Aviation is fascinating to me. From the silly commercials on tv showing the earliest attempts at flight to modern military aircraft, I have always had a love for flying. Even as a little girl when we first moved to Des Moines from Minnesota, we lived near the airport and I loved watching the planes fly over our house. I don't get to fly very much but just getting to see planes in museums and airshows makes me happy. So I was so excited to discover that right here, in Adair County, we have the Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame !
It was a baking hot day when Sarah and I made our way around Adair County checking out the interesting places to visit. The aviation museum was one of our first stops early in the day, but an airplane hangar is not a cool place by any means, and bless his heart, the kind gentleman who gave us the tour that day was a real trooper. I was ready to DIE and he was ready to talk all day !
We started off by me just standing in awe of the A7 Corsair mounted outside the building. Growing up in Des Moines the Air National Guard stations and the "Blue Lights" viewing area in a huge part of my childhood. So to get to see this wonderful piece of Iowa military history and actually lay my hands on it......well, it was quite an experience.
Entering the museum, where it was nice and cool, there were loads and loads of interesting items on display. Flight suits, news clippings, photographs, articles in frames. Military and civilian planes and stories and articles of all kinds. Even the newspaper articles about the plane crash that took the life of Buddy Holly and several other musicians was there.
After looking at many displays in the museum building we were taken on a tour of the hangar. Wow, just wow. So many amazing planes, gliders, engines, engine parts- I don't even think I can list everything we saw!! You really need to experience this amazing place yourself to appreciate the pristine quality of the planes, all of which actually flew into the airport and drove into the hangar and very likely can still fly.
There is no way I can remember everything he told us about each plane- there was just so much information. We just enjoyed story after story and admired the aircraft of days gone by.
They have a full listing of all the aircraft in the hangar on their website, http://www.flyingmuseum.com/Aircraft.aspx, some of which are the last or one of the last two in existence.
We posed for pictures with different equipment. Sarah took the seat at the controls of a DC10.
We both decided to have a silly pic taken with a cartoon character. It was great fun.
On the north end of the hangar is the Hall of Fame. In this room you will find framed photos of the various flying pioneers with an Iowa connection, from the earliest years of flight to astronauts.
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| The USAF SR71 Blackbird- my favorite of all military aircraft, and they were based at the air force base we lived nearby in England years ago. I got to see them fly everyday. |
Display cabinets line the walls with donated collections of memorabilia, and a wall of glass blocks is etched with the names of the many donors that helped make this unique attraction possible.
The Iowa Aviation Museum is really a true treasure to have here in our area. It's a quick drive from Des Moines, and the city of Greenfield offers lots of options for a lunch or dinner to go along with your road trip. This truly is a must-see destination.
August 2013 mmc
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