A Riverside Boy Scout’s Eagle Scout Service Project aims to improve guests’ experience at the March Field Air Museum near Riverside.
Aiden Pianalto, a 16-year-old junior at Riverside’s Martin Luther King High School, is creating new posts with signs that will describe exhibits and artifacts on display at the museum.
In addition to helping him attain the Eagle Scout status, the quest is personal for Pianalto.
His late grandfather, retired Col. Robert “Bob” Pianalto, a 22-year U.S. Air Force veteran, was an early supporter of the museum. He was an original member of its board, served as its president and was chief executive officer of the museum’s foundation, Pianalto said.
“I wanted to do a project at the museum because I believe in its mission and to honor my grandfather,” Pianalto wrote in an email.
After talking to museum officials, Pianalto learned that a design already existed for the so-called “informational pillars” and that six had been done as previous Eagle Scout projects.
Pianalto has been leading the production of about 150 pillars and signs, with about 120 to be initially installed. They will be for all the museum’s outdoor exhibits, with more crafted for potential future exhibits, he said.
The signs include basic information but also a QR code, which when scanned on a smartphone will take visitors to the museum’s website for more details.
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“Aiden’s Eagle Scout project will bring our flight line into the 21st century by allowing our visitors to access the complete history of each aircraft on their cell phone,” Jeff Houlihan, the museum’s director of collections, curatorial and restorations, wrote in an email. “From performance capabilities to military assignments and its individual involvement in military campaigns, all the information will be at their fingertips as they view the aircraft on display at the March Field Air Museum.”
The project will cost about $25,000.
Pianalto is raising money, seeking financial donations and in-kind gifts. He still needs to collect $5,000 to cover his costs.
He can be reached at aideneagleproject@outlook.com.
“I am grateful for Scouting for providing a program in which I have learned how to lead, and through its great instructors and programs I have built the confidence over time needed to tackle this significant project,” Pianalto wrote.
