Indiana Aviation Museum

[warbirdguy]

Anyone who's pasing through Northwest Indiana really should take some time and stop in at the Indiana Aviation Museum at the Porter County Airport, in Valparaiso, Indiana. I have been to this museum several times and the atmosphere is very friendly with tour guides at each plane. The museum is home to 9 classic warbirds and several civilian aircraft, which include, F4U-5N Corsair, P-51D Mustang, A-37A Dragonfly, AT-6G Texan, PT-17 Stearman, T-34B Mentor, T-28B Trojan, L-2 Grasshopper, DHC 1 MK22 Chipmunk, and a Vans RV-4. A unique quality of the museum is that all warbirds fly and have the ability to give rides. Also included in the collection is a Rolls-Royce Merlin, and an R-2800 "Double Wasp". The museum also has a good sized library of books for research as well as a gift shop. [b]The museum is open [b]only[/b] on the weekends from May though October.[/b] Admission is very reasonable as are the rides. The collection belongs to James Read, and is a quality museum, which opened in 2001. For more information and to see some pictures of the collection check out www.in-am.org.

Last edited by warbirdguy on Thu Oct 06, 2005 3:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[oscardeuce]

In addition, Mr Read is a quality person. I've had the pleasure of meeting him a few times. He is a definite asset to the warbird community.

[jaybird]

In my opinion, he also made a very skilled "save" at the moment of truth at Osh 99 (as I watched)......as catastrophic as the end result was, it could have been even worse.

I think that -5 he has is one of the best looking show frequenters, which I guess beckons a kudos to Mr. Wegman. Is it just me, or does the height from ground to spinner of this plane seem taller than other 5's? Regardless, it has an awesome stance.

[warbirdguy]

Mike George's -5 has the same stance as well. At the 2003 Porter County Heritage Air Show both corsairs were parked side by side and looked the same, in terms of height compared to other corsairs. Maybe it's the polished spinners both planes have.

[Tulio]

The museum is open only on the weekends from May though October.

Should've, could've, would've . . . read your whole posting, before heading there!

I made the trip today just to find out that the museum is closed during the week . . .

Ended up visiting the Sand Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan's shore, and on my way back, a brand new railroad museum (re-opened two weeks ago) just a couple of miles north of Monon, on Indiana 421.

Some original documents show a certan Guss I. Grissom's employment with the railroad during the mid 1940s.

Saludos,


Tulio

[warbirdguy]

Just checked the Indiana Aviation Museum website and it says the museum will be closing for the season on October 30, 2005 and will reopen Spring 2006. So if you are planning on checking out this museum you only have two more weekends to check it out. It is well worth the trip! Trust Me!

Mike Prentiss