PASCO, Wash.-The Naval Air Station Pasco Control Tower and Hangar have been placed on the Washington State Heritage Register just in time for the Pasco Aviation Museum’s reopening.
Naval Air Station Pasco, which served as a flight training base for the Navy during World War II, with almost 2,000 cadets receiving their wings, joins a list of only 1,600 other historic and culturally significant properties on the Washington State Heritage Registry.
“Being placed on the State Heritage Register is exciting because it opens doors for us in our continued quest to enhance and develop our ability to tell the story of the importance of aviation to the Tri-Cities area,” said Malin Bergstrom, president of the Pasco Aviation Museum.
According to the Pasco Aviation Museum, the building located on Stearman Avenue in the Industrial Park of the Tri Cities Regional Airport opened in 1942 and served as the control tower for the Naval Air Station during World War II.
Today the building houses the Pasco Aviation Museum, which is scheduled to reopen to the public on Saturday, April 20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Visitors to the museum will experience new exhibits, an expanded gift shop, and an opportunity for an open cockpit biplane flight experience once again, according to the museum.
“We are excited to reopen the museum because we have completed restoration of the 3rd and 4th floors of the actual control tower, capturing what life was like for the officers, trainees and enlisted personnel who served here,” said Bergstrom.
