Mid-Atlantic Air Museum
Encyclopedia
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
and aircraft restoration facility located at the Carl A. Spaatz Field, the regional airport serving Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
. The museum, founded by Russ Strine, the current President, collects and actively restores historic war plane
Military aviation
Military aviation is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Air power includes the national means of conducting such...
s and classic airliner
Airliner
An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...
s as well as rare civilian and military aircraft. Many of the museum's historic aircraft are often seen on the airshow
Airshow
An air show is an event at which aviators display their flying skills and the capabilities of their aircraft to spectators in aerobatics. Air shows without aerobatic displays, having only aircraft displayed parked on the ground, are called "static air shows"....
circuit.
The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum has hosted the “World War II Weekend Air Show” annually since 1990. The World War II Weekend is generally scheduled to coincide with 6 June, with an attendance approaching 100,000 people. According to the editors of Military Vehicle Magazine the air show is “The largest and the best WWII
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...
reenactment
Historical reenactment
Historical reenactment is an educational activity in which participants attempt torecreate some aspects of a historical event or period. This may be as narrow as a specific moment from a battle, such as the reenactment of Pickett's Charge at the Great Reunion of 1913, or as broad as an entire...
in the nation — bar none”.
The museum offers rides in their vintage SNJ (Navy version of the AT-6
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...
“Texan” WWII military trainer) and in a Stearman Biplane on the second Saturday of the month from May through October excluding the month of June,
It has also embarked on an ambitious project to restore its P-61B-1-NO Black Widow
P-61 Black Widow
The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was the first operational U.S. military aircraft designed specifically for night interception of aircraft, and was the first aircraft specifically designed to use radar. It was an all-metal, twin-engine, twin-boom design developed during World War II...
, recovered from New Guinea in 1989, to flying condition.
Mid Atlantic Air Museum also offers for sale very detailed aircraft for MS Flight Simulator of some of their restored Aircraft such as the B-25, C-47 and TBM Avenger.
Museum inventory
| Year | Manufacturer | Model |
|---|---|---|
| 1928 | Elias | EC1 Aerocoupe |
| 1929 | Brunner-Winkle | Bird "A" |
| 1931 | American | Eaglet |
| 1933 | Heath | CNA-40 Midwing |
| 1933 | Pietenpol Bernard Pietenpol Bernard H. Pietenpol was an aircraft designer.Father of home built aircraft, Pietenpol was a self-taught mechanic who lived most of his life in the small community of Cherry Grove in southeastern Minnesota.... |
Air Camper Pietenpol Air Camper -See also:- External links :* * * * *... |
| 1935 | Kellett | KD-1 Autogiro |
| 1936 | Aeronca | C3 Master |
| 1936 | Taylor (Piper) | J2 Cub Piper J-3 The Piper J-3 Cub is a small, simple, light aircraft that was built between 1937 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. With tandem seating, it was intended for flight training but became one of the most popular and best-known light aircraft of all time... |
| 1937 | Aeronca | Model "K" |
| 1937 | Arrow | Sport F |
| 1937 | Fairchild | 24-G Deluxe |
| 1937 | Taylor Young | Model "A" |
| 1939 | Troyer | VX |
| 1940 | Fairchild | PT-19 Cornell Fairchild PT-19 |-See also:-Bibliography:* Mondey, David. American Aircraft of World War II . London: Bounty Books, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7537-1461-4.... (M-62) |
| 1941 | Naval Aircraft Factory Naval Aircraft Factory The Naval Aircraft Factory was established by the United States Navy in 1918 at Philadelphia in order to assist in solving the problem of aircraft supply which faced the Navy Department upon the entry of the U.S. into World War I... |
N3N-3 N3N Canary |Communications were done by the instructor through a speaking tube to the after-seated student. Communications back were agreed-upon gestures.-See also:-External links:* , by Jack McKillop, provides a detailed description of the N3N and its development.... Yellow Peril |
| 1941 | Piper | NE-1 Cub |
| 1942 | Boeing Boeing The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001... |
N2S3 Kaydett (B-75N) |
| 1942 | Fairchild | PT-26 Cornell (M-62A) |
| 1942 | Vultee Vultee Aircraft The Vultee Aircraft Corporation became an independent company in 1939 and had limited success before merging with the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in 1943 to form the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, or Convair.-History:... |
BT-13A Valiant BT-13 Valiant The Vultee BT-13 Valiant was an American World War II-era basic trainer aircraft built by Vultee Aircraft for the United States Army Air Corps, and later US Army Air Forces... |
| 1943 | Cessna Cessna The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary... |
UC-75 Bobcat (T-50) |
| 1943 | North American North American Aviation North American Aviation was a major US aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo Command and Service... |
B-25J Mitchell |
| 1943 | North American | SNJ-4B Texan (AT-6; T-6) 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... |
