Here are some pictures from the move which took place on April 7th.  

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A total of 5 aircraft were involved in the "parade" down Portage Ave. for about 1/2 a mile, from our Flight & Restoration Center to the New Air Zoo.  These 5 included the F-14 Tomcat, Travelair Mystery Ship replica, B-25 Mitchell, P-47M Thunderbolt, and SR-71B Blackbird.  Other aircraft had been moving over the previous few weeks, but these were large enough that they could not fit through our back gate and down the
drive to the new building.

The Air Zoo began almost 27 years ago with 7 aircraft and has grown to a collection of over 75 machines, although not all are on display at one time.  On May 1, we will be opening our new building which will house 22 aircraft in what we call "an aviation attraction."  Our director likes to call it a cross between the Smithsonian and Epcot Center.  Along with the aircraft there will be rides, simulators and a 4-D theater which
takes you on a WW II B-17 mission.  (It features a 3-D image with seats that move, vibrate, allow you to feel wind in your face and even the smells of av gas and cordite from the guns... It has to be experienced to be believed.) The New Air Zoo also features an incredible mural by aviation artist Rick Herter (seen in one of the pictures, that when finished will be certified by Guiness Book of World Records as the
World's Largest Indoor Mural.

The aircraft currently in the new museum include the following:

• 1:1 scale Replica Wright Flyer
• 3:4 scale Replica Fokker Dr.1
• 1:1 scale Reproduction Travel Aire Mystery Ship
• Waco UFP-7 (ex-Guatemalan AF)
• Waco YMF
• Ryan PT-23
• Fairchild PT-22
• Stearman N2S
• Piper L-4 Grasshopper
• Taylorcraft L-3
• North American B-25 Mitchell  (Built as a G-model, it was restored as an 8-gun nose J-model)
• Republic P-47M Thunderbolt (Built by Curtiss)
• Curtiss P-40N Warhawk
• Bell P-39Q Airacobra
• Vought F-8J Crusader
• Douglas A-4B Skyhawk
• Grumman F-14A Tomcat
• McDonnell-Douglas F-18A Hornet (although now in VMFA-251 markings, this bird spent its entire service life with the Blue Angels)
• Lockheed SR-71B Blackbird
• Murphy Renegade Spirit (homebuilt)
• Boredom Fighter (homebuilt)

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Along with the move pictures I included a couple shots during construction which show the mural being painted, our P-40 in bubble-wrap and the Wright Flyer replica after it was hung.

In addition to the new 109,000 sq. ft., the Air Zoo will maintain its old 33,000 sq. ft. building as the Education & Research Center (ERC), as well as another building which serves as the Flight & Restoration Center (FRC).  Some of the aircraft in the ERC include N3N, N2T, BT-13, SNJ, F4U, F4F, F6F, F7F, F8F, TF-9J, AD4N, C-47, CG-4A, SBD-3, T-34B, HA-1112, HUP-2, MiG-15, P-80, F-86, B-57, F-84F, Lear Jet 23, F-4E and OV-1D.  In the FRC, there are another handful of aircraft including our
flyable Ford Trimotor and the sole-surviving Curtiss XP-55 Ascender which we are restoring for the National Air & Space Musuem.

The SR-71B in the pictures is one of 2 B-model SR-71s built and the only one to survive, the other having been written off in a landing accident.  When the Air Force stopped flying the Blackbirds, NASA took over 3 of them for high speed research work, including the B-model.  After they were retired a couple years ago, they reverted back to Air Force control and were turned over to museums.  Ours came straight from Edwards AFB, and was brought in on 7 flat-bed semi-trailers and assembled on the ramp out front of the ERC.

If you have any interest at all in aircraft, this is a place to visit.  To find out more about the Air Zoo, ARCers can visit our website at www.airzoo.org.  They can also email me with specific questions, although I probably won't be able to do much about answering until after our big grand opening on May 1.

Stewart

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