Email
PrintAir force
An extended interview with Jim Bridenstine, the Tulsa Air and Space Museum’s new executive director.
What do you think are the most significant roles Tulsa has played in the history of aviation? There’s been a lot. McIntyre Field was the very first airfield in the country to have a lighted runway, and that’s right here in Tulsa. If you go up to World War II, you’re talking about B-24s coming off the bomber line. And that’s right here in Tulsa as well … (The) Douglas (Plant) built a lot of airplanes for WWII, bomber airplanes, fighter airplanes, attack airplanes that were used, basically, to win the war for us. So there’s a lot of history and tradition from that side as well.
You’re also talking about space. A lot of folks here in Tulsa have built things like the truss for the international space station and the bay doors for the space shuttle. If you’re familiar with the American Airlines 747 that carries the space shuttle on its back, that was accepted here in Tulsa. The maintenance, repair and overhaul facility did all the modifications to it and it was approved by NASA here so that it could carry the space shuttle. Space systems have been built here. Modern airplanes today are always being modified and repaired and overhauled here in Tulsa.
I saw on the Tulsa Air and Space Museum (TASM) Web site that the AURA — the unmanned space aircraft — was built in Jenks. It was. At Jones Riverside Field. Now, the gentleman who built that actual airplane is Ray Booker, and he’s on our board of directors. And he has written a book that’s in our bookstore as well. Today’s unmanned air vehicles are flown with datalinks, basically remote control. That particular unmanned aerial vehicle was one of the very first ones and it was preprogrammed. So once it left, it left. You didn’t have control over it after it left. It was preprogrammed. It’s basically a smart airplane. An unmanned, preprogrammed airplane.
Why do you think that admiration for aviators doesn’t quite persist in kids today the way it did in the past. Well, I think the admiration is there. It’s just not as prevalent. It’s just not as visible. … Today, airplanes take off and land all the time. Now it’s even to the point where the space shuttle takes off and lands all the time and nobody even knows when it launches; nobody knows when it comes home. You’ll see it on TV when it comes home and you didn’t even know there were astronauts in space risking their lives for the technology that we can utilize here on earth. You just don’t hear about it because it’s so commonplace. But those guys do tremendous work and it’s inspiring and I think that’s what’s important about the TASM. We can get kids excited about those kinds of things that happen.
What made you want to become a pilot? I don’t know what made me want to be a pilot. … I have a picture hanging in my house, and it’s a picture of an airplane that I drew when I was 4 or 5 years old, and it said at the bottom, “I want to be a pilot.” Of course, I spelled everything wrong: I spelled pilot, P-I-E-L-E-O-T. I don’t know what it was, but something about airplanes — I just loved to look at them. Eventually, I wanted to be able to fly them.
You went to college first and you joined the Navy after that. Had you ever flown a plane before you joined the Navy? I had flown gliders a couple of times, but other than that, no. I joined the Navy knowing I wanted to be a pilot, having never flown from the front seat of an airplane with an engine.
Do you have any favorite aviators? My very favorite aviator … is John Herrington. He is a Navy test pilot and a NASA astronaut and he was the first Native American in space, and he’s a native Oklahoman. And he has created a lot of visibility for aviation and aerospace in Oklahoma. And it just seems like he’s the real deal when it comes to inspiring children to get to that next level. Because he’s pretty much done everything in aviation you can possibly do. And he works with the museum a lot, so we’re extremely happy he’s willing to participate in the things we have going on here in Tulsa.
You are decorated for your experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. What awards or recognitions did you receive? One is a Navy and Marine Corps commendation medal, with a combat “V” — combat “V” meaning I earned the commendation medal in battle. It was the result of a specific mission where there was a whole lot of enemies, and a whole lot of friendlies, and we had to execute pretty intently for a given period of time. And they gave me an award for doing, really, what I was trained to do. And then the other one is an air medal … I flew a number of missions in Afghanistan, a number of missions in Iraq, and when the missions are combat missions, and you do it enough, they’ll give you an air medal. I have a number of other awards, but those are the two big ones.
You own a Rocket Racing League team, where pilots race rocket-powered aircraft through a 3-D track. Are you planning on incorporating any of the RRL programs with the museum? There’s a lot of excitement around rocket racing. And certainly there’s a lot of things I could do here at the museum to increase awareness of rocket racing. And we can use the attention rocket racing is getting internationally and bring attention to the TASM. It is unique that you’ve got an executive director who’s also a team owner with the RRL. This is not the RRL museum, but there are so many synergies between what the RRL wants to do, which is to get kids excited about learning math and science, and what the TASM wants to do, which is to get kids excited about learning math and science. They just blend together so nicely that I think we should absolutely get some kind of coordination going. And I’ve been talking to the RRL to see how they could integrate with the museum, and with the museum about how we could integrate with the RRL.
