Susan Elzey/Register & Bee
Richard Moore, a
retired aviation mechanic, looks over the memorabilia he has collected
over more than 65 years of work in the aviation field. He has put
together what he calls an "aviation museum" in his garage.
Richard Moore’s garage has been turned into somewhat of
an aviation museum to hold memorabilia from his years as an aviation
mechanic.
Some people’s garages hold junk, some hold tools, and some even have room for cars. Richard Moore’s garage, however, has been turned into somewhat of an aviation museum to hold memorabilia from his years as an aviation mechanic.
Moore, 82, and his wife, Alice, moved to Danville 17 years ago to be near family and get out of the traffic of the Hampton Roads area. Before that Moore served first in the military and then in the Civil Service as an aircraft mechanic and inspector.
“I was authorized to work on the aircraft and authorized to sign off to let you fly,” Moore said.
He was so good at it that he was awarded the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award, named in honor of the first aviation mechanic in powered flight. Taylor was the mechanic for the Wright brothers and is credited with designing and building the engine for their first successful aircraft.
“You have to have worked for 50 years without any infractions on your record and you’re nominated by your peers,” Moore explained.
Meeting dignitaries
From 1966 to 1988 Moore worked at Langley Air Force Base with the Civil Service. He was in the Air Force for eight years before that.
As an aircraft mechanic at Langley he parked and positioned the planes of visiting dignitaries, many times having the honor of meeting and escorting the dignitaries as they disembarked the airplane.
“I got to meet Presidents Reagan, Johnson and Ford and I served in the honor guard for Eisenhower. I also met the Kennedy family — Ted, Robert, Jackie and Mama Rose when they launched the Kennedy aircraft carrier,” Moore remembered.
He also met Jimmy Stewart, Chuck Yeager and Chappy James, the first black American to reach the rank of four-star general in 1975 .
He also escorted French President Francois Mitterand off his plane.
His co-workers teased him that he wouldn’t be able to get Mitterand’s autograph, but he did.
“I told him I wanted it for my son who was studying French,” he said.
Moore and his wife have one son, Russell, who is a church organist and choir director in McLean and preaches in French.
Getting started
The first plane Moore ever worked on was a J-3 Cub in the Lawrenceville airport.
“I had a friend who worked there, and I’d hang out and get my hands greasy,” he remembered. “When I graduated from high school I joined the Air Force. I wanted to be an auto mechanic, but they needed aircraft mechanics. ‘That’s what you’ll be, boy,’ they said. ‘You’re going to Amarillo.’”
Moore said people have been real nice to him along the way, except for maybe a few.
“I started working for the Aero Club at Langley where they teach dependents to fly. I started with three airplanes and built it up to 17,” he said. “I started under a light pole, then a shed and then they built me a nice hangar.
“Someone made me a nice nameplate that said ‘Richard T. Moore Hangar.’ After three or four managers, a smart one said you have to be dead to have a hangar named after you and took the nameplate down, put it in his car and brought it to me.”
That nameplate now hangs over his memorabilia in his garage.
When Moore first moved back to the Danville area he freelanced as an airplane mechanic. That led to an interest in racing after he worked on the planes of race car drivers, such as Ward Burton at the Roxboro, N.C., airport. Now his garage museum also includes a corner for racing memorabilia.
Praying for a miracle
These days, however, it’s getting harder for Moore to do any work on airplanes because he has developed macular degeneration and his eyesight is failing.
“But we’re praying for a miracle,” his wife said. “I think daily he’s seeing better. We’re asking for it. It’s just sad; he’s worked all his life on airplanes — for 65 years.”
He was still working at the Danville Airport until his eyesight began to fail.
“They didn’t want anyone who was blind,” he said with a good-hearted chuckle.
He still can putter around in his museum, though, even if some days he has to squint a little bit to find what he wants.
“The museum is an ongoing process,” he said.
Story and Photos: http://www.godanriver.com
