The Champaign Aviation Museum is an

aviation museum An aviation museum, air museum, or air and space museum is a museum exhibiting the history and cultural artifacts, artifacts of aviation. In addition to actual, replica or accurate reproduction aircraft, exhibits can include photographs, maps, P ...

Urbana, Ohio Urbana is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Ohio, United States, west of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. Urbana was laid out in 1805, and for a time in 1812 was the headquarters of the Northwestern army during the War of 1812. It is t ...

. It is situated on the north end of Grimes Field municipal airport, roughly a mile from central Urbana. The museum is known primarily for its ongoing restoration of a

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

to flying condition. It is also a component of the

National Aviation Heritage Area The National Aviation Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area consolidating more than fifteen aviation-related sites in the Dayton, Ohio area into a cooperative marketing and administrative framework. The National Heritage Ar ...

, a federally designated heritage area primarily centered around sites pertaining to the Wright brothers.

History

The museum began with the purchase of the wreckage of a JB-17G/model 299Z, a B-17 engine testbed variant with a fifth engine mounted on the nose, and several other parts sourced from various B-17s. The parts and pieces arrived at Grimes Field in November 2005. Restoration work started on the aircraft by volunteers at the south end of the airport soon after. The museum was established as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2008, the same year a

North American B-25 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 ...

was purchased. The next year the museum purchased a C-47 and a former waterbomber A-26. Work continued on the B-17 at the south end until 2010 when a purpose built hangar was completed and the B-17 project as well as the newly acquired aircraft were moved into it. In August 2011, the museum recovered the remains, primarily the empennage, of a B-17G wreckage from

Talkeetna, Alaska Talkeetna ( Dena'ina: ''K'dalkitnu'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 1,055, up from 876 in 2010. Geography Talkeetna is located at the confluence o ...

for use in the restoration. In November 2018, a

Grumman C-1 Trader The Grumman C-1 Trader is a carrier onboard delivery (COD) variant of the Grumman S-2 Tracker. It was replaced by a similar version of the Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye, the Grumman C-2 Greyhound. Design and development The C-1 Trader grew out o ...

in flying condition was donated to the museum. Then a month later, in October, ground was broken on a project adjacent to the hangar to expand the museum by , and in late 2019 half of the expansion was completed.

Aircraft

The museum's collection consists of primarily vintage military aircraft, but also includes several civilian aircraft. B-25J_Champaign_Gal

Exhibits

In 2010 the museum began displaying an exhibit in their main hangar on

Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...

(WASPs) and how they helped with the war effort. In 2019 a 1941

Crosley Crosley was a small, independent American manufacturer of subcompact cars, bordering on microcars. At first called the Crosley Corporation and later Crosley Motors Incorporated, the Cincinnati, Ohio, firm was active from 1939 to 1952, inter ...

convertible was donated to the museum and is on display in the museum's lobby. The museum received a grant from the

Ohio History Connection Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connec ...

to complete a display about WASPs in 2022.

References

Aerospace museums in Ohio Museums in Champaign County, Ohio Urbana, Ohio {{Ohio-museum-stub

History

Aircraft

Exhibits

See also

References