The Kansas Aviation Museum is a museum located in Wichita,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

, United States, near 31st South and George Washington Blvd. The building was the former Wichita Municipal Airport terminal from 1935 to 1954. The Museum features many display aircraft including the

WB-47E Stratojet The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long- range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...

B-52D Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...

KC-135 Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of trans ...

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

, Boeing 737-2H4,

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak The Republic F-84F Thunderstreak was an American swept-wing turbojet fighter-bomber. While an evolutionary development of the straight-wing F-84 Thunderjet, the F-84F was a new design. The RF-84F Thunderflash was a photo reconnaissance version. ...

Beech 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 succe ...

Cessna T-37 The Cessna T-37 Tweet (designated Model 318 by Cessna) is a small, economical twin-engined jet trainer type which flew for decades as a primary trainer for the United States Air Force (USAF) and in the air forces of several other nations. The ...

, Learjet 23, Cessna 500/501 Prototype, Stearman 4D, Texico 11, Stearman Trainer, 1920 Laird Swallow, 1926 Swallow, 1930 Watkins Skylark SL, 1944 Beech Staggerwing,

U-8 Seminole The Beechcraft L-23 Seminole (later designated U-8) was the United States Armed Forces designation for the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza and Queen Air aircraft in its inventory. Design and development In 1951 the United States Army evaluated a Twin ...

, and

Lockheed T-33 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 ...

. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as the Administration Building in 1990. It has also been known as Building One. and

History and Architecture

:''Source: * Kansas Aviation Museum'' The Kansas Aviation Museum is in the Terminal and Administration building of the former

Wichita Municipal Airport Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport is a commercial airport west of downtown Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is the largest and busiest airport in the state of Kansas. Located south of US-54 in southwest Wichita, it covers 3,24 ...

in Wichita. The building and landing area are constructed on ground that had never been plowed and was known as the California section. The Park Board purchased in 1928 and, with Glen Thomas as architect, started the building on July 1, 1930, but construction soon halted due to the Great Depression and lack of funds. The building sat uncompleted until 1933 when construction resumed as a WPA project. The opening dedication ceremony took place on Sunday March 31, 1935. The runways were paved in the late 1930s as a WPA project. Wichita was the last stop before crossing the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in those days. The airport was greatly needed for fuel and more importantly weather updates. As told in story after story, many people who landed, ate at the restaurant and milled about were legends of industry and film.

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

and countless other famous people all walked the terrazzo floors in what is now the Kansas Aviation Museum. It was tagged the "Country Club without dues". During the oppressive heat of the 1930s people would come out to the airport at night, spread out a blanket, enjoy the cool breezes and watch the incoming and outgoing aircraft. The building and its grounds sit about higher than downtown and always has a breeze blowing. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the airport became the fourth busiest in the United States being a convenient stop off in the middle of the US and with the endless flight testing of tens of thousands of aircraft being built in Wichita for the War effort. The additions on the east and west end of the building were added in 1942 and 1943. The upper part of the control tower was added in 1940. It was the first control tower to have slanted windows. After WWII and into the 1950s, the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

decided they needed an

air base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

in centrally located Kansas which would later become

McConnell Air Force Base McConnell Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located four miles (6 km) southeast of the central business district of Wichita, a city in Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States., effective 2007-12-20 The airbase was named in ...

, a Strategic Air Command base until mid-1992 when it became an Air Combat Command base, and December 1993 when it became an Air Mobility Command base. The Air Force didn't want to spend years designing and building a new air base; they wanted one now. The Air Force and the City of Wichita came to an agreement on price and the building was sold to the Federal Government in 1951. The city bought land, designed and began construction of the new Wichita Municipal airport on the west side of Wichita. Both civil and military flights shared the airport until October 1954 when the last commercial flight took off. The Air Force continued to use the building (called Building One) until about 1984 when they shut the doors and abandoned it marking it off as surplus. It sat empty and partially gutted for at least six years until the Kansas Aviation Museum was formed in 1990 and began work. An application for the building to be placed on the Historic Register was filed on March 6, 1990 and was later approved. The outside of the building has been restored but still needs some work. The south part of the building now looks very close to how it looked in 1935. Much remains to be done to the inside and millions more will have to be spent to bring it back to its 1930's heyday look. The building is without a doubt one of the most beautiful buildings in Wichita and possibly in Kansas. As of June 2012, efforts to update the museum have stagnated due to lack of funding. In 2019, improvements were made to the museum, new exterior doors were installed. The control tower glass was replaced. Both projects were done to improve the functionality of the building while maintaining the historical standards required by the National Historical Registry. The architecture of the building is

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

with its strong and obvious geometric shapes and sharp angles. At the front above the triple doors to the lobby is the famous Bas-relief of the Spirit of St.Louis crossing the Atlantic with Ireland in sight. A

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

sculpture is raised or sunken and not a flat piece of artwork. Carthalite was used to for the bas-relief to provide longevity and maintain the color vitality. Carthalite is white portland cement concrete with colored glass aggregates. The Kansas Aviation Museum is one of only a few museums that allow visitors to enter its exhibition aircraft. The museum operates a once yearly "Play on a Plane Day".

Gallery

Image:kam_in_snow.jpg, Kansas Aviation Museum looking southeast. Image:KAM design_2.jpg, Art Deco brick inset. Image:KAM design_1.jpg, Art Deco railing.

References

External links

*
Wings Over Kansas: Aviation Hall of Fame Inductees
1986–1999 List

from the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

site ''Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary'' * Administrative Building NRHP Application (12 page PDF)- National Park Service {{authority control Aerospace museums in Kansas Museums in Wichita, Kansas Military and war museums in Kansas Art Deco airports Art Deco architecture in Kansas National Register of Historic Places in Wichita, Kansas Air transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas

History and Architecture

Gallery

See also

References

External links