Pearson Field Education Center Rises from Pearson Air Museum Ashes

We’ve been reporting on the ongoing saga of the breakup of the Pearson Aviation Museum at Pearson Field in Vancouver, Washington. In a dispute between the US National Parks Service and the local non-profit, Fort Vancouver Trust, which until recently operated the Pearson Air Museum, the Park Service objected to the Pearson Air Museum making its historic hangar facility, collection and grounds available for dances, marriage ceremonies, church picnics and other fundraisers that the museum insisted were necessary to financially support its continuing operation.

The impasse resulted in the Park Service taking possession of the hangar which had housed the museum and attempting to create an aviation attraction within, while the Fort Vancouver Trust moved out the historical artifacts and planes to a different hangar at Pearson Field where it has been regrouping and is now relaunching itself as the Pearson Field Education Center.

The new Pearson Field Education Center has focused on fostering education in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and straight out of the gate is announcing ambitious plans; partnering with Embry Riddle Aeronautical University for the first annual Aviation Education Resource Fair, scheduling of Open Cockpit Days, Young Eagles programs, Aviation Merit Badge programs for the Boy Scouts of America, hosting school field trips and the unveiling of a summer camp program that will inspire the future aviators of tomorrow.