For my 4th interview. I will be interviewing Mr. Edward T. Maloney. Edward T. Maloney is known to one of the forerunners of the modern airplane museum, developing air museum concepts and principals that would be widely imitated by every airplane museum since then.
During the post-war 50's when all war material was being scrapped, Edward T. Maloney, after watching famous planes he heard about get destroyed in front of his eyes, had the foresight to save as many planes as he could for future generations. Today some of the planes he saved ARE THE ONLY ONE OF ITS KIND IN EXISITANCE such as the world's only flyable Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero with its original Sakae engine, a flyable Nakajima Ki-84 which he would loan to the Japanese, one of two original Boeing P-26A Peashooter, the world's only Mitsubishi J8M1 Shusui, a Yokosuka D4Y3 Model 43 Suisei, a Northrop N9MB Flying Wing, an Aichi D3A2 Val that is being restored to flight status, a Mitsubishi J2M Raiden, and from this small list out of 146 planes, you get the picture.
Ed Maloney was also heavily involved in acquiring or displaying aircraft around the world. He has made numerous trips to places such as Guatemala to the Pacific Islands to acquire. In 1970 Ed Maloney brought over his one of a kind flyable Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero with the original Sakae engine, to Japan for tour, the first time a Zero had been on Japanese soil for 35 years. The plane went on tours across Japan, being viewed by 10 million Japanese people. WWII Japanese pilots wept or were amazed to see an airplane they haven't seen in decades. Notable Japanese such as Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the A6M Zero family, and Saburo Sakai, one of Japan's best aces, became friends with Ed from his tour. Even now Ed still likes showing his love for airplanes to foreigners. A couple of years ago when the Mitsubishi company began was restoring a J8M1 Shusui airframe they found a couple decades ago, Ed allowed them to send a team to Planes of Fame to get measurements of his J8M1 Shusui prototype. Last year, he sent his Boeing P-26A Peashooter to Duxford for an airshow, the first time a Peashooter was on European soil in decades, which I saw during my trip there. His planes have been shown on various media such as Pearl Harbor (2001), Tora Tora Tora, Valkyrie, Memphis Bell, etc.
After noticing early plane museums in the 50's left their planes to rot away, Ed Maloney also the foresight to conserve and restore his planes. This foresight have led to extremely well preservation of some his planes, some of which should have rusted away. Since then, many museums have imitated Ed's philosophy from Duxford in the UK to the Smithsonian Institute, but none have done it as better or as thoroughly as Ed Maloney. He's proud of the work he's done and how other museums have followed him in saving aircraft. He can be found wandering the museum on certain days and when you strike a conversation with him, at how much knowledge he has.
For now I will be asking him these questions:
Job/Field
What was your initial perception of your job prior to working?
What questions are often raised in your job field?
What are the most important aspects of your job?
How does your job help with the guest experience?
Describe your daily duties as the Founder/Director?
How has your job changed adapted over these past few years? How have you adapted to these changes?
What kind of knowledge did you need to learn in this kind of field (museums)?
What kind of skills did you have prior to entering your field? How did those skills help you?
How do you deal with people outside of the museum for work?
Museums
What do you define a museum as?
What sparked the idea to turn your collection into a museum?
What have been your greatest triumphs at the museum?
What about greatest failures?
How has working here changed your perception of museums?
Visitors
Who is this museum for?
Why do you think people continue to go to your museum?
What is the thing you consider the most when dealing with your visitors?
What is the most important aspect about visitors that you focus on.
What was your most memorable experience dealing with a visitor(s)? What did you thought of during this?
How does Planes of Fame engage/interact with its visitors? What are the benefits for the museum and the visitor for using this method? What about disadvantages?
Other Topics
What does Planes of Fame mean to you?
What is it like to work in a facility of this scale?
What is your main goal at the museum?
What drives you to go to work everyday?
If you were to give a message to your younger self, what would it be?
When did you start collecting airplanes?
Why did you start collecting airplanes?
What do you think of when a plane is added to the museum?
Did you picture your plane collecting to grow to this scale 60 years ago?
How has your collection affected the visitors’ experience?
