull in.”

Instead of selling off the airplanes already in the collection, the group transferred all its assets to the Marietta Museum.

“Since then, we’ve been very slowly bringing it around and trying to get things going there,” said Russell. “We want to build a pavilion and restrooms so it can be utilized as a park and host group tours. We’re also looking to put up a building to house a museum. We have all the original concept drawings and feasibility studies, but we do not spend money we don’t have yet.”

Among the various fliers on display at the field are several acquired from the Navy when the Naval Air Station Atlanta closed in 2009. A drone, helicopter and two planes built at Lockheed, a C141 and a JetStar, are also part of the collection.

“Our primary focus is to showcase aircraft with some association with Cobb County,” said Russell. “It’s important that we have planes made here since Cobb’s aviation history is a big part of the way we grew.”

Russell said telling the story of the county’s air history will be easier once a museum is built on the property. Until then, the job falls to a small corps of volunteers, many of whom are former pilots, who man the grounds from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. On June 1, they’ll also be directing visitors around the helicopters on display.

“When we did this for the first time last year, the response was so good we wanted to do it again,” said Russell. “We’ll have pilots and crew members there to talk about how the helicopters are used and the types of missions they fly.”

Along with looking at the copters, visitors can snag a ride in one. Blue Ridge Helicopters will be offering rides to Kennesaw Mountain for $40 per person. The company is also on site to give rides every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Each Saturday, we shine a spotlight on a local neighborhood, city or community. To suggest a place for us to visit, e-mail H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or call 404-514-6162.