Kansas Aviation Museum

[Travis Butler]

20231110-SDIM8191 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, Vivitar (Kiron) 28/3.5

As I think I mentioned in another thread, the Kansas Aviation Museum is located in the terminal building for the original Wichita airport, a nice little Art Deco place that thankfully the USAF kept when they turned the airport into McConnell Air Force Base.


20231110-SDIM8135 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20231110-SDIM8086 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
MD 35-70/3.5 Macro

From the old control tower, you can look out over McConnell AFB...

20231110-SDIM8086v1.dng by Travis Butler, on Flickr
(Hey! A bit of history!)


20231110-SDIM8092 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The old Boeing factory in the background, spun off into Spirit AeroSystems (in what I think was a big mistake, being corrected as Boeing re-acquires them)


20231110-SDIM8098v1.dng by Travis Butler, on Flickr
(See all the 737 fuselages?)

20231110-SDIM8088 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20231110-SDIM8102 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

A radio plays tower chatter for your listening pleasure.

 

[Travis Butler]

20231110-SDIM8133 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Mirrored display areas in the main hall show histories of Beechcraft and Cessna... the museum can be rented out for events, as you can see from the tables, and IIRC the Cessna area was too packed with stuff to shoot.


20231110-SDIM8125 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The shoestring nature of the museum is sadly visible here. The USAF used the terminal building as an administrative office for McConnell AFB, but decided in 1984 that they didn't need it any more; a local group wanting to start a museum was able to acquire it, and the building opened in 1991. Most of it was stripped to bare concrete - IIRC for asbestos removal - as you can see here. In the 20+ years I've been visiting, they've been gradually restoring more and more of the interior, and adding central climate control - not inconsequential, where temperatures in summer can go over 95 degrees F on a regular basis! But they've still got a ways to go.

Something else you can see here - the building has a lot of structural pillars that couldn't be removed, so in many spots they had to re-assemble the planes around the pillars.


20231110-SDIM8131 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20231110-SDIM8128 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20231110-SDIM8132 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Guess who?


20231110-SDIM8113 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The Beech Staggerwing, a biplane that stayed popular long after most of the industry had moved to monoplanes.


20231110-SDIM8120 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

I do wish they had better livery on theirs. <wry g>


20231110-SDIM8107 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Planes aren't the only thing they have. This is the famous Norden Bombsight from WWII; they also have a Link Trainer from that era, which I'd shot on earlier visits.

 

[Travis Butler]

20231110-SDIM8137 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The 727 and 737, two of Boeing's most popular airliners. You can sorta see it if you look, they have the 727's rear airstair lowered so you can go inside.


20231110-SDIM8140 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

From left to right: 727, 737, Beechcraft Seminole/Queen Air, B-52, P-80 Shooting Star/T-33, F-84F Thunderstreak, Cessna 206.


20231110-SDIM8182 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The Seminole, a derivative of the Twin Bonanza later released as the civilian Queen Air.


20231110-SDIM8144 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The original LearJet - LearJet 23.


20231110-SDIM8148 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Cessna Citation 500


20231110-SDIM8149 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The Cessna 526 CitationJet was a bit of an odd duck.


20231110-SDIM8150 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

It was developed from the Citation 500 series in the early 1990s to meet a joint Navy/Air Force trainer competition; but apparently after it was built, the corporate parents lost enthusiasm for the project, and the award went instead to Cessna's cross-town rival Beechcraft. A pity - it looks like a very sleek aircraft.

 

[Travis Butler]

20231110-SDIM8171 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
The KC-135 refueling tanker.


20231110-SDIM8173 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Love the nose art - Celtic Kansan!


20231110-SDIM8177 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The B-47, another product of the Boeing Wichita factory (and IIRC a motivation for turning the airport into McConnell AFB) and the Cessna T-37 Tweet advanced trainer. Another sad case where you can see they've had to leave off maintenance.


20231110-SDIM8180 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

 

[Travis Butler]

And now, one of my favorite light aircraft...


20231110-SDIM8154 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The Beech Starship.


20231110-SDIM8155 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Revolutionary in many ways - a Burt Rutan canard design;


20231110-SDIM8164 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Twin tail fins at the end of the wings instead of a traditional rudder/tail;


20231110-SDIM8167 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Multi-blade pusher props;


20231110-SDIM8161 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Heavy use of composite materials.

She's beautiful.

I'm not fond of the paint job they have on it now, but it looks like it's mostly a preservative coat; it's been sitting out on the apron for a long time, and the paint was steadily deteriorating:


Unlucky Bird by Travis Butler, on Flickr
2014


05052018-P5052827 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
2018

So... I'm glad? But I hope that they can go beyond the protective coat and put something more like the original paint job on it.

 

[Travis Butler]

20231110-SDIM8184 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

And time to say goodbye for now.


20231110-SDIM8198 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

 

[CharlesH]

And time to say goodbye for now.

Wow, thanks for all those Wichita photos!