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I visited the Air Zoo's new 125,000 sq. ft. facility and was quite impressed. The P-40 is suspended in the glass-enclosed lobby and can offer some dramatic views when the lighting is right. Inside the museum, the "Centennial of Flight" Mural (the worlds largest indoor mural I'm told) sets the backdrop for the exhibits. Painted by Rick Herter, it covers early ballooning, WWI, a spectacular WWII English airfield, an aircraft carrier and, finally, space.
The first exhibit is Beginnings which is centered around the Golden Age aircraft- the Waco VPF-7, Travel Air Mystery Ship replica and Waco INF- and some WWI replicas- a SPAD, Fokker Dr.1 and JN-4 Jenny (none of which are full size). There is a family balloon ride in the area. In a seperate wing is Flights of Fancy, basically a Kids room with alot of cool acticivities.
Next is the Missions exhibit. The Missions Theater is a 4-D simulated flight on a B-17 over Germany, which was certainly one of the highlights of my visit! On display nearby are the B-25, P-47 and P-39, as well as the PT-23, PT-17 and PT-22. The Guadalcanal Memorial Museum is located in a seperate wing. A new D-Day striped L-4 Grasshopper was also on display.
Sentinels at Sea are four F-18 simulators which visitors can fly themselves! They are capable of inverted flight and 360 degree pitch! Displayed nearby are the newly-restored A-4 Skyhawk in Australian Navy markings, F-8 Crusader, F-18 Hornet and F-14 Tomcat. Rounding out the aircraft were the SR-71 Blackbird two-seater and EL Kabong I Gemini-test capsule, on loan from the Smithsonian.
Overall, the new building is very impressive, though there seems to be a LOT of unused floor space and it seems like they could easily fit a few more aircraft in there.
You can still visit the old museum, which is actually alot cooler if you are more into looking at planes than riding the rides. On outdoor display was a sharp, clean F-84F, and a Learjet, B-57 Canberra and F-4 Phantom, all of which were in poor condition. Inside is a very impressive display of aircraft. Some aircraft are now displayed that haven't been before, such as the OV-1 Mohawk. Another pleasant surprise was the CG-4A now being displayed next to the C-47. The CG-4A is one of the most immaculate restorations I have ever seen! It is finished as "The Fighting Falcon" one of the gliders built by Gibson Refrigerating Co. in Greenville. Some of the highlights were the 4 Grumman Cats, the Corsair, Dauntless, Skyraider and Hispano (in its original service markings). Vlado Lenoch's immaculate P-51 was also on display. Jet fans can see the museum's F-86 "Darling Dottie", Mig-15 and P-80. World War II trainers were also represented with the N3N Yellow Peril, a very rare Timm N2T-1 Tutor, SNV-1 Valiant and a T-6. If you are a helicopter fan, the HUP-3 is displayed in immaculate condition, with a fully restored interior.
Unfortunately, you cannot tour the Restoration Center anymore. From what I could gather, the Ford Trimotor should be flying again by early fall and the XP-55 Ascender should be ready for display by early summer.
The museum is now planning further expansion. A 30,000 sq. ft. building to accomodate the relocated Michigan Space &Science Center artifacts is being planned, as well as a 40,000 sq. ft. addition to the new building to display the Grumman Cats, the Corsair and the Dauntless. Unfortunately, the facility does not have runway access, so once they're moved in, I don't think they'll ever come out again to fly. Even though some of my favorites from past visits to the musem like the F-11 and Mig-21 weren't on exhibit, the museum still has alot to offer and it is definitely worth a visit.
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Matt
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