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Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum Returning to El Toro

El Toro is back, at least as a museum, thanks to significant donations from Orange County entrepreneurs.

A big piece of the former Marine Corps Air Station will be unveiled in the coming weeks when groundbreaking occurs on a $60 million museum that features Orange County’s contributions to the wars fought between the 1940s and 1980s.

The Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum, which is scheduled to open in late 2026, will feature a wide variety of aircraft, from planes that took fire in World War II’s Pacific Theater to the first jets ever in combat in Korea to a helicopter that helped people escape Saigon at the end of Vietnam War.

Among the donations was $8 million from the Ronald M. Simon Family Foundation, ranking it No. 11 on the Business Journal’s annual list of the biggest donations in 2024. Ron Simon, who is known for successfully starting and selling three companies, ranked No. 39 on the Business Journal’s annual wealthiest list with an estimated fortune of $1.49 billion.

Simon said he contributed to the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum based on the memories he had growing up during World War II, and what the U.S. military did to preserve the country.

“I want to try to instill (in our kids) the same appreciation I have and my generation of our military,” Simon told the Business Journal.

Another large donor was $10 million in January from Ann and Colonel Charlie Quilter, USMC retired. Separately, brother Pat Quilter made a $3 million donation. The Quilters are known for starting QSC LLC, which specializes in audio, visual and control systems. It was sold last year for $1.2 billion to Atlanta-based Acuity Brands Inc. (see separate articles).

The Business Journal this week is highlighting the largest charitable gifts in 2024. See page 24 for more information.

Experiential Programming Expected at OC Museum

The newest version of the museum, planned to be built near Wild Rivers at Irvine’s Great Park, is being backed by the Flying Leatherneck Historical Foundation. Michael Aguilar is overseeing the museum’s re-launch in Orange County.

“People need to walk into these museums and exhibits and displays, instead of just seeing a static display of something and read the information, we want ours to be hands-on,” Aguilar told the Business Journal. “We want to bring these exhibits to life.”

The new aviation museum is returning to its Irvine roots after spending two decades at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar air base in San Diego.

Visitors will be able to experience things such as sitting in a plane cockpit and reading a navigational map, Aguilar said. Docents would be veterans and aircraft enthusiasts sharing stories of how various parts of an aircraft work, such as an ejection seat.

Aguilar is working with retired Lt. Col. Grant Williams, who serves as the foundation’s vice president of operations, in raising funds for the new museum and managing its construction.

Over the last three years, the museum has received about $40 million in grants and donations to help with the relocation, including a $20 million grant from the city of Irvine.
The museum’s 20-member board of directors include a mix of former Marines, entrepreneurs and educators, including Charlie Crookall, owner of Shaw Development Partners, Don Esmond, a retired executive at Ford Automotive, and Glenn Roquemore, the former president of Irvine Valley College.

The Museum’s New Future is Almost Here

The Flying Leatherneck Museum started off at El Toro in 1989 but was relocated to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. The Marine Corp decided to shut down the museum in 2021, and the foundation entered discussions with the city of Irvine for a possible relocation to the former El Toro air base.

“I ended up volunteering for the foundation. When we decided to move the museum, I was brought on as an employee, as the president and CEO of the foundation,” Aguilar said.

Aguilar and Williams managed the transport of all the aircraft from the former Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum at Miramar, where the public could view the airplanes and helicopters as part of an outdoor exhibition.

A general contractor has been hired, and the foundation will shortly submit its plans to the city of Irvine.

“The museum has four main targets in our mission. First and foremost is to honor the history and legacy of Marine Corp aviation, and, because we’re here in Orange County, to point out the economic contributions that Marine Corp Air Station El Toro and Marine Corp Air Station Tustin gave to the economic growth of Orange County,” Aguilar said.

The other goals of the museum and foundation are to inspire patriotism through the exhibitions, providing a safe haven for veterans and to garner interest in the sciences, mathematics, engineering and technology.

“We believe, in order to maintain our national security, we have to have a strong science, technology, engineering and math, homegrown group of individuals.”

The Quilter Family and the Marines

Brothers Pat and Charlie Quilter, co-founders of music equipment maker QSC, have deep ties to the Marines.

Their father, Charles Quilter, flew an F4F Wildcat in World War II and helped in the epic air defense of Guadalcanal, eventually earning the Distinguished Flying Cross.