| 1944 | Northrop Northrop Corporation Northrop Corporation was a leading United States aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman in 1994. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, although only a few of these have entered service.-History:Jack... |
P-61B Black Widow P-61 Black Widow The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was the first operational U.S. military aircraft designed specifically for night interception of aircraft, and was the first aircraft specifically designed to use radar. It was an all-metal, twin-engine, twin-boom design developed during World War II... |
| 1945 | Douglas Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas... |
R4D-6 Skytrain (C-47) C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and... |
| 1945 | Grumman Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading 20th century U.S. producer of military and civilian aircraft... |
TBM-3E Avenger (TBF) |
| 1946 | Auster Auster Auster Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1938 to 1961.-History:The company began in 1938 at the Britannia Works, Thurmaston near Leicester, England, as Taylorcraft Aeroplanes Limited, making light observation aircraft designed by the Taylorcraft Aircraft Corporation of... |
MKV J/1 Autocrat |
| 1946 | Commonwealth | 185 Skyranger |
| 1946 | Republic Republic Aviation Company The Republic Aviation Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. Originally known as the Seversky Aircraft Company, the company was responsible for the design and production of many important military aircraft, including the P-47 Thunderbolt, F-84... |
F-84B Thunderjet F-84 Thunderjet The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 flew in 1946... |
| 1947 | Republic | RC-3 Seabee Republic RC-3 Seabee The Republic RC-3 Seabee is an all-metal amphibious sports aircraft designed by Percival Spencer and manufactured by the Republic Aircraft Corporation.-Design and development:... |
| 1950 | ERCO | 415G Ercoupe |
| 1950 | Piper | PA-22 Tripacer Piper PA-20 Pacer The PA-20 Pacer and PA-22 Tri-Pacer are a family of four-place, strut braced, high-wing light aircraft that were built by Piper Aircraft in the post-World War II period.... |
| 1951 | North American | F-86F Saber F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre was a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as America's first swept wing fighter which could counter the similarly-winged Soviet MiG-15 in high speed dogfights over the skies of the Korean War... |
| 1952 | Martin Glenn L. Martin Company The Glenn L. Martin Company was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company that was founded by the aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for the defense of the United States and its allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War... |
4-0-4 Silver Falcon Martin 4-0-4 |-See also:-Bibliography:* Andrade, John. U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Leicester, UK: Midland Counties Publications, 1979, pp. 95, 217. ISBN 0-904597-22-9.... |
| 1953 | Fairchild | C-119F Flying Boxcar C-119 Flying Boxcar The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar was an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechanized equipment, and to drop cargo and troops by parachute... |
| 1953 | Piasecki Piasecki Helicopter The Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was a designer and manufacturer of helicopters located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s. The company was renamed Vertol Aircraft Corporation in the mid-1950s... |
H-21B Shawnee |
| 1953 | Piper | L-21B Grasshopper |
| 1957 | Vickers Armstrong Vickers Armstrong Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927... |
745D Viscount Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world... |
| 1957 | Lockheed Lockheed Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:... |
SP-2-H Neptune (P2V-7S) |
| 1958 | Sikorsky | UH-34D Seahorse |
| 1961 | Beechcraft Beechcraft Beechcraft is an American manufacturer of general aviation and military aircraft, ranging from light single engine aircraft to business jets and light military transports. Previously a division of Raytheon, it has been a brand of Hawker Beechcraft since 2006.... |
G-18S Super |
| 1961 | Piper | PA-22-150 Caribbean |
| 1962 | Ried | Flying Submarine (Prototype) |
| 1962 | Sikorsky | HH-52A Seaguard |
| 1964 | Custer | CCW-5 Channelwing |
| 1970 | Rutan Scaled Composites Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States... |
Varieze |
| 1972 | Piper | PA-34-200 Seneca |
| 1972 | Piper | PA-23-250 Aztec Piper Aztec -Accidents and incidents:*On 18 April 1974, Aztec G-AYDE was involved in a ground collision with BAC One-Eleven G-AXMJ at London Luton Airport after the pilot of the Aztec entered the active runway without clearance. He was killed and his passenger was injured... |
| 1977 | Cessna | 150M Commander |
| 1978 | Piper | PA-38-112 Tomahawk Piper PA-38 Tomahawk |-References:*Taylor, John W.R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982-83. London:Jane's Yearbooks, 1982. ISBN 0-7106-0748-2.-External links:**-Related content:Comparable aircraft:* Aerotec Tangará* Alpha 2000 * Beechcraft Skipper... |
| 1983 | American Aerolites | Double Eagle |
External links
- Mid Atlantic Air Museum
- World War II Weekend Air Show Information
- Page detailing the Vinh Quang radio controlled model as it pertains to fundraising for the P-61 restoration
- Mid Atlantic Air Museum Photos of aircraft and other aviation exhibits at the Mid Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, PA