The Indiana Aviation Museum was an aviation museum located in Valparaiso, Indiana

Valparaiso, Indiana

Valparaiso is a city in and the county seat of Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 31,730 at the 2010 census, making it the 2nd largest city in Porter County.-History:...

, at the Porter County Regional Airport. Incorporated on September 28, 2000, the museum was permanently closed October 29, 2010. The museum was open from May through October, and featured displays of working military and civilian airplanes.

Exhibits

The museum's aircraft were donated by James Read, the founder and president of the museum. The collection began with the T-34 Mentor

T-34 Mentor

The Beechcraft T-34 Mentor is a propeller-driven, single-engined, military trainer aircraft derived from the Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza. The earlier versions of the T-34, dating from around the late 1940s to the 1950s, were piston-engined. These were eventually succeeded by the upgraded T-34C...

 which required restoration. Interest expanded with the purchase of a P-51 Mustang

P-51 Mustang

The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...

, PT-17 Stearman, T-28 Trojan

T-28 Trojan

The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a piston-engined military trainer aircraft used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy beginning in the 1950s...

, Cessna A-37A

A-37 Dragonfly

The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, or Super Tweet, is a United States light attack aircraft developed from the T-37 Tweet basic trainer in the 1960s and 1970s...

, and the AT-6G Texan

T-6 Texan

The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...

. Additional civilian aircraft were added to the museum, including a Lake

Lake Aircraft

Lake Aircraft was a manufacturer of amphibious aircraft. Their factory was in Sanford, Maine, USA, and their sales offices were located at Laconia / Gilford, New Hampshire and Kissimmee, Florida....

 L-4 amphibian

Lake Buccaneer

|-See also:-External links:...

 and an RV homebuilt.

Inventory

• 1941 PT-17 Stearman - Two-seat World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
   trainer painted in Army Air Corps colors. Officially the Boeing Model 75, it was commonly called the "Stearman". This Stearman was sent to the USAAF on JUly 30, 1941, and assigned to the 52nd Flying Training Detachment, in Albany, Georgia
  Albany, Georgia
  Albany is a city in and the county seat of Dougherty County, Georgia, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. It is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia metropolitan area and the southwest part of the state. The population was 77,434 at the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the...
  
  .
• 1945 P-51D Mustang - The museum's P-51D served with the North Dakota, Alabama, and Kentucky Air National Guard
  Air National Guard
  The Air National Guard , often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the fifty U.S. states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States. Established under Title 10 and...
  
  s before being declared surplus in 1958.
• 1952 AT-6G Texan
  T-6 Texan
  The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...
  
   - two-seat advanced trainer, the Naval version was called the SNJ and incorporated a tail hook for cable-arrested carrier landings. The museum's AT-6 was delivered to the USAF on June 11, 1952, to the 3301st Pilot Training Squadron, Columbus AFB, MS.
• 1953 DHC 1 MK22 Chipmunk
  De Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk
  The de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk is a tandem, two-seat, single-engined primary trainer aircraft which was the standard primary trainer for the Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Air Force and several other air forces through much of the post-Second World War years...
  
  
• 1955 T-28B Trojan
  T-28 Trojan
  The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a piston-engined military trainer aircraft used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy beginning in the 1950s...
  
   - The T-28B was assigned to the Navy trainer and also as a photo plane by the U.S. Army. This two seat advanced trainer replaced the WWII AT-6 trainer
  T-6 Texan
  The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...
  
  . Production started in 1950.
• 1957 T-34B Mentor
  T-34 Mentor
  The Beechcraft T-34 Mentor is a propeller-driven, single-engined, military trainer aircraft derived from the Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza. The earlier versions of the T-34, dating from around the late 1940s to the 1950s, were piston-engined. These were eventually succeeded by the upgraded T-34C...
  
  
• 1943 L-2 Grasshopper
• 1967 A-37A Dragonfly
  A-37 Dragonfly
  The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, or Super Tweet, is a United States light attack aircraft developed from the T-37 Tweet basic trainer in the 1960s and 1970s...
  
  
• 1991 Van's Aircraft
  Van's Aircraft
  Van's Aircraft is an American kit aircraft manufacturer, founded by Richard "Van" VanGrunsven in 1973.Van's RV series of aircraft, from the single seat RV-3 to the latest RV-12, are all-aluminum, low-wing monoplanes of monocoque construction...
  
  RV-4