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Revision as of 02:15, 16 October 2006 by Athaenara (talk | contribs) (→External links)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Template:USAF The United States Air Force Memorial honors the service of the personnel of the United States Air Force and its predecessors. The Memorial is located in Arlington, Virginia, next to the Pentagon, at the intersection of Columbia Pike and South Joyce Street. It was last project of American architect James Ingo Freed (known for the design of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) with the firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners for the United States Air Force Memorial Foundation.
History
In January 1992, the Air Force Memorial Foundation was incorporated to pursue the development of a Memorial that would honor the people in the United States Air Force. At that time, the Air Force was the only branch of the military without a memorial. In December 1993, President William Clinton signed P.L. 103-163 authorizing the Air Force Memorial. In 1994, the National Capital Memorial Commmission approved a site adjacent to Marshall Drive and State Route 110, down the hill from the Netherlands Carillon. Fund raising and detailed designs began. Because the site was near the Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial, various Marine groups were briefed on the plans without voicing objections.
On July 30, 1997, Congressman Gerald B.H. Solomon (R-NY) introduced bill to prohibit the construction of any monument, memorial or other structure near the site of the Iwo Jima Memorial. On September 16, 1997, the Friends of Iwo Jima and Solomon filed for a Temporary Restraining Order against the construction of the Air Force Memorial, which was dismissed on June 15, 1998. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit then dismissed the appeal of that decision on May 7, 1999. On December 28, 2001, President George W. Bush signed the Defense Authorization Bill, which includes a rider directing the Department of Defense to make available to the Air Force Memorial Foundation up to three acres of the Naval Annex property for use as the location for the Air Force Memorial. Faced with the cost of litigation and the opposition of prominent former Marines in Congress, the Foundation agreed to move the Memorial to its present site at the south end of Arlington National Cemetery.
The Memorial was dedicated on October 14, 2006.
The Design
The Memorial itself is 270 feet high and appears to be soaring; its array of stainless steel arcs against the sky evokes the image of "contrails of the Air Force Thunderbirds as they peel back in a precision 'bomb burst' maneuver." In order to stablize the arcs againts the wind, the bottom two thirds of each arc was filled with concrete, and damper boxes have been located inside the arcs about two-thirds of the way up, to counter any flexing in the wind.
At the entrance from the west stands four eight-foot tall bronze statutes of the Memorial’s Honor Guard, sculpted by Zenos Frudakis. This is linked by a bluestone path to the Glass Contemplation Wall, a glazed independent panel with meditative inscriptions, on the north side of the Memorial.
The base of the Memorial is framed by two inscription walls located at each end of a central lawn. The walls are 56 feet in length, 10 feet in height and one foot thick. Both walls are made of monolithic Jet Mist granite and both include a two and a half inch outer inscription panel made from Absolute Black granite.
Although the current design is somewhat overshadowed by the Navy Annex, that facility is slated for demolition with the site to be used for the southward expansion of Arlington National Cemetery.
External links
- Air Force Memorial Foundation
- United States Air Force Memorial at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architechts LLP
- President Bush dedicates Air Force Memorial Saturday, 14 October 2006, quoting John Gillespie Magee, Jr.'s poem "High Flight".
References
- http://www.airforcememorial.org/memorial/chronology.asp Retrieved Oct. 7, 2006
- United States Air Force Memorial description by the architectural firm that designed it, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
- http://www.acppubs.com/article/CA6340218.html?text=the+air+force+memorial Retrieved Oct. 14, 2006
- http://www.airforcememorial.org/design/index.asp Retrieved Oct. 7, 2006
- http://www.airforcememorial.org/memorial/facts.asp#other Retrieved Oct. 7, 2006
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