Posts in the category "History":

There are close to 700 aviation/space-related museums in the country.

Each Monday on StuckatTheAirport.com we profile one of them.

Eventually we’ll hit them all.

Today: The Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita, Kansas

The museum is near the McConnell Air Force Base and is housed in the art deco-style building that served as Wichita’s municipal airport during the 1930s and 40s. Among the museum’s collection of about 40 airplanes is this Beech Starship,

and a B-52 bomber, a refueling tanker, and this 1927 Laird Swallow, which crashed in 1929, was put into storage for decades and then restored by museum volunteers.

Another charmer?  The Pretty Praire Special III, designed and built by Marion Unruh. According the museum website, this is the third in a series of airplanes named after Unruh’s hometown of Pretty Prairie, Kansas. Unruh designed the plane in 1951 but it wasn’t completed until 1957.

“It rolled, looped and could snap with the best acrobatic planes of the day.”

In addition to the airplane collection, the Kansas Aviation Museum has a wide variety of airplane engines on display and offers opportunities for volunteers to help with airplane restoration projects.

Do you have a favorite aviation-related museum you’d like others to know about? Tell us why you like it and it may be featured on a future edition of Museum Monday here at StuckatTheAirport.com.

Categories: Air Travel, Airplanes, Airports, Aviation history, Baggage, Exhibits, History, Museum Monday, Museums
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There are more than 700 aviation and space museums around the country. Each Monday we profile one of them. Eventually we’ll hit them all.

Today, to mark the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death on August 16^th, 1977, we’ll make a stop at Graceland, where two of Elvis’s jets are on display.

This Lockheed JetStar was dubbed Hound Dog II:

Hound Dog II, Elvis Presley's Lockheed JetStar

(Photo courtesy jbcurio, via Flickr).

According to this article, Elvis purchased this  Lockheed JetStar in September, 1975 for $899,702, while waiting for his other plane, the Lisa Marie (below), a Convair 880 Jet previously owned by Delta Airlines, to arrive.

At Graceland, visitors sit in a mock 1970′s-era airline terminal to see a short film about Elvis and his airplanes and are then allowed to tour the JetStar and the Lisa Marie, which was also known as Hound Dog I or Flying Graceland.

Elvis Presley's airplane - the Lisa Marie - at Graceland

(Photo courtesy rgblasson via Flickr

Sadly, I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Graceland. Yet. But when I do, I’ll make a beeline for the airplanes. First stop, the Lisa Marie. According to this article, the airplane has a seating area, conference room, library and plush bedroom with an executive bathroom equipped with gold washbasin and faucets.

Have you seen Elvis’s airplanes at Graceland? Share details of your visit below.

And please let us know if you have a nomination for an aviation or space museum you’d like to see featured on a future edition of Museum Monday here at StuckatTheAirport.com.

A favorite: Elvis and Nixon

Categories: Airplanes, Aviation history, Celebrities, Exhibits, History, Layover, Museum Monday, Museums, Uncategorized
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There are close to 700 aviation and space museums in this country. Each Monday, we take a look at one of them.  Stick around. Eventually we’ll visit them all!

This week: The 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport.

Greetings from Houston Hobby Airport

Housed in the airport’s original art deco air terminal,the museum is dedicated to showcasing the city’s aviation history.

In addition to this classic, restored terminal building, the museum has historic aircraft on display in the restored 1928 Carter Field Airmail Hangar.

1928 Carter Field Airmail Hangar

The 1940 Air Terminal Museum recently raffled off an airplane and is now accepting entries for a “Flying Times” art exhibition featuring artwork and objects relating to Commercial aviation, General Aviation, or Space.

Not sure if you want to enter? Consider this: cash prizes will be awarded for the best work (1^st prize: $500, 2^nd Prize: $250, 3^rd prize: $100) and for the work that best depicts the terminal building ($50 prize.)  Cash prizes will also be awarded in several other categories. The deadline for entries is September 1, 2010 and the show will run from September 17 through October 31, 2010.  Look here for entry forms and more information about the 1940 Air Terminal Museum’s art contest. And good luck!

Houston Hobby Airport - Opening Day

Do you have a favorite aviation or space museum?  If so, nominate it here and it may be featured on a future edition of Museum Monday here at StuckatTheAirport.com.

Categories: Air Travel, Airplanes, Airports, Art, Aviation history, Exhibits, History, Museum Monday, Museums, aviation
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There are close to 700 aviation and space museums around the country.

Each Monday here at StuckatTheAirport.com, we feature one of them.

This week: The National Museum of the US Air Force.

This museum has a lot of fans and I took a lot of heat for leaving it out of a recent msnbc.com column – Aviation Museums that Soar – that only had room to mention six aviation and space museums around the country.

So here we go:

Northrop B-2 Spirit at the National Museum of the U. S. Air Force

With 17 acres of indoor exhibition space and more than 400 aerospace vehicles in its collection, the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, OH, is the largest military aviation museum in the world.

In addition to an IMAX theater, and more than a half dozen huge galleries filled with one-of-a-kind aircraft and aerospace  vehicles, the museum has  personal artifacts, photographs, documents and exhibits that help tell the Air Force story.

The Air Power Gallery at the National Museum of the US Air Force

If you plan to visit, you might have to pick just a few galleries to see.  And choosing won’t be easy.

In the Early Years Gallery, the aircraft, exhibits and artifacts start with the Wright brothers and continue through World War I and the beginning of World War II.

Reproduction 1909 Wright Flyer at National Museum of the US Air Force

In the 140-foot tall, silo-like Missile and Space Gallery you’ll find a collection of missiles that can be viewed from the ground level or from a platform that runs around the inside of the gallery. There’s also the Apollo 15 Command Module, Mercury and Gemini capsules, rocket engines, satellites and balloon gondolas.

The Missile and Space Gallery at the USAF Museum

And in the Presidential Gallery, for which there are special entry requirements, you’ll see the airplane that served as Air Force One the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as well as airplanes used by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

President John F. Kennedy disembarking Air Force One

There’s more – lots more – so before you visit be sure to poke around the National Museum of the US Air Force Museum website.

SPAD XIII at National Museum of the United States Air Force

The USAF Museum is open daily. Admission is free.

A great time to visit might be during Labor Day weekend (Sept 3-5, 2010) when the museum hosts the Giant Scale Radio-Controlled Model Aircraft Air Show with model jets, helicopters and warbirds doing acrobatics in the sky.

Do you have a favorite aviation or space museum? If so, leave a comment below and we may feature your suggestion in a future Museum Monday on StuckatTheAirport.com.

Categories: Air Travel, Airplanes, Exhibits, Free Stuff, History, Museum Monday, Museums
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A new exhibit at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport: Jimmy Carter: Georgia’s Native Son,” uses mementos, photographs and artifacts to tell the story of the South Georgia peanut farmer who become the state’s 76^th governor and eventually the nation’s 39^th president.

Jimmy Carter: Georgia’s Native Son is displayed in the walkway connecting the main security screening area and Concourse T and will be at ATL through July 2011.  The exhibit is part of a larger exhibit at the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum near downtown Atlanta.

Photos courtesy Hartsfield-Jackson Altanta International Airport

Categories: Air Travel, Exhibits, History
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