A card (above) in the gift shop shows the purpose of the building.
This museum had some unusual (and sometimes unattractive) airplanes. For instance, the Grumman Duck is very rare... but it would not win a prize in my aircraft beauty contest.
Ok, this one is just plain weird. What a profile. Designed by Guissepe Bellanca, the Bellanca Aircruiser with its protruding nose and W-shaped struts looks like an art project gone wrong to me.
It would appear that Mr. Bellanca wasn't concerned with aesthetics but I suppose this plane did have its purpose.
Catalina.
Now, let's have a look at some more regular looking designs. According to the museum's brochure, many of the planes in this canopied area are privately owned and flyable.
The Hispano Buchon also known as the Messerschmitt Me -109.
Ahhh, a Stearman.
A sign says this early Ford Tri-Motor aircraft seat was taken from the mountain crash site in Utah in the early 1930's.
Mustang.
Where does one get all the helium needed for a blimp I wondered. Perhaps we would have found out if we hadn't missed the show in the theatre about this museum and its history. In the Helium Room is a large GE motor "which powered two pneumatic compressors used to remove impure helium from the blimps and pump it into the 60' spherical tank outside the hangar."
Outside was another classic antique, the Stinson Reliant.Other planes include a Nakajima Oscar, Fairchild 24 and a Cessna 180 with a graphic saying it was one of two planes that were the first light aircraft on the North Pole.
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