Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum

NASW’s 2013 Free Historic Lecture Series

Sponsored by:  Sturdy Savings Bank & Capri Motor Lodge

Three Tuesday evening in June at 7PM

Each year NASW invites a variety of interesting speakers to give lectures on aviation, military, history and other topics. These events are free and open to the public!

This year, enjoy lectures from:

June 4^th

Peter Fantacone. “WWII Veteran recalls Bloody Day at Normandy”, Q&A
Don’t miss this opportunity to experience a first-hand account detailing the Invasion of Normandy.  Mr. Peter Fantacone, 87, of Mays Landing, NJ, is a World War II veteran who participated in the invasion of Normandy during D-Day. He will recount his experience serving as a U.S. Navy sailor in Coast Guard Flotilla 4/10 aboard one of 18 landing craft infantry ships (LCIs). Twelve of the eighteen LCIs were run by all Coast Guard crews and landed troops on the infamous Omaha Beach 69 years ago.  All of the crewmembers aboard Fantacone’s LCI 492 survived D-Day; however, only three of the men are still alive to tell the story of D-Day. His presentation will give you pause as you reflect on the courage of great Americans that had fallen and the honor of those who live to tell the story.

*June 11^th
Dr. Geoffrey Rassano.  *Special Lecture during American Pride Days –
11 am “Stalking the U-Boat & 1 pm “Hero of the Angry Sky”
A graduate of Tufts University and the University of North Carolina, Geoffrey L. Rossano is an instructor of history at the Salisbury School in Salisbury, CT. He is the author/editor of many books including: “Stalking the U-Boat: U.S. Naval Aviation in Europe during World War I” (winner of the 2010 Roosevelt Prize in Naval History); and his newest ”Hero of the Angry Sky” draws on the unpublished diaries, correspondence, informal memoir and other personal documents of the U.S. Navy’s only flying “ace” of World War I to tell his unique story. 

June 18^th

Joan Berkey author of Images of America USCG Training Center at Cape May, Lecture, Book Signing, Q&A
Joan is a historic preservation consultant and architectural historian who lives in Cape May County and has resided in southern New Jersey for more than 40 years.  Since obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in Historic Preservation from Goucher College (Towson, MD), she has worked for an architectural firm specializing in historic preservation, was past executive director of Preservation New Jersey, and served on the board of the New Jersey Historic Trust.  Ms. Berkey has also worked for National Trust for Historic Preservation, the New Jersey Historic Trust, and several South Jersey counties and municipalities.  She is the author of Early Architecture of Cape May County:  The Heavy Timber Frame Tradition (Cape May County Historical and Genealogical Society, 2008), Naval Air Station Wildwood (Arcadia, 2010) and US Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May (Arcadia, 2012).  She and her husband restored the ca. 1790 Thomas (Jr.) and Zilpah Ludlam House in Dennis Township/Cape May County and their restoration received an Award of Excellence from the DEP/State Historic Preservation Office in 2010.

June 25^th

Ken Kula, “Warbirds around the World”, followed by Q&A
Ken is a writer & photographer. After graduating college Ken started a 30 year Air Traffic Control (ATC) career and began to travel extensively to air shows and events around the world. Between his ATC career and his passion for aviation photography, Ken has amassed a group of stories and pictures that he’ll share with you to convey some of the historic moments that he’s been fortunate to take part in from the 1980s through today.

 

 

 

Click here to see pictures from past lectures!