Has the RRL held its first competition? Or are there plans for one in the future? We had our first public exhibition flights. We flew in Oshkosh in July in front of about 700,000 people. It was actually my rocket racer, the Bridenstine DKNY Rocket Racer.
DKNY? Donna Karan New York; that’s my sponsor. DKNY is a clothing label. They generally make women’s clothes, but they’re launching a new line of men’s business suits, and they thought Rocket Racing would be a good opportunity to masculinize their brand. Which I think is pretty cool.
So, yes, we have done one public flight at a huge air show. We’re going to continue to do demonstration flights during the course of 2009. We might get two, three, four rocket racers airborne at the same time during the course of 2009, with the goal of having stand-alone events at the end of 2010 — if not, 2011. So at this time, we have not raced.
We’re now flying rockets with a helmet-mounted virtual display. So as you’re flying your airplane, you’ve got projected in your helmet a series of rings that you fly through. So you can look around and see everything in the world as if you’re normally looking around, but then projected in the visor of your helmet is a series of rings. So you just fly through those rings — that’s when you’re in your lane. One guy will be flying through pentagons, the guy next to him will be flying through circles, the guy next to him will be flying through squares. And that way all the pilots can fly in close proximity and yet maintain safe separation. So that’s called the racetrack in the sky — RITS is what we call it.
What attracted you to this job as executive director of the museum? There’s a number of things. First of all, my wife and I are both from Tulsa, and we really wanted to come back to Tulsa. Second of all, it’s an air and space museum and I’m a Naval aviator, so I have a lot of interest in aviation. Third of all, this is a place where people can honor veterans. And as a veteran, I think that’s important. … Then the other component is getting kids excited about learning math and science, the whole inspirational piece, educating children. That is the fourth thing I think is pretty important. So when you put the whole package together, it really fits exactly what I’d like to do. And on top of it, there’s synergies with something else I was already doing, rocket racing. So it just seemed like a perfect fit, and my wife and I are just extremely happy to be back in Tulsa.
What sets TASM apart from other air and space museums? First of all, the TASM is largely focused on the aviation history of the city of Tulsa. So, there’s no other air and space museum that’s focused on the history of Tulsa. The second thing is, if you look at how far this place has come in such a short amount of time — I think it’s been six or eight years since this place was created, and all the sudden we have this hangar with 19,000 square feet of exhibit space, we have a planetarium, we have ongoing educational programs, we’ve got summer camps, we’ve got mini-camps, tours. This place has come a long way in a really very short amount of time, which I think is unique in the museum business. … The other thing that makes us unique is that we have a planetarium where we can actually show digital movies, digital shows, but also educate people about space and stars and other things.
Are there any other air and space museums that you’ve been to that you’ve really liked? Absolutely. If you have ever been to the National Museum of Naval Aviation, it is a phenomenal facility. Now, they’re different than us in that they have federal funding because it’s a national museum. But if you look at their exhibits and the way they tell the story of Naval aviation from its inception to today, it’s just an amazing story. When you go through the museum, it’s like reading a book of history. It’s all placed very well. We have a phenomenal curator here, Kim Jones, who’s also the author of “Aviation in Tulsa and Northeast Oklahoma.” He’s also the author of a book called “The Oklahoma Aviation Story,” and he’s been taking all these different things from Tulsa and Oklahoma and he’s been creating a story in our hangar here. So, we have a great story to tell, too, but we’re still growing. We have a lot more to do.
What are you most looking forward to in your new position? I’m actually most looking forward to getting involved in the Tulsa community. And I say that because if you look at the purpose of the museum, one thing that’s not mentioned very often is the fact that a lot of companies around the country, and a lot of companies and people throughout the world, don’t know that Tulsa has such a rich aviation and space heritage. … We have a tremendous culture here that I think the world could benefit from, if they were to tap it.
Any advice for a young person interested in aviation? Join the Navy. That’s how I got involved. If you’re interested in aviation, the military is a great way to learn a whole lot very fast. They don’t coddle you, but at the end you’ll come out a pilot, and a good pilot.
