Airplanes fascinated Keegan Chetwynd when he was young. He was never into model building – too much of a gluey mess – nor did he entertain ideas of becoming a pilot.
He lived in Singapore most of his youth, where he'd spend hours in the backyard digging for British planes that the Japanese were said to have buried after the swift capture of the island.
He found none, yet that planted the seed of his passion for vintage aircraft.
As CEO and director of the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Chetwynd heads to work now feeling as if he's hit the lottery.
He embraces the idea of preserving not only military planes but also the legacy of the people who built, flew and maintained them.
Chetwynd’s exemplary contributions led to his receiving the Warbirds' Rising Star Award from the National Warbird Operator Conference. The award was established to recognize individuals under 40 years old for their contributions to the Warbird field.
"I feel like the Rising Star title goes to the museum," Chetwynd said. "I'm already where I'm supposed to be."
The Military Aviation Museum dates back to 2006, when Jerry Yagen made his personal collection of WWII aircraft available to the general public.
As the collection grew into one of the world's largest, Yagen invited volunteer pilots to fly the aircraft with him, first from a facility at the Norfolk Airport, and then at the Fighter Factory building in Suffolk. Eventually, that collection was moved to expanded facilities in Virginia Beach.
The museum, which sits on 130 acres, houses 50 aircraft from the two World Wars. Planes with names such as North American P-51D Mustang and General Motors FM-2 Wildcat go skyward off an active airstrip, soaring 5,000 feet in the area.
"Every once in a while you have to go out and touch one, so you realize how special it is they are here," Chetwynd said.
In addition to pilot demonstrations, visitors can experience an open-air cockpit flight in a World War II warbird – wind, dust, rumble included. A flight in the 1941 Boeing Stearman PT-17 Kaydet, with an experienced warbird pilot in the cockpit, is the stuff dreams are made of.
"This is a place where you can go back in time with the airplanes in a way you just simply couldn't anywhere else, because we're surrounded by farm fields," Chetwynd said.
"When you're watching the airplanes, there's not a modern thing in sight. What a tremendous experience that is."
Chetwynd's father was in the oil industry, so they lived overseas.
He and his brother had never been to the United States until a summer vacation with their parents started with a flight to New Orleans. That's where Chetwynd visited the D-Day Museum, today The National WWII Museum.
During a separate excursion to Houston, his father spotted a World War II airplane flying overhead and was intrigued enough to learn more. He returned home with literature for Keegan about the Commemorative Air Force (CAF), a nonprofit that preserves and shows historical aircraft.
"They basically had hundreds of these airplanes stashed away in little towns all over the States where people had the opportunity to work on them and keep them flying," Chetwynd said. "That was a pretty amazing revelation to someone who grew up like I did, not thinking that kind of thing existed."
Years later, Chetwynd, going to college and working at a fisheries museum in Canada, visited the Wings of Houston air show and discovered the thrill of being a passenger in a B-24.
The pilot told him that day: "If you love these airplanes, you really should join the CAF."
What started as volunteer efforts transitioned to Chetwynd getting hired by the American Airpower Heritage Museum in Midland, Texas, a division of the CAF, where he conducted oral history interviews with members of the World War II and Vietnam War generations.
When the headquarters relocated to Dallas, Chetwynd moved there and played a key role in restoring “That’s All, Brother,” the C-47 aircraft that led the D-Day invasion. His efforts received national attention and caught the eye of the Military Aviation Museum, when it later conducted a national search for a new CEO.
By then, Chetwynd was taking a gap year in California, working for the Comic-Con Museum. His trip to Virginia Beach to interview for his current position was a whirlwind starting with the red eye out of San Diego. He hadn't really been looking for another job and yet something about the place intrigued him.
"Typically, when you're in the position of building a museum or advancing it, there's something you don't have," he said. "You might not have the buildings or the whole collection you want. There's usually some critical aspect missing.”
“You usually don't have a position where the buildings are there, the collection is there, but there are still yards and yards of opportunity to forge it into the creative space of all the things it could be. You usually don't encounter a museum with this much raw potential."
Chetwynd was offered the job the very next day.
It takes a village to run the Military Aviation Museum, layers of dedication, much of it from an educated volunteer base of 250.
Pilots, crew and mechanics are the obvious essentials behind that moment when a historic aircraft starts up, reminiscent of a fire-breathing dragon. But there's more to it than that.
"Every time the airplanes fly is a culmination of hundreds of hours of organizational effort, and I think some of us were just put here to do that," Chetwynd said. "To make it special and create an opportunity for people to enjoy it."
He is always seeking new ways to engage the community; a first-ever aviation book fair is scheduled. Providing more training for mechanics is another priority, as is education for pilots on how to fly a vintage aircraft.
It's also important, he said, that the museum continue the vision of Yagen, still active on the museum's Board of Directors.
"These planes are living, breathing artifacts," Chetwynd said. "They're not behind ropes. You can stand right up next to a plane and soak it all in. And when you see it fly, a powerful multi-sensory experience, you begin to understand the significance of the machine."
Jay Bess, strategic development director of the museum, was among several who nominated Chetwynd for the Rising Star award.
Bess lauds Chetwynd for his contagious enthusiasm.
"Quite honestly Keegan is the first person I've ever, ever worked with who I love to bring ideas to because they're only going to get better,” he said.
A news release announcing Chetwynd's award included the hint of a major announcement coming Oct. 5-6 during the museum's annual Warbirds Over the Beach air show.
Without revealing too many details, Chetwynd is confident concerning the museum's legacy continuing to inspire future generations.
For more information and tickets to the Warbirds Over the Beach air show on Oct. 5, visit the Military Aviation Museum online.
