2025 Celebrating Aviation series on Wednesday, March 19, with a special screening of the film Heroes on Deck on the large screen Air Force Museum Theatre. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., and the presentation will begin at 6:00. Heroes on Deck tells the story of efforts to recover World War II fighter planes from the bottom of Lake Michigan. During World War II, with enemy submarines patrolling both coasts, the U.S. Navy came up with a bold and innovative plan to use two former coal-fired side-wheel passenger steamers transformed into “flattops” to train aviators in carrier operations in the safety of Lake Michigan. More than 15,000 naval aviation cadets trained on the lake, including future President George H.W. Bush. But not every flight or practice landing ended successfully. Serious injuries and death often resulted, and more than 100 aircraft wound up on the bottom. The film highlights the ingenious training operation, and the modern-day efforts to recover the rare warbirds lost in the lake to accidents. The presentation will feature Harvey Moshman, multi-Emmy Award winning executive producer of the film, who will introduce the film and give a presentation and take questions following the showing. Moshman was also the director of recovery photography for the film and will share his unique perspective on the project. This event is being presented in combination with the special exhibits OceanXperience and Drop in the Ocean. Attendees will be able to experience both in the 4th building exhibit at no charge following the Heroes on Deck presentation.

Project Recover including a screening of the film "To What Remains" with guest speaker Scott Althaus, on March 27th at 6:00 p.m., doors open at 5:30 p.m. The film follows the efforts of the non-profit Project Recover to repatriate some of the more than 80,000 Americans missing in action (MIAs) since World War II. The film incorporates the stories of several MIAs and their families to illustrate the process of researching, searching for, and finding the remains of those MIAs so they can finally be brought home. Scott Althaus, who will introduce the film and give a presentation and take questions following the showing. In 2013, Althaus began researching his cousin-once-removed, 2nd Lt. Thomas Kelly, Jr., who had been MIA since 1944. In 2017, after turning his family’s research over to Project Recover, Althaus learned that they had located the site of Kelly’s B-24 Heaven Can Wait in Hansa Bay, Papua, New Guinea, and were presenting their findings to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which is responsible for recovering, identifying, and repatriating remains. Scott Althaus has become a member of Project Recover himself.