In his high school physics class, Pat learned the fundamentals of electronic components.
In the 1960s, Pat was asked by a brother to build a powerful bass amp, which he did by studying some books and having a rudimentary understanding of audio tone circuits, according to the Quilter Laboratories website. As a physics nerd, it was expected that Pat would proceed on to college and a major in science, but the lure of music and audio began to take over his fevered mind.

With funds from his mother and older brother Charlie, Pat began the Quilter Sound Company, which eventually became known as QSC Audio Products. Pat, who started making discrete transistors and tube amps in the late 60s, subsequently became one of the preeminent designers of high-power audio amplifiers. An ever-growing line of good, reliable and reasonably priced power amps would remain a mainstay of QSC’s business for decades to come.

Charlie Quilter rose to the rank of Colonel in the Marines. He became an expert in military history, having earned a doctorate in history from UC Irvine. For six years he commanded all the Marine Corps’ field historians and led detachments to Desert Shield/Storm, the Bosnia Conflict and was recalled from retirement for Iraqi Freedom.

After decades of developing top-line QSC products, Pat became a world-class designer of compact, high-power amplifiers. The final years of Pat’s QSC career saw his mastery of Class-D technology, the third wave of power technology that would replace traditional solid state, just as solid-state had replaced tube amps, except in the guitar field where tube amps continued to be respected as having the best and most natural tonal properties.
QSC last year was sold for $1.2 billion to Atlanta-based Acuity Brands Inc.

Using some of the proceeds of a long and profitable career, Pat Quilter, with several partners and long-time friends, founded in 2011 Quilter Laboratories to focus on research and development.
—Peter J. Brennan

A Child’s Dream of Being an Aviator

Michael Aguilar decided in seventh grade he wanted to serve as a military pilot.
“I was motivated and inspired by my father, who was a veteran of World War II and a flight engineer of B-26s. That generated my interest in flying,” Aguilar said.

After graduating in 1969 from California State University, Long Beach, he joined the Marines and earned his wings, flying Huey and Cobra helicopters.

“My interest started as a young man. I like to tell people I was fortunate to be able to achieve my childhood dreams of being a military pilot,” Aguilar,
Members of the Marine Corp can self-deploy under what’s called the Marine Air-Ground Task Force. Within that task force are four elements: command, logistical, aviation and ground.

“That allows us to forward deploy in response to any crisis and operate autonomously. Eventually, of course, because it’s the pointy end of the spear, we do have to have the backup from the other services,” Aguilar said.

He accumulated over 4,000 hours, primarily as an attack helicopter pilot; he rose to the rank of brigadier general and his resume includes command of a Marine aircraft group, where he oversaw 2,500 personnel and 100 aircraft. He established the first Marine Corps Aviation Advisory Group that provided acquisition strategy for advance technology aircraft systems and concepts.

When he retired after 31 years of service in 2002, Aguilar spent 11 years as a consultant in the defense industry, including running his own firm.

He said the Marines gave him the skills needed to take on his new role as the leader of the Flying Leatherneck Museum.

“Throughout your career you develop a good deal of operational skills, administrative skills, eventually developing into managerial skills,” Aguilar said. “It’s the ability to manage an organization of various sizes, with a great deal of emphasis in your development as a Marine officer, on leadership, leading individuals.

“You’re able to take those skills and regardless of the type of organization, or what that organization does, you can manage the finances, the administrative, the operational, the maintenance, you can do that,” Aguilar continued. “But the real gift the Marine Corp provides you is being able to provide clear, distinct leadership.”

—Parimal M. Rohit

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Parimal Rohit
Parimal Rohit
Parimal M. Rohit has nearly two decades of experience in journalism and recently covered Texas real estate for CoStar News and Austin Business Journal. He was also the editor of The Log, covering Southern California's and Northern Mexico's maritime and environmental spaces. Throughout his career, Rohit has also covered the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Bollywood and California politics. Rohit won 12 reporting awards from the San Diego Press Club, including best environmental reporting and best essay/commentary, and the Fort Worth chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. His hobbies include photography, podcasting, travel and filmmaking. He is also the recipient of several fellowships, including one through the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and another through the RK Mellon Foundation.
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