The History Of Aviation On Curaçao Is In Save Hands

Index

Museo Aeronautiko

The Visit

The Collection

The Future

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Museo Aeronautiko

Curaçao has a lot of unknown museums, which are still under construction. One of them I learned about, because my mother and father (1945-2011) had worked at ALM (Antilliaanse luchtvaart Maatschappij), the old National airplane company of Curaçao. This museum can only be visited by appointment and is called Museo Aeronautiko Curaçao.

The Visit

So I made an appointment and went to Terra Cora (On the Westside of The island, Bandabou) on Saturday. What a surprise a starting museum in the backyard of a collector. Before retiring, he collected everything about aviation and, after his retirement, decided to specialize in the aviation of Curaçao.

The Collection

The owner leads me around with a story for each displayed attribute. There has been thought thoroughly about the design. I start with a picture of the first balloon flight on Curaçao in 1912, then some small aviations in the port to the first KLM flight to Curaçao that took 7 days. Nowadays, a flight takes around 9 hours. A bit further on I find the program booklet of the show of transfer of ALM shares from KLM to the local government of Curaçao. Also all scaled planes of ALM are displayed and all kinds of merchandise of ALM.

The Future

After that comes the worldly aviation circus. This collection will gradually make way for expansion of the local collection. The plans are ambitious, but realistic. Each attribute is numbered and provided with a story behind the scenes. They would like to make audio tours of these stories. There are also plans for screens that show films and photos of the aviation history of Curaçao, and especially the ALM time. There is also a foundation in formation, and they would like to receive shelter at the International airport of Curaçao, Hato. This project certainly deserves support, because the owner leads me around with a lot of passion and there is still much to tell about the Curaçao aviation. Not to mention the history of Curaçao aviation is one to be proud of and should not be lost for future generations.