The Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum, located at Creve Coeur Airport

Creve Coeur Airport

Creve Coeur Airport is a small general aviation airport located in Maryland Heights, Missouri. The airport is home to the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum which has a large collection of airworthy vintage and veteran light aircraft types, mainly from the 1930s.- Aircraft Rental and Flight...

 in Maryland Heights, Missouri

Maryland Heights, Missouri

Maryland Heights is a second-ring west-central suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 27,472 at the 2010 census. The city was incorporated in 1985. Edwin L. Dirck was elected the city's first mayor. Mark M. Levin has been City Administrator...

, is a museum dedicated to restoring

Vehicle restoration

Vehicle restoration is the process of restoring a vehicle that is either partially scrapped or otherwise life expired back to its original working condition. Automotive restoration can be applied to many different eras of automobile. Heritage railways and railway museums aim to restore and operate...

 and preserving historical aircraft. The airplanes in the collection are all fabric-covered, and most are biplane

Biplane

A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...

s from the inter-war years (the "Golden age of flight"

Aviation history

The history of aviation has extended over more than two thousand years from the earliest attempts in kites and gliders to powered heavier-than-air, supersonic and hypersonic flight.The first form of man-made flying objects were kites...

). The museum's volunteers maintain most of these aircraft in full working order and this is one of the largest collections of flying classic aircraft in America.

Collection

The museum collection concentrates on civil aircraft

Civil aviation

Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military aviation, both private and commercial. Most of the countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and work together to establish common standards and recommended practices...

 from the inter-war years, with most of the aircraft originating from 1916 to 1946. There are several Waco

Waco Aircraft Company

The Waco Aircraft Company was an aircraft manufacturer located in Troy, Ohio, USA. Between 1919 and 1947, the company produced a wide range of civilian biplanes....

 biplanes, with the oldest of these types being a WACO 10, which was built in 1928. The oldest airplane on display is a Standard J-1 that was built in 1917 and was used in the movie The Rocketeer

The Rocketeer (film)

The Rocketeer is a 1991 period superhero adventure film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and based on the character of the same name created by comic book writer/artist Dave Stevens. Directed by Joe Johnston, the film stars Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, Paul Sorvino...

.

Several of the preserved aircraft are the only surviving airworthy examples of their type.

The museum opens regularly to the public and conducted tours can be arranged. Aircraft rides are available at the museum by request, in either a Stearman WWII biplane trainer or in a North American SNJ-5

T-6 Texan variants

-BC-1:North American BC-1BC-1ABC-1BBC-1I-AT-6 Texan:AT-6 TexanAT-6AAT-6BAT-6CAT-6DXAT-6EAT-6F-T-6 Texan:T-6AT-6CT-6DT-6FT-6GLT-6GT-6HT-6J-SNJ Texan:SNJ-1SNJ-2SNJ-3SNJ-3CSNJ-4SNJ-4CSNJ-5SNJ-5CSNJ-6SNJ-7SNJ-7BSNJ-8-Harvard:...

.

See also

• Vintage warbird restoration
  Vintage warbird restoration
  Vintage Warbird Restoration or classic aircraft restoration is the process of taking exotic and complex aircraft from the World War II and postwar era, and performing processes such as maintenance, repairs and refurbishments in order to restore these military aircraft to their original wartime...
  
  
• Experimental Aircraft Association
  Experimental Aircraft Association
  The Experimental Aircraft Association is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Since its inception it has grown internationally with over 160,000 members and about 1,000 chapters worldwide....
  
  
• Aviation archaeology
  Aviation archaeology
  Aviation archaeology is a recognized sub-discipline within archaeology and underwater archaeology as a whole. It is an activity practiced by both enthusiasts and academics in pursuit of finding, documenting, recovering, and preserving sites important in aviation history...
  
  

Other large collections of flying historic aircraft

• Commemorative Air Force‎, in Midland, Texas
  Midland, Texas
  Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States, on the Southern Plains of the state's western area. A small portion of the city extends into Martin County. As of 2010, the population of Midland was 111,147. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas...
  
  .
• Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
  Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
  The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane...
  
   at RAF Coningsby
  RAF Coningsby
  RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England. It has been commanded by Group Captain Martin Sampson since 10 December 2010.-Operational units:...
  
  , UK.
• Shuttleworth Collection
  Shuttleworth Collection
  The Shuttleworth Collection is an aeronautical and automotive museum located at the Old Warden airfield in Bedfordshire, England. It is one of the most prestigious in the world due to the variety of old and well-preserved aircraft.- History :...
  
   at Old Warden
  Old Warden
  Old Warden is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, just west of the town of Biggleswade. It has a population of 275. The village grew up under the protection of the Cistercian Wardon or Warden Abbey nearby....
  
   near Biggleswade
  Biggleswade
  Biggleswade is a market town and civil parish located on the River Ivel in Bedfordshire, England. It is well served by transport routes, being close to the A1 road between London and the North, as well as having a railway station on the main rail link North from London .-Geography:Located about 40...
  
   in Bedfordshire
  Bedfordshire
  Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
  
  , UK.
• Fantasy of Flight
  Fantasy of Flight
  Fantasy of Flight is an aviation-related attraction in Polk City, Florida, USA that takes visitors back to the pioneering days of early flight, World War I, World War II and beyond. The attraction opened in November of 1995, and houses the world's largest private aircraft collection on display...
  
  , in Polk City, Florida
  Polk City, Florida
  Polk City is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 1,516 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 1,515. It is part of the Lakeland–Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area...
  
  .
• Champlin Fighter Collection at the Seattle Museum of Flight
  Museum of Flight
  The Museum of Flight is a private non-profit air and space museum at King County International Airport , south of downtown Seattle, Washington. It was established in 1965 and is fully accredited by the American Association of Museums...
  
  .
• The Lone Star Flight Museum
  Lone Star Flight Museum
  The Lone Star Flight Museum, located in Galveston, Texas, USA, is an aerospace museum that displays more than 40 historically significant aircraft and many hundreds of artifacts related to the history of flight. The museum's collection is rare because most of the aircraft are flyable...
  
   in Galveston, Texas
  Galveston, Texas
  Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
  
  .
• The Yankee Air Museum
  Yankee Air Museum
  The Yankee Air Museum is an aviation museum located near Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. The museum has a small fleet of flying aircraft and a collection of static display aircraft outdoors.-History:...
  
   in Ypsilanti, Michigan
  Ypsilanti, Michigan
  Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...
  
  .
• EAA AirVenture Museum
  EAA AirVenture Museum
  The EAA AirVenture Museum is a museum dedicated to the preservation and display of historical and experimental aircraft located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin adjacent to the Wittman Regional Airport. Paul Poberezny proposed the idea of the EAA Air Museum-Air Education center in August 1958. The current...
  
   in Oshkosh, Wisconsin
  Oshkosh, Wisconsin
  As of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile...
  
  .

External links

• Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum - Museum website
• Location - 38.72483°N 90.50943°W
• Very high resolution panoramic images: Hangar 1, Hangar 2, Hangar 3
• Don Parsons Restoration Air & Space Magazine, March 1, 2007
• Linda Shiner People and Planes of Creve Coeur Air & Space Magazine, July 1, 2005