by Nicole Falco
Charles Lindbergh, the "Lone Eagle," probably one of the most recognizable names in aviation, has a boulevard named for him that leads up to the soon-to-be opened Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City. Lack of funding has kept the museum from opening, but on May 20, the actual anniversary of Lindbergh's flight, the hangar doors of the Donald Everett Axinn Air and Space Museum Hall will open to reveal more than 65 air and space craft in eight permanent galleries providing a chronological walk through the development of aviation on Long Island..
Anholzer, who is one of more than 100 volunteers, has spent over 7,000 hours in over 20 years working and planning for the museum's opening. Anholzer, 79, a retired Pan-Am facilities planner, said he regularly took part in the worldwide search for air and space craft associated with or built on Long Island and he has lost count of the number of planes he has worked on for the museum.
Highlights of the collection include a 1909 Bleriot monoplane, the fourth oldest aircraft in America, a 1928 Ryan Brougham, one of two surviving sister ships of Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis as well as Long Island-built war planes including the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.
Anholzer's love of aviation dates back to Lindbergh's historic flight. The then 5-year-old, growing up in Jamaica, lived near the Jamaica Sea Airport, which has since become part of Kennedy Airport.
"I began building model [planes] at six or seven years old," Anholzer said. "I cut so many classes in school. I once played hooky from school for two weeks and hung around the Jamaica Sea Airport."
Anholzer spent many an afternoon with friends knee-deep in the swampland near the airport flying the gas model airplanes they built from scratch from a mail-order kit.
"I was interested in mechanical things and airplanes fit the bill," Anholzer said.
Because he cut school so often to fly his model planes and hang out near the airport, "Mrs. Walters," one of his junior high school teachers, suggested he attend the School of Aviation Trades in Manhattan.
Working with planes his entire life, it's surprising that Anholzer wound up in the Naval Reserves during WWII instead of the Army Airforce. His enlistment papers were delayed and he grew tired of waiting, so Anholzer opted for the Navy instead.
Anholzer doesn't have a pilot's license either.
"I was learning. I'd go up every once in a while, but I never bothered. We were so busy," Anholzer said of the days he spent in the business of rebuilding airplanes at the Smithtown Country Club, part-time. "Why get a pilot's license to hang around the field? I'd listen to the hangar talk. Guys would say, 'Let's go for a cup of coffee in Connecticut.' I need a pilot's license to go get a cup of coffee."
In fact, soon after his retirement from Pan Am in 1982, Anholzer spent three years as a consultant to Grumman flying all over the world, to Arabia, Iran and Europe, but stopped because, ironically, he was growing tired of flying.
Anholzer does enjoying flying the model airplanes he builds. One of those planes, a replica of Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis," currently sits in his garage next to a blue fleet plane and a Fokker D-7 that looks like it could have been flown by the "Red Baron."
Anholzer's "Spirit of St. Louis," a model with a four and a half horsepower engine, can reach speeds of up to 70 mph, which is only about 40 mph less than the speed reached by Lindbergh during his historic flight. Anholzer's plane will be on display in the Pagan-Fletcher Restoration on May 15, at the Cradle of Aviation Museum on May 19 and then Village Hall on May 23.
"Then I'm going to fly it," Anholzer said.
Anholzer, a member of the Long Island Skyhawks, a radio controlled model airplane club, flies his models from a farm in East Northport.
His favorite model plane is the Powerhouse and he enjoys flying at least once a week during the warm weather months.
"The old timers are my favorite models because you can walk alongside them. They fly slow maybe 30 to 40 mph," Anholzer said.
Anholzer will join fellow Valley Streamers Gabe Parrish and Stanley Brill as they celebrate the official opening of the museum dedicated to their shared passion.
