Growing up in Pittsburgh, Dina Linn was always amazed by classmates who said things like, “History is so boring.”

“I thought they were cheating themselves,” Linn says. “It's like the best soap opera ever. You can't make this stuff up.”

Linn, 30, originally from Stanton Heights, was recently named the museum curator at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla. Its collection includes more than 1,100 aircraft, as well as countless other naval aviation-related artifacts.

Though the vast majority of its aircraft are on loan elsewhere, the museum has room to display about 150 at a time. It has everything from World War I biplanes to a recently retired F-14D Tomcat fighter, to a World War II-era Dauntless dive-bomber that fought in the decisive Battle of Midway.

Linn credits her family for sparking her lifelong fascination with history.

“My father was a Marine,” Linn says. “Obviously, that created some interest. Mainly, I got it from my grandparents who survived World War II in Italy, and immigrated to Pittsburgh. I spent so much time talking with them, and it was all oral history. I heard stories of the war and their village. They made history come alive like no one else could.”

Linn studied history at Westminster College in New Wilmington, and went to graduate school for museum studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

“After college in 2006, I called every museum in Pittsburgh, and got a job at Soldiers & Sailors doing education programs, like setting up their scouting program,” Linn says.

She went on to work for the U.S. Army Transportation Museum, then transferred to the National Museum of the Marine Corps, both in Virginia.

“I was assistant curator of flags, medals, uniforms, equipment — anything the Marines would carry or wear,” Linn says. “In the museum world, there's different avenues you can pursue. I started as an educator, and became more specialized with larger artifacts, then uniforms. You really learn a lot about everything from what they wore. You can date a picture from the type of buttons or shape of the pockets.”

The Naval Aviation Museum is a different sort of challenge. Obviously, the major attractions are large and complicated pieces of machinery.

“The aircraft come from a variety of sources,” Linn says. “Some come that are stripped from Navy records. For many years, the Navy had been rescuing downed aircraft from Lake Michigan. We have an underwater-archeology exhibit — about rescuing and restoring them. We have a full restoration team here.”

As the museum's first formally trained curator, Linn hopes to sharpen the focus on personal stories of aviators and their crews — who are often ignored in favor of officers.

“The main concern is to verify the history,” Linn says. “You want to do your research. Find the person who used it; if it's the real thing; how much documentation there is. From there, you go to the story angle. What do you want the visitor to learn? Then the practical side: where it would fit? ‘Visitor outcome' — what people should take away — is important.”

Some of the most interesting artifacts are the smallest. Others can be quite big, of course. The upcoming 70th anniversary of the end of World War II will be a major focus.

“We actually have Tojo's (prime minister of Japan during World War II) ribbon on loan to us,” Linn says. “We have on loan to us the NC-4, the first flying boat to cross the Atlantic. My favorite exhibit is probably the ‘Homefront' exhibit, which depicts downtown Pensacola's main street in 1943. A lot of women, in particular, really react to the ‘Homefront' exhibit. It's emotional.”

As an added attraction, the Blue Angels — the Navy's famed aerobatics team, flying F-18 Hornets — practice next door.

“About two times a week when they're in town (at Forrest Sherman Field),” Linn says. “I still jump every time I hear them practice.”

Michael Machosky is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at mmachosky@tribweb.com or 412-320-7901.

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