When the Airzoo Flew

Mon May 21, 2007 12:18 pm

I was at the AirZoo recently and have to say that they are a great group of people. The museums are great, and the planes are fantastic. It will be cool to see them get the tri-motor in the air. I like static museums as well as flying ones so I think the Air Zoo is great.

Mon May 21, 2007 12:25 pm

As one of many volunteers at the Airzoo...Thanks!

John

Mon May 21, 2007 6:56 pm

The also flew their AD-4N Skyraider up until the early 90s.

Mon May 21, 2007 7:15 pm

Woops...forgot about the Skyraider. As far as I know, she was last flown in 1987 (as least that was the only time I ever saw her in the air.)

SN

Mon May 21, 2007 7:52 pm

Good catch...I'd forgotten about the Skyraider too! And I think Steve is right...not flown much, if at all, in the 90s due to expense. She was very expensive to fly, from what I've been told.

John

Wed May 23, 2007 10:16 pm

I know this doesn't quite fit in with everything else, but it is about the Air Zoo. Several years ago, I think in May 2002, I went on a bus trip from CWH to the Air Zoo, if it was 2002 I would have been 14. I thought it was a fantastic museum, only disapointment was that we couldn't fly in the Trimotor as it had been recently grounded. We were somewhat rushed through the museum due to our own tour group, however my Dad, my friend and his dad were taking our time enjoying the museum. A volunteer from the museum started talking about the Dauntless to us, as we were standing infront of it, and told us about the recovery and restoration, very informative, then he gave my friend and I the chance to sit in it. I don't know if this is common or not, but it sure made my day, next best thing to flying in it was sitting in it! If all the volunteers are like the gentleman who let my friend and I sit in the Dauntelss, then there sure is a great group of volunteers there, and I hope to visit the museum again some day. Also, it is a shame that the greedy insurance companys have forced a top rate museum into submission, preventing these aircraft from flying, however, this is one of the best static museums I've ever been to (I think Dayton wins just by numbers, but the Air Zoo would be a close second).