The Southern Museum of Flight is a civilian aviation museum Birmingham, Alabama. The facility features nearly 100 aircraft, as well as engines, models, artifacts, photographs, and paintings. In addition, the Southern Museum of Flight is home to the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame, which presents Alabama Aviation History through collective biography.

Overview

Notable aircraft on display include a Wright Flyer, Curtis Pusher, Fokker D-VII, Alexander Eaglerock, F-4 Phantom, F-86 Sabre, AH-1 Cobra, Soviet-built MiGs, Mi-24 Hind, A-12 Blackbird spy plane, the "Lake Murray" B-25, and an array of experimental aircraft. The Lake Murray B-25C Mitchell bomber crashed in South Carolina during a 1943 training exercise. The right engine was torn off during the crash but the crew was able to escape unharmed before she sank to a depth of 150 feet (46m). The aircraft became a dive site for local technical divers until she was raised from the depths of the lake in September 2005. Dr. Bob Seigler who spearheaded the project, John Hodge and Dr. Bill Vartorella, formed the Lake Murray B-25 Rescue Project to salvage the aircraft from the bottom of Lake Murray. After recovery the remains of the aircraft were moved to the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham, Alabama for conservation and museum display. A video crew, including maritime video experts from

Nautilus Productions Nautilus Productions LLC is an American video production, stock footage, and photography company incorporated in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1997. The principals are producer/director Rick Allen and photographer Cindy Burnham. Nautilus specia ...

, documented the recovery for the Mega Movers series on the History Channel. Featured on display is a diorama exhibit honoring Alabama's famed Tuskegee Airmen, as well as the Korean War Jets Exhibit and Vietnam War Helicopters Exhibit. The museum plans to reopen at the Grand River Technology Park in 2021 or 2022.

Selected aircraft on display

* Aero Commander 680 *

Aeronca K The Aeronca Model K Scout is an American light airplane first marketed in 1937, and was the true successor to the popular C-2/ C-3 line. Design Powered by a dual-ignition Aeronca E-113C engine, the Model K Scout brought the Aeronca design up t ...

* Aeronca Sedan on floats *

Bede BD-4 The Bede BD-4 is an American light aircraft, designed by Jim Bede for homebuilding and available since 1968. It was the first homebuilt aircraft to be offered in kit form. It remains one of the world's most popular homebuilts with thousands of ...

Bede BD-5B The Bede BD-5 Micro is a series of small, single-seat homebuilt aircraft created in the late 1960s by US aircraft designer Jim Bede and introduced to the market primarily in kit form by the now-defunct Bede Aircraft Corporation in the early 197 ...

Beagle B.206 The Beagle B.206 is a 1960s British seven-seat twin-piston engined liaison and communication aircraft built by Beagle Aircraft Limited at Shoreham Airport and Rearsby Aerodrome. Design and development The design of a twin-engined light tr ...

Beechcraft Starship The Beechcraft Starship is a twin-turboprop six- to eight-passenger pressurized business aircraft produced by Beech Aircraft Corporation. Development Development of the Starship began in 1979 when Beech decided to explore designs for a succes ...

* Cessna 337B Skymaster * Cumulus 2F Glider * Curtiss Model D replica *

Davis DA-2A __NOTOC__ The Davis DA-2 is a light aircraft designed in the United States in the 1960s and was marketed for homebuilding. While it is a low-wing monoplane of largely conventional design with fixed tricycle undercarriage, the DA-2 is given a d ...

* Douglas B-26 Invader *

Fairchild PT-19 The Fairchild PT-19 (company designation Fairchild M62) is an American monoplane primary trainer aircraft that served with the United States Army Air Forces, RAF and RCAF during World War II. Designed by Fairchild Aircraft, it was a contempora ...

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qu ...

* Grumman F-14 Tomcat * Heath Super Parasol * Huff-Daland crop duster *

Hughes OH-6 Cayuse The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse is a single-engine light helicopter that was designed and produced by the American aerospace company Hughes Helicopters. Its formal name is derived from the Cayuse people while its "Loach" nickname comes from the acronym f ...

* Laister-Kauffman 10A * Lockheed A-12 *

Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

* McDonnell F-4 Phantom II *

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...

Monnett Sonerai II-LT The Sonerai is a small, VW-powered homebuilt aircraft,"The Sonerai I,"
GreatPlai ...

North American B-25C Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

* North American F-86 Sabre *

North American T-6G Texan The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

* Pazmany PL-4A *

Piel Emeraude The Piel CP-30 Emeraude (French: ''émeraude'' = "emerald") is an aircraft designed in France in the mid-1950s and widely built both by factories and homebuilders. Design and development The Emeraude is a low-wing cantilever monoplane with fixed ...

* Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser * Republic F-84F Thunderstreak * Republic RC-3 Seabee *

Rotec Rally The Rotec Rally is a family of American ultralight aircraft that was designed by Bill Adaska in 1977 and produced by Rotec Engineering of Duncanville, Texas. Adaska had been an aeronautical engineer at Bell Helicopter and the French helicopter ma ...

Rutan VariViggen The Rutan VariViggen is a homebuilt aircraft designed by Burt Rutan. The aircraft is a tandem two-seater of primarily wooden construction with a delta wing and a canard foreplane. The VariViggen is powered by a 150 hp Lycoming O-320 ae ...

* Sport Fury * Stoddard-Hamilton Glasair II FT * Stinson 10A *

Stinson SR-5 The Stinson Reliant is a popular single-engine four- to five-seat high-wing monoplane manufactured by the Stinson Aircraft Division of the Aviation Manufacturing Corporation of Wayne, Michigan. Design and development The Reliant is a high-win ...

Stolp Starduster The Stolp-Adams SA-100 Starduster is an American single-seat sport biplane designed to be built from plans supplied by Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co. Though the first flight was in 1957, Stardusters continue to be built and flown. Design and ...

* Vultee BT-13B Valiant * Wright Flyer replica

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Barsanti, B. J. ''Interview with James T. Griffin'' (20 Jan 2013). * Stevenson, E. W. "The History of the Southern Museum of Flight", ''SMF Trustee Manual'', 15 May 2004.

External links

Southern Museum of Flight websiteAlabama Aviation Hall of Fame websiteLake Murray's MitchellPodcast: Southern Museum of FlightB-25 Recovery and Preservation Project
Rubicon Foundation {{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Museum Of Flight Aerospace museums in Alabama Museums in Birmingham, Alabama Museums established in 1966 1966 establishments in Alabama