GCRM staff member, Elizabeth MacRobert, painted a red line emphasizing the exact area where a fire burned a plane stationed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Richmond (currently GCRM and surrounding areas) in 1945.
GCRM was built on the old NAS Richmond site, which was shut down due to a massive fire. The concrete began spalling at 1,500 degrees. This consists of small cracks, and pulverizing of the concrete. The fire burned so hot, it damaged the concrete on site. The damaged area left the outline of an aircraft.
The plane shape was originally only emphasized by a red box outline, measured and painted by Hospitality & Tourism interns from Robert Morgan Educational Center in July 2020! (pictured below) Although the boxed outline pointed out the general area of the damage, Elizabeth was able to get in touch with the finer details by painting a red line along the actual outline of the aircraft. The plane outline is now way more distinguishable to our visitors, especially with new display information added as well. Thank you, Elizabeth!
