© 2024 WFSU Public Media
WFSU News · Tallahassee · Panama City · Thomasville
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Museum Commemorating Dale Mabry Airfield In The Works, Thanks To Partnership Between Nonprofit, TCC

Florida Memory Project

A museum is in the works to commemorate a piece of Tallahassee history that helped shape the city – the Dale Mabry airfield. That’s thanks to a collaboration with Tallahassee Community College, which sits on the old base property.

The school has designated three acres for the project. Chuck Wells, and his wife Lorraine, started the nonprofit Dale Mabry Army Airfield Museum, Inc., and have been a driving force behind the project.

"Dale Mabry Army Airfield was a major fighter base in 1940-1945 and trained over 8,000 fighter pilots, including Chinese, British and French pilots, as well as the original Tuskegee Airmen, the all-Black elite fighter group," Wells said. 

Credit WFSU-FM
/
WFSU-FM
Pictured is a Dale Mabry Army Air Field building owned by Florida State University. It's one of two buildings the Dale Mabry Army Air Field Museum hopes to acquire and relocate to the Tallahassee Community College museum site.

The Wells say the goal is to have the museum built by 2024. The idea is to have old existing buildings from the airfield that visitors can enter, creating an immersive experience.

Ryan Dailey is a reporter/producer for WFSU/Florida Public Radio. After graduating from Florida State University, Ryan went into print journalism working for the Tallahassee Democrat for five years. At the Democrat, he worked as a copy editor, general assignment and K-12 education reporter.