{"id":321774,"date":"2026-06-04T00:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T00:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/321774\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T00:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T00:56:07","slug":"lubbock-museum-to-honor-d-day-glider-pilots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/321774\/","title":{"rendered":"Lubbock museum to honor D-Day glider pilots"},"content":{"rendered":"

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Lubbock will honor the men who helped make the D-Day invasion possible this weekend.<\/a><\/p>\n

82 years ago this week, hundreds of thousands of soldiers were preparing to invade Europe. Operation Overlord was the largest military operation of its kind and represented the Allies\u2019 best chance to stop the Nazi war machine.<\/p>\n

Before the troops could hit the beaches, American and British gliders had to lay the groundwork for success in northern France.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re bringing in what\u2019s needed behind enemy lines in the first few hours of that invasion,\u201d said Sharon McCullar of the Silent Wings Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Working with paratroopers and Pathfinder commandos, they formed a defensive perimeter around Normandy and supplied the invasion for weeks. By the end of June, more than 850,000 troops had moved into France, bringing with them 148,000 vehicles and 570,000 tons of supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have this great connection here at the museum because so many of our glider pilots flew in to help equip our guys for that D-Day invasion,\u201d said Tanis Blount of the Silent Wings Museum.<\/p>\n

In the years leading up to the invasion, these pilots trained in Lubbock.<\/p>\n

Now, the Silent Wings Museum will honor their service, sacrifice and dedication.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose stories teach us to one be thankful for what we have and two inspire us to be more than we are currently,\u201d Blount said.<\/p>\n

This weekend, curator Sharon McCullar, educator Tanis Blount and a team of experts will share their stories and recognize their achievements. McCullar built this month\u2019s featured exhibit, titled \u201cFrom a Grateful Nation,\u201d around the commendations, awards, and medals the glider pilots earned throughout their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201c11 glider pilots earned an individual Silver Star for their actions on the ground, a couple of them posthumously,\u201d McCullar said, gesturing at the iconic military award for merit inside a case. \u201cThey already did what they were trained to do then either sacrificed their life on the ground in defensive of others or made above and beyond the call of duty in defense of others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some volunteers from the Texas Air Museum<\/a> in Slaton will help with the showcase. Malcolm Laing, a former director and life-long pilot, said they\u2019re bringing some planes of that era to Lubbock, allowing families to get a first hand look at the real machines that made it possible.<\/p>\n

Laing gave us a sweeping tour through the entire museum, indicating the different planes and exhibits it houses. The Texas Air Museum catalogues the history of flight, from both world wars through the Cold War, even spaceflight. <\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018White 43\u2032 over here,\u201d Laing said, gesturing at an L-2M \u2018Grasshopper\u2019 sitting in a hangar at the air museum. \u201cIt actually served at South Plains Army Air Field.\u201d<\/p>\n

That particular aircraft crashed during training in 1943, but it\u2019s been restored for use as a training aircraft for any pilot looking to fly vintage airframes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe blue airplane is an L4,\u201d Laing gestured to another aircraft in the same hangar. \u201cIt was used all over Europe, you saw them flying over the beaches of Normandy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other appearances this weekend, weather permitting, nclude a C-47 \u2018Southern Cross\u2019 from the Greatest Generation Aircraft and World War II era aircraft from Blue Sky Airfield.<\/p>\n

These museums and their supporters want families to have a shared experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach person in that family is taking something different then they process it together in a group, and I think that long-term memory of that, as a family experience, is really what sets the day apart,\u201d Blount said.<\/p>\n

Schedule of events:<\/p>\n

11:00 a.m. (Hangar Gallery) – Playing of the National Anthem<\/p>\n

11:05 a.m. (Theater) – Eisenhower\u2019s Address to the Troops<\/p>\n

11:30 a.m. (Hangar Gallery) – D-Day Moments – A Guided Experience<\/p>\n

1:00 p.m. (Hangar Gallery) – Weapons Demonstration<\/p>\n

1:30 p.m. (Hangar Gallery) – D-Day Moments – A Guided Experience<\/p>\n

2:00 p.m. (Hangar Gallery) – Packing the Musette Bag Demonstration<\/p>\n

The Silent Wings Museum will stay open from from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. both days.<\/p>\n

The Texas Air Museum is open Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It\u2019s volunteer only and supported entirely by donations.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Lubbock will honor the men who helped make the D-Day invasion possible this weekend.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[83097,115107,168,170,169,115191,115189,22640,115190,93262],"class_list":["post-321774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-anthony-hall","tag-d-day","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-sharon-mccullar","tag-silent-wings-d-day-event","tag-silent-wings-museum","tag-texas-air-museum","tag-tony-hall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}