Grissom Air Museum places B-58 bomber in new building

This article is brought to you by Solidarity Community Federal Credit Union. The Solidarity Scholarship is officially open! We’re proud to support students chasing their academic goals with real financial support.

Multiple scholarships are available. Applications are accepted now through March 31. Apply here: https://solfcu.org/financial-wellness/scholarships/

Spread the word and don’t miss your chance to get ahead this school year!

#SolidarityScholarship #EducationMatters #StudentSupport

Volunteers at the Grissom Air Museum found themselves in an embarrassing position seven years ago when they learned that the B-58 Association was coming. A reunion of airmen associated with the famous B-58 Hustler had selected the Grissom Air Museum for their 2019 reunion.

The B-58 strategic bomber, which was based at Bunker Hill-Grissom Air Force Base between 1961 and 1970 as a deterrent to nuclear war represented the ultimate in Cold War technology. As the world’s first supersonic bomber, the Hustler, as it came to be known, was capable of reaching altitudes well beyond the capabilities of Soviet surface-to-air missiles.

The airplane’s revolutionary engines and design enabled speeds far faster than any Russian fighter interceptor. It was unstoppable as a nuclear weapons delivery platform, and the U.S. Air Force made sure the Russians knew it.

Only 116 of these groundbreaking bombers were built. Barely eight intact airframes remain in existence today, and one of them has been exhibited outdoors at Grissom for more than half a century. The once gleaming bomber which had defined the most elite of the Strategic Air Command was in embarrassing condition.

That summer, the Board of Trustees appropriated $10,000 for refurbishment of their Hustler, and the volunteers went to work. Another couple thousand dollars was contributed directly by volunteers before the project was completed.

Their results were nothing less than magnificent. Once again, the bomber gleamed in the sun, reflecting the pride of the long disbanded 305th Bomb Wing. The reunion came off without a hitch, and the veterans were so impressed that they booked their next biennial reunion at Grissom.

By the summer of 2021, the aging Hustler was once again showing her age. In just two years, the brutal Hoosier sun, ice, and humidity had taken its toll. Something had to be done to preserve the Hustler legacy.

That was when two Grissom Gold Star kids put their heads together. Shamaine Pleczko and Rob Blakaslee had both lost their fathers in Hustler accidents and saw a need to build a roof over the airplane. The plan evolved drastically during the next few years while the community was scoured for donations. Several designs were presented and later dismissed over budget concerns.

Grissom Gold Star kids Rob Blakeslee (L) with former Hustler crewman Sonny Holt and Shamaine Pleczko (R)

Last year Mike Fruth, a retired engineer and Air Force brat — his father having once been assigned at Bunker Hill — won appointment to the Grissom Museum Board. His assistance came at the urging of his friend Blakeslee. Fruth offered to champion the project.

“After raising a couple of hundred thousand dollars we were still well short of our goal,” remarked Rick Pleczko, Shamaine’s husband and also a member of the Grissom Museum Board of Trustees. “Then, early last year, a very enthusiastic supporter who had been following the project stepped up to match our fundraising efforts. Just overnight, the thing became doable.”

Volunteers Eric Barko and Glenda Norfleet apply finishing touches

Work began late last summer. Graber Post Buildings was contracted to oversee construction of an addition to the existing museum building; one large enough to exhibit an airplane almost 30 feet tall and a third as long as a football field. Fruth and his design team, which included Blakeslee, also made room for enough exhibits to tell the Hustler story. TSA Millwrights were contracted to move the airframe, which has sat in the same spot for nearly 40 years and was almost burned in half in 1969.

On Monday, Feb. 2, the Hustler began her journey into a dry home; inside the Captain Manuel Cervantes Hustler exhibit. “Rocky” Cervantes was killed during a horrific nuclear weapons accident on the runway at Bunker Hill Air Force Base in 1964. His daughter Shamaine was six months old.

“We need to let the airframe dry out before we do anything else,” said Tom Jennings, the Museum Director who retired at the end of last year. “But this is truly historic. The significance of this airplane and the airmen, as well as their families, in Hoosier history has been understated for too long. Moving the airframe under wraps will allow us to tell their story for generations.”

Current Museum Board Chairman and longtime volunteer Chris Birk said, “This is just the first step in what I see as a historic day. We’re bringing this beautiful airplane into our house, which is something I’ve wanted to do for decades. But in order to exhibit it in the glory it deserves and properly tell the story, we’re still fundraising. And as long as our generous benefactor sticks with us, it’s like a two for one sale.”

For more information or to help with the project visit www.grissomairmuseum.com or call (765) 689-8011.