{"id":18883,"date":"2023-07-13T15:37:35","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T20:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetravellingfool.com\/?p=18883"},"modified":"2023-09-01T21:36:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T02:36:01","slug":"discover-wichita-from-the-b29-doc-to-aviation-marvels-in-the-air-capital-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetravellingfool.com\/discover-wichita-from-the-b29-doc-to-aviation-marvels-in-the-air-capital-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Discover Wichita: From the B29 Doc to Aviation Marvels in the Air Capital of the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

My trip to Wichita Kansas was sponsored by<\/em><\/strong> Visit Wichita<\/em><\/strong><\/a> but all thoughts are my own.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I took a trip to Wichita Kansas and was looking forward to checking out the town since I had heard it was an interesting place with a lot to see and do. What I didn\u2019t know until I arrived was that Wichita has the title of being the Air Capital of the World. I knew about Wichita having a Boeing plant at one time but that was about it. So, how did Wichita earn the moniker of Air Capital of the World?<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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\"Wichita<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Well for that you have to go back to 1928, when Wichita, with a population of around 100,000 at the time, had 16 aircraft manufacturers and produced 120 aircraft a week. It seems the abundance of flat land and existing airfields was a huge draw for aircraft manufacturers and still exists today. To get an understanding of the rich aviation history there are two sites you should visit, The Kansas Aviation Museum and the B-29 \u201cDoc\u201d hangar.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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\"Kansas<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Kansas Aviation Museum<\/h2>\n\n\n

Located in the former Wichita Municipal Airport terminal, which was built in 1935, and sitting across the airfield from McConnell Air Force Base, the Kansas Aviation Museum showcases flight history including the innovative entrepreneurs that pioneered early aviation successes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Beechcraft<\/figure>\n\n\n

The museum building itself is worth a visit and the old air terminal has seen its share of famous aviators and personalities. Charles Lindbergh and Kansas native Amelia Earhart both landed here at one time and Fred Astaire entertained waiting passengers with a dance number once. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Beechraft\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

Companies like Beechcraft, Stearman, Cessna and others, along with the men who built those companies are profiled in the museum.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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\"1920's<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The Kansas Aviation Museum<\/a> tells the stories of early pioneers such as Clyde Cessna, who founded Cessna Aviation in Wichita in 1927, Lloyd Stearman who founded Stearman Aircraft Corporation, which later merged with Boeing and Walter Beech, who along with his wife Olive Ann and others founded Beech Aircraft Company in 1932, and many others.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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\"1931<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

You can see some of the personal items that belonged to these aviation pioneers along with aviation inventions as well as numerous planes. You can get up close to such iconic planes as the Laird Swallow and Watkins Skylark among others. There are also some planes parked just outside.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

There are also displays telling the stories of the Tuskegee Airmen as well as a section about the females that helped make aviation history. One such female is Connie Palacioz, a real life Rosie the Riveter, who helped build the B-29 Superfortress at Boeing during WW2. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

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\"Connie<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

You can also see a model of the Boeing 200 Seek Spinner. Built in the 1980\u2019s, the Seek Spinner was an unmanned aircraft designed to seek out and destroy enemy radar systems, an early drone if you will.<\/span> <\/p>\n\n

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\"Boeing<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

There is also an example of the Boeing Brave 3000, another UAV designed to carry a 185 lb. payload and had a range of 125 miles. Both were early prototypes that were instrumental in today\u2019s military drone technology.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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\"Boeing<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

You can climb the stairs to the flight control tower and see just how sparse things were in the early days, plus you get a great view of the aircraft outside as well as the flight lines.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of Wichita\u2019s early aircraft manufacturers live on today. Stearman Aviation was purchased by Boeing, which built the B-29 during WW2 and later the B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress. In 2005 Boeing sold its plant in Wichita and a new company Spirit AeroSystems was formed. Today Spirit is one of the world\u2019s largest manufacturers of aerostructures for commercial, defense and private jet companies.<\/span><\/p>\n