Vintage Aircraft Seeking Peace In Phoenix

The potential for a new vintage aircraft museum housed at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport has all but evaporated after Councilman Dave Siebert (the project’s main proponent) withdrew the motion from the City Council agenda. Mayor Phil Gordon told Tucson’s KVOA news that Siebert withdrew the item to defuse division between veterans and arts groups, which may have squabbled over the source of the funds. Siebert may yet seek alternative methods of funding, including community support through the city’s next bond program and/or corporate sponsorship, but the proposed $9 million vintage aircraft museum plan has already been countered by a feasibility study setting the mark at $50 million for a “premiere museum,” according to KVOA. There, too, a compromise is not out of the question — rather than a premiere museum, Siebert in a memo to City Manager Frank Fairbanks last week said he may seek to fund a “vintage aircraft display.”