National Airline History Museum

National Airline History Museum at Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport, Kansas City, Missouri, with its Lockheed Constellation on the tarmac.

The National Airline History Museum is located at the Kansas City Downtown Airport in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.

History

Founded in 1986 by aviation enthusiasts Larry A. Brown and Dick McMahon, the Airline History Museum was originally known as Save-A-Connie. Brown and McMahon were joined by a number of other enthusiasts, including (then) current and former TWA employees.

The group began by highlighting commercial aviation in the propeller age but has since moved into the jet age with the acquisition of a Lockheed Tristar aircraft. They hope to further expand the museum's collection of vintage passenger aircraft.

In January of 2011, the Airline History Museum began its 25th year of operation, entering its silver anniversary with a new vision for the next quarter century: The museum announced a commitment to meeting or exceeding the "Characteristics of Excellence" standards established by the American Association of Museums. To that end, the museum immediately began a reorganization plan, which included a complete rebranding effort to include a new membership structure, new website, new corporate logo, and a new exhibit structure within the museum building. Included within these plans was the addition of a deli which opened in April of 2011.

In March of 2011, the museum announced that in the continuation of its reorganization and restructure, it was being renamed the National Airline History Museum. This name change allowed it to be better positioned to receive Federal grants and other national funding. The museum announced in March, 2011 that it had teamed up with Kansas City's Roasterie Coffee Shop, with the Roasterie brand being known as "The Official Coffee of the National Airline History Museum" and carrying an image of the museum's DC-3 on its coffee products.

Exhibits

The museum maintains five aircraft at the site; two are in flying condition and one is undergoing restoration.

Martin 4-0-4

There were only 103 Martin 4-0-4's built in 1951; TWA operated forty in their fleet along the U. S. east coast, while strong competitor Eastern Airlines operated the largest 4-0-4 fleet, flying sixty aircraft along that airline's eastern seaboard route, including in and around Florida. The museum's Martin 4-0-4 has not flown in years. As part of the National Airline History Museum’s reorganization plan which began in 2011, a maintenance inspection of the Martin 404 was completed in August of 2011 to determine the feasibility of returning the aircraft to flying status. The inspection found that the rumors of extensive corrosion in the aircraft and insurmountable mechanical problems were not true and a maintenance program is being developed in order to return the Martin 404 to flying condition.

Douglas DC-3

The museum's DC-3 is currently being made airworthy. One of its two engines has been overhauled, while its second is still undergoing a rebuild; the exterior and interior restoration of the aircraft is nearing completion, while the installation of new carpeting and restored seats has been completed. This Douglas DC-3-G202A, registration number NC1945, serial number 3294, was built in Santa Monica, California in February 1941. It was delivered to Transcontinental and Western Airlines at Kansas City, Missouri, on March 4, 1941, and as such resides in its original home city again.

Lockheed Super "G" Constellation

The Lockheed Super "G" Constellation ("Super-Connie"), which holds the distinction of being the first Constellation ever to be fully restored to flying condition, has not been flown to airshows for several seasons. Maintenance is still on-going, with the goal being to get the Connie back in the air and then to various U. S. airshows. The aircraft has completed several successful four engine test runs and is well on the way to becoming airworthy once again. Nicknamed "Star of America", this Constellation appeared in television and movie releases, as well as in several television commercials. It was featured in the Arts and Entertainment cable channel documentary First Flights, narrated by Astronaut Neil Armstrong, and the motion picture, Voyager released in the U. S. in 1992. The Connie's interior was also used in scenes for the 1995 movie Ace Ventura When Nature Calls, starring actor Jim Carrey. It also appeared in the 2004 movie The Aviator, directed by Martin Scorsese, which depicts the early years (late 1920s to the mid-1940s) of legendary film director and aviator Howard Hughes; the film starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Beckinsale, and Cate Blanchett.

TWA's corporate "Moonliner II" replica

In 1956 after TWA became the corporate sponsor of Disneyland's TWA Moonliner attraction in Anaheim, CA, Howard Hughes added a 22-foot-tall (6.7 m) reproduction of Disney's one-third scale Moonliner, known as the TWA Moonliner II, atop the southwest corner of Kansas City's TWA Corporate Headquarters' Building, located at 18th Street and Baltimore, near downtown Kansas City. Disneyland's TWA Moonliner was a promotional concept of what a TWA atomic-powered spaceliner would look like in the faraway year of 1986. When Hughes and Disney ended their business partnership in 1962 after Hughes sold TWA, the airline's new management removed the Moonliner II reproduction from its roof and sold it to a local travel-trailer company called SpaceCraft.

When SpaceCraft moved to Concordia, Missouri, in 1970, the now all-white Moonliner II landed on the south side of Interstate 70 (between Kansas City and St. Louis) where SpaceCraft operated a campground. It slowly rusted on that spot for more than 25 years. In 1997 a Columbia lawyer who collected Disney memorabilia bought the deteriorating Moonliner II. He then began a long, careful restoration process, eventually bringing it back to its 1956 condition and sporting its original red and white TWA paint scheme. It is currently on loan to the museum for display to both airliner and TWA enthusiasts. The Moonliner II is located about five miles from its original TWA rooftop location.

Lockheed L-1011 Tristar

The museum announced in April 2009 that it was acquiring one of the two remaining operational Lockheed L-1011 Tristar aircraft in the U. S., which would be used as part of their on-going airline education program. It will be a living classroom for the teaching of passenger aviation history. School groups will sit in the plane's first class section and then watch an educational video on the plane’s in-flight monitors. This L-1011 is believed to be one of a very few salvageable examples of its kind left in the U. S. ^[1]

FAA approval was granted to ferry the aircraft from Roswell, NM (ROW) to Kansas City, MO (MKC). The aircraft arrived safely on January 30, 2010, shortly after 3:00pm. This aircraft first flew in 1972 under the red and white colors of hometown airline TWA. Due to its large size, it is permanently parked south of the museum's hangar at Wheeler Airport, the large tail hanging beyond the fence line surrounding the downtown airport's apron.^[2] The aircraft is currently being transformed into an educational facility to help promote interest in aviation among younger generations.

References

1. ^ http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/1149720.html
2. ^ http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1707369.html

• 1 [1]
• Barton, Eric. "Incoming: A Rocket That Once Graced TWA's Office Heads Back To Its Spot Over Downtown." The Pitch weekly entertainment journal, August 17, 2006 issue, Kansas City, MO. No ISSN.

External links

• AHM Hangar the Official Blog & Media Site of the National Airline History Museum
• National Airline History Museum site (new-unfinished)
• National Airline History Museum Facebook page
• Photo of the recently acquired L-1011 Tristar in Roswell, New Mexico

Coordinates: 39°07′07″N 94°36′01″W / 39.1187°N 94.6003°W / 39.1187; -94.6003