ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Discussions about repairs and/or renovations to a particularly historic part of the Mid-America Air Museum have been going on for a while and soon, another step in the process will be happening.
The project is still in very early stages, with recent discussions centering on figuring out the overall scope of work.
“The Skyhawk Hangar, located onsite at the Mid-America Air Museum, is a surviving historical artifact from the early 1940s when Liberal served as a B-24 training base during WWII,” MAAM Foundation member John Smith said. “After much discussion with the MAAM Foundation, we have confirmed there is a desire to explore the possibility of rehabilitating it into a useful space, whether that’s making it an extension of the museum for displays and traveling exhibits or something more like a convention center or meeting space. As late as last Tuesday, we’ve been talking with a potential consultant at this point who’s willing to come and help make an assessment and take a look at everything. The principal of the firm, which is LK Architecture out of Wichita, has indicated they would like to come out in the near future along with an engineer and another person to see what exactly they’d be dealing with. From there, they’d be able to pull things together to come up with a RFQ, RFI, or RFP or some other process to get involved with this project. As this is a City of Liberal building, the MAAM Foundation can’t really do too much without the city’s support. We’re really trying to represent the community in that context, and the MAAM Foundation is willing to participate cost-wise to get this firm out and get their assessment of what the project would entail.”
Smith added throughout conversations this year with City of Liberal leadership, the main focus and questions have centered around cost of assessment, MAAM Foundation contribution, proposed uses of the hangar, interested firms with expertise, and grant funding options.
“We last visited this subject during the non-profit hearings, where the Liberal City Commission felt an assessment would be necessary due to the building belonging to us, but they chose not to fund it through the non-profit appropriation process,” Smith said. “Instead, a request was made to revisit it at a later date following the completion of the 2026 budget. At this time, we really have no idea what an overall cost would be, and without bringing the proper people in, those are just tentative numbers, if even that, since the firm hasn’t been out yet and doesn’t really have a scope of what this would entail. This isn’t something you’d be able to describe on the phone.”
Smith had talked about the project at a Liberal City Commission meeting in July.
“More than a year ago, when the AirFair was announced and started to be more seriously discussed, we on that committee started meeting and then in the course of all of that, getting everything going,” Smith noted at the July 29 meeting. “We got to the point of looking at the airport and working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and City of Liberal administration to find out what it would take for everything to happen. One of the obvious aspects that became apparent was how we've got one of the – at least, I'm going to say – biggest eyesores in town in the hangar at the airport just north of the Mid-America Air Museum. The museum is one of the biggest attractions when people come to town – whether it's as a tourist or visitor, it's one of those places where when you Google what to do in Liberal, the Mid-America Air Museum is at the top of the list. That ties into the AirFair and a few other things, but when they go out there, what they see is that B-24 hangar, and it's got a history. It's a significant part of our community because back then, having that base doubled the town's population in about two years, and it's a very important focal point of our history. That came about and started being discussed along with the AirFair and what kind of an image we wanted to show in terms of what people come to see when they come to the community. The B-24 hangar is also a building on city property, so there's not much initially for people to relate to because they don't have a tie to it, and so the question from the community is what can we do to improve something that's so important and integral to the community's history.”
