Lowry's November Calendar Runs on Things the Air Force Was Done With

On June 16, 2024, a two-seat F-16D at Sheppard Air Force Base was declared surplus to the needs of the squadron that had used it as a training aircraft for 14 years. This Saturday, November 7, it sits fully restored in Thunderbirds red, white and blue inside a hangar on East Academy Boulevard that was finished in April 1941. Anyone with a free ticket can walk up to it after dark.

That jet is the newest piece of a pattern that shapes Lowry's whole month. The places with something worth your evening between now and mid-December all outlived the job the military built them for. Each one got a second use because someone decided it was worth keeping.

A Jet With Four Careers Before This One

Wings Over the Rockies tells the aircraft's story in more detail than most exhibit labels. The museum identifies it as Thunderbird 8, Bureau Number 86-0039. It had already been through a full working life by the time it reached Denver:

1. Weapons and testing. It flew with the 57th Fighter Weapons Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, then the 3246th and 46th Test Wings at Eglin, where aircraft supported weapons and systems testing.
2. Aggressor training. It went back to Nellis with the Viper Aircraft Maintenance Organization, supporting the aggressor mission and air-combat training.
3. The Thunderbirds. From October 19, 2000, through early 2010, it flew with the U.S. Air Force's demonstration team.
4. The classroom. The 362nd Training Squadron at Sheppard formally accepted it in June 2010. Airmen practiced inspecting, troubleshooting and repairing it there until the surplus declaration in 2024.

So the jet that left the Thunderbirds spent its longest single stretch as a maintenance trainer, worked on and taken apart by students. The museum acquired it after that, and its volunteer team did the restoration.

Restored Where Visitors Could Watch

Most museum restorations happen out of sight. This one didn't. Wings says the work to bring back the Thunderbirds livery took careful research, skilled craftsmanship and "countless hours of dedicated work." The project "unfolded in full view of our guests." If you took a weekend visitor through the museum this year, there's a good chance you walked past it halfway done.

The official unveiling took place at the museum's Spreading Wings Gala on Saturday, October 3. That was a ticketed fundraiser honoring the Thunderbirds, with retired Brigadier General James Latham as guest of honor. According to the museum's gala announcement, Latham served two tours with the Thunderbirds as commander and led the team's first F-16 squadron. David Dickerson, the museum's president and CEO, explained in that announcement why the team mattered to the museum:

"The Thunderbirds represent the very best of aviation: precision, excellence, teamwork and leadership. Those are the same qualities we want to inspire in the young people we serve."

The jet is now a permanent part of the collection. The gala was the reveal. Denver Arts Week's Free Night at the Museum on Saturday, November 7, from 5 to 10 p.m., opens it to everyone at no charge. The night includes:

• The newly restored Thunderbird F-16D
• The museum and its exhibits after dark
• STEAM activities
• A MaxFlight Simulator ride, which costs extra
• Free shuttle service between participating museums

Admission is free, but the museum asks guests to reserve a free ticket through its event page. The shuttle means a Lowry household can make the hangar its first stop and keep going across the city without moving the car.

The Hangar Around the Jet

The building is the second thing on this list that outlived its job. The Lowry Foundation's history of Hangar 1, Building 401, records that construction started in June 1940 and finished on April 17, 1941. That makes the hangar 85 years old this year. After Lowry Air Force Base closed in 1994, it became the Wings museum.

So a jet the Air Force no longer needed now sits in a hangar the Air Force no longer needed, and both are working again. Two weeks after Free Night, on Saturday, November 21, the museum shows what that looks like on an ordinary weekend. Cockpit Demo Day runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A volunteer at each station explains the aircraft and answers questions. The museum rotates the lineup every month, and these are November's featured cockpits:

• EB-57E Canberra
• Bede BD-5, which is wheelchair accessible
• EA-6B Prowler
• A-7D Corsair II
• AV-8B+ Harrier II

Because the lineup changes monthly, a November visit gets a different set of cockpits than an October one. The same Saturday, the museum also holds a Scout Merit Badge Workshop from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a $25 class fee.

The Chapel That Survived Because of Who Sat in It

A short drive from Hangar 1, at 293 Roslyn Street, stands the building with the clearest rescue story on the old base. Construction of Lowry's first dedicated chapels began on July 8, 1941. Chapels #1 and #2 were both dedicated on November 23, 1941, exactly two weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Chapel #1, Building 27, turns 85 on November 23 this year.

Lowry eventually had four of these wooden chapels. The Lowry Foundation's building history describes them as a standard Colonial Revival-style clapboard design the military built at posts around the world. In August 1971, Chaplain Col. John Thomas expected the base's World War II chapels to be torn down. He asked that Chapel #1 be kept because President Dwight D. Eisenhower had worshipped there. Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower attended services in the building from 1953 to 1955, when Lowry served as the summer White House.

His request worked, and the other three chapels were lost. Chapel #3 came down in November 1973, Chapel #2 in April 1974 and Chapel #4 in November 1974. Dedication ceremonies for Building 27 as an Eisenhower memorial took place in 1982. Today it is both a National and a Denver historic landmark. The Lowry Foundation manages it, and it hosts everything from weddings to public meetings.

The chapel's biggest public night of the season comes just after its anniversary month. The Lowry Foundation's holiday concert, Traditions with a Twist, is Sunday, December 13, at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. Five Colorado Symphony musicians will play traditional holiday music in festive arrangements:

• Karen Kinzie, violin
• Leena Waite, violin
• Leah Kovach, viola
• Danielle Guideri, cello
• John Kinzie, percussion

Tickets are $30 for adults and free for children 12 and under. The Foundation's event page set November 1 as the start of ticket sales. The Foundation describes the chapel as "acoustically ideal" and recommends reserving early. Clark's Market is among the event's supporters.

November, Building by Building

Here's the month in one place, with the base buildings first and Lowry Town Center's newest stage added for evenings in between. The Dove Underground is the 300-seat room below Rising Phoenix, on the site of the former Tavern. Its own calendar sends showgoers upstairs to Rising Phoenix for dinner.

Door and show times for each Dove Underground performance are on the venue's calendar. Free Night on November 7 is the date in the table with free museum admission. The chapel concert is the one with a paid ticket.

The F-16D spent close to ten years with the Thunderbirds and then 14 years as a classroom airframe before Wings brought it to Lowry. This Saturday, anyone with a free ticket can see it in the 1941 hangar on East Academy Boulevard.

Lowry's old base buildings are a big part of what makes the neighborhood feel distinct, and they matter to anyone who owns or is thinking about a home nearby. If you'd like to talk about the streets around Hangar 1 and Eisenhower Chapel and how the area is changing, Debbie Jacobs knows these blocks well. Book an Appointment and we'll start there.