All sorts of World War II artifacts are displayed behind glass in the hangar that serves the Commemorative Air Force Utah Wing Museum: defunct grenades, a 1943 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune with a front-page story about Nazi resistance in Sicily and even a genuine red armband with the swastika embroidered on it.
Bill Noland, who has volunteered at the 18-year-old museum for the past eight years, said that the armband was probably brought back from the front lines as a souvenir. Noland’s father, who served in the Army Air Corps during the war, brought back a souvenir of his own: a Luger pistol surrendered by a German officer.
Although Noland likes to joke that most of the model planes and old jumpsuits landed at the museum because “our wives say they can’t be in the house anymore,” many of the artifacts are family heirlooms.
“People walk in the door and say, ‘I’ve got this. None of my family wants it. Would you guys use it or maybe preserve it?’” Noland explained.
As a nonprofit organization, the museum relies on donations that extend beyond family heirlooms. Grants also play a key role in funding the museum. One such grant the museum has benefited from is Heber City’s Trails, Art and Parks (TAP) tax grant.
The 0.1% sales tax was approved by Wasatch County voters in 2022, with revenue divided between the county, Heber City and Midway. Heber City awarded grants for arts projects in 2024 and 2025. Now, applications are open for 2026 grants.
Assistant City Manager Mark Smedley said Heber would award up to $60,000 in grants to arts projects this year.
Projects are expected to be matched by at least 25% funding from the applicant or another municipality like Midway or Wasatch County. All projects must take place within the city limits and be completed within two years of the grant being distributed.
Applying organizations are not required to have 501(c)(3) or Utah tax-exempt status.
Applications will be judged by the Arts Advisory Committee. Applications will be graded on factors including the clear outlining of the project’s budget and timeline and why the community will benefit from the project.
On Feb. 11, city officials will host an online workshop explaining the application process.
Applications close on Feb. 27. The Arts Advisory Committee will then make grant recommendations to the Heber City Council, which will vote on allocations in May or June.
The Commemorative Air Force Utah Wing Museum’s first grant was awarded in 2024. The $5,000 grant helped pay for an appearance by a Grumman F6F Hellcat at a plane and car show that September.
Last year, the museum was granted $10,000 to replace its 35 unwieldy, fragile glass display cases with custom-built Plexiglass cases. The new cases, which have not yet been installed, will have front-facing sliding glass doors, allowing for ease of access, and rollers on the bottom so they can be more easily moved around the hangar.
The more professional-grade cases aren’t meant to take away from the “half-museum, half-attic” feel, as Noland described it.
“It’s not formal like the Smithsonian. It’s a hands-on sort of thing. I mean, you have working airplanes. You’ve got oil and grease,” he said.
The hangar’s centerpieces are two trainer planes: a Stearman PT-17 and a North American T-6 Texan. The refurbished planes were once used to train aviators during World War II.
One of Noland’s favorite things to do is to “shock” young adults by letting them into the planes’ cockpits and detailing how many World War II aviators were their age.
“I’d say, ‘You’d be the copilot on that airplane. You’d be flying 15 missions. You’re getting shot at on the ground from the fighters, and you have just seen, yesterday, your roommate not come back from his mission,’” Noland said.
Noland used Ray Brim of Salt Lake City as an example.
“Here he is, here with his crew,” Noland said, pointing at a picture of the baby-faced Brim. “And he’s the oldest guy in that airplane at 21 years old. He flew 25 missions in World War II. If you survived 25 missions back then, you got to go home. Your chances of surviving 25 missions were less than 50%.”
As the Utah chapter of the Commemorative Air Force, telling the personal stories of local aviators is one of the museum’s foremost goals.
Another display is dedicated to Ike Isaacs of Summit Park. It includes personal letters, a jagged piston head that was shot through by anti-aircraft artillery on one of Isaac’s missions and his flight log book. The logbook details the roughly 16,000 flight hours of Isaac’s career, from military missions in his B-17 to commercial flights for Frontier Airlines.
“This logbook is the story of his life,” Noland said. “Every time a World War II guy goes, his story goes with him, if it hasn’t been documented in some way. And so we do our small part here to try and retain that.”
Although the museum hasn’t identified a specific project, it plans to apply for another Trails, Arts and Parks tax grant in 2026. Interested organizations can fill out the application form on the Arts Advisory Committee page on the Heber City